These days, “innovate or die” applies to many organizations in a corporate environment that is evolving quickly. Many businesses eventually take a risk to stay competitive and dive into cutting-edge fields like robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR). And for good reason—innovation is the primary factor influencing both social welfare and economic progress.
Read More: Deploying VR at scale
PwC’s “Seeing is believing” research estimates that by 2030, VR and AR may boost the world economy by $1.5 trillion. Immersion technologies are revolutionizing training for both hard and soft skills, enhancing design and production processes, and facilitating increased efficiency. It is thus not surprising that sectors including manufacturing, healthcare, energy, retail, and training and development are eager to include these technologies.
Even for major global corporations, taking your initial steps into the unknown may be a daunting and complicated task. Despite having established procedures for implementing new technology, big businesses frequently make mistakes when it comes to implementing virtual reality.
Imagine that you are one of those fearless early adopters, a creative leader in your field setting the standard for the rest of your industry. As a result, it’s possible that your company has already created a few VR prototypes. The VR headsets are currently just sitting in the corner of your office, despite the fact that you demonstrated the invention to clients and management.
At this point, the management will unavoidably be asking themselves, “Now what? “What comes next?” Here are some pointers to bear in mind while advancing virtual reality (VR) technology to a new level: strategic deployment. This is especially useful if you have already shown the technology’s capabilities but are unsure of where to proceed from there.
Learn about your workplace environment.
We recommend that, before you ever consider using VR, you thoroughly examine your whole organization to determine who may be the most important individuals participating in such an endeavor. When we engage with corporate level firms, we frequently observe departments operating independently, with separate budgets, goals, and projects. Although this is OK for providing a prototype, you must consider all corporate divisions that must be included in the overall VR deployment plan for implementing VR at scale.
A variety of business divisions may be involved, depending on your particular use case, but the most common ones are the departments of learning and development, information technology (IT), public relations/marketing, and research and development (R&D). When it comes to figuring out the project’s scope, funding, and intended results, all groups must be in sync. They also need to be in agreement about the business case for utilizing VR in the first place. This will also assist in identifying which organizational units are resistant to such significant changes and the general culture of innovation and digital transformation. You may be more certain that you are putting the right answer into practice if you have a solid grasp of interdepartmental participation and culture.
Recognize who your target market is.
Determining the target audience is another crucial component of VR deployment that businesses sometimes overlook or put off until the last minute as one of those non-essential activities. It is critical to decide how and to whom you will provide your VR experience, since these factors will influence other strategic decisions like distribution of content and gear. After determining who your target audience is, you must decide how to effectively meet their demands.
For instance, it’s a good idea to create a desktop VR experience on a tethered headset if your VR application is intended for designers and engineers in industrial sector companies and you want them to use it directly on your premises. This will be an excellent tool for visualizing even the smallest details of each component. However, you could be better off choosing a mobile VR experience on a standalone headset that can be utilized anytime, anywhere, online or offline, if you need to teach your ship’s crew when it’s in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Similarly, to effectively deploy VR, you need consider factors like your target audience’s age, geography, employment, and degree of expertise with VR technology.
Create a long-term plan for VR hardware.
You may be asking why the most important component of VR deployment is the hardware strategy. Unlike more well-known and developed technology like smartphones and tablets, there isn’t a vast selection of VR gear brands. I would want to emphasize the significance of having a sustainable hardware plan with clear upgrade routes in this part rather than providing you with a list of the advantages and disadvantages of the newest Oculus or HTC headsets. Don’t be shocked if your IT department informs you that they only accept hardware from specific nations or brands and that all equipment must comply with their internal security regulations, as every organization is distinct and has various needs.
Technically speaking, bear in mind that your chosen solution must work well with the business Wi-Fi, firewall, cybersecurity, and system requirements of the IT department. Regarding operations, we would advise considering lifespan and upgrade routes in addition to who is in charge of upkeep and upgrades for all VR gear. We believe that these are a few long-term factors that are crucial for implementing corporate VR at scale.
Create a plan for the dissemination of your material.
We have already reached the pinnacle of your virtual reality implementation: dispersing your content throughout the whole company and all of its domestic and global locations. Finding the ideal software solution that is designed with corporate requirements in mind is crucial for achieving this aim. There are currently many software platforms available, each with advantages and disadvantages of its own. However, there are a few important factors to take into account when selecting yours.
Once more, sustainability comes first as you want to make sure the software platform is appropriate for the long-term needs of the business. It should, in theory, be content-neutral, able to run VR apps created with engines such as Unreal and Unity and support a range of device platforms, including desktop and mobile. As with your hardware plan, you must consider any firewall, Wi-Fi, and general security requirements. Furthermore, we usually advise our customers to think about how their chosen software option works with the current business systems (such as learning management systems (LMS) or customer relationship management (CRM), among others).