Augmented Reality for Meetings: Use Cases, Examples, and Benefits
- March 5, 2024
- AR, Enterprise, Healthcare
Augmented Reality Use Cases in the Corporate World
Business communication is continually evolving. From the days of face-to-face meetings in boardrooms to video conferencing across continents, businesses have always been on the lookout for ways to improve communication and collaboration.
Now, augmented reality (AR ) is emerging as the newest tool for meetings, making day-to-day operations more efficient while simultaneously minimizing travel time and resources.
AR has been making waves in the corporate world, and for good reason. It transcends the traditional Zoom video call, allowing globally distributed employees to meet to view the same data in 3D, while in their own spaces or offices.
Once an attendee puts on an AR headset, they can see, move, and interact with 3D imagery in their own environment. Besides simply speaking with others, attendees can write on augmented whiteboards, interact with 3D modules, and edit documents in real time, just like they would in a face-to-face meeting.
To do so, all attendees need to wear AR headsets. Then, depending on the model of their AR headset, they can navigate and interact in various ways (controller, pointer, hands, even with movement or eye gaze) 3D objects overlaid in their environment.
Benefits of Augmented Reality for Meetings
Why invest in AR equipment over a generic video conferencing platform? 3D Environments in AR offer several benefits over in-person meetings, including enhanced employee engagement, cost-effectiveness, and increased productivity.
Enhanced Engagement
AR-based meetings provide a more immersive environment for participants, inherently making them feel as if they are in the same room (even if they are miles apart). Participants can interact with each other “face-to-face”, giving a sense of presence and leading to more engaging and productive conversations. It also creates a more memorable experience for attendees, making it more likely that they’ll retain the content discussed during the meeting.
Cost-Effective
Despite the upfront investment, AR-based meetings can be more cost-effective than traditional meetings, especially for businesses with remote employees or clients. Instead of renting out physical space and paying for travel expenses, such as airfare and lodging, businesses can conduct “in-person” meetings in AR, saving both time and money.
This is particularly useful when you don’t have to manufacture physical prototypes, which can cost you thousands of dollars and may never be used, as Westrock talked about in a recent interview. Because AR technology can be used to create augmented meeting spaces, this eliminates the need for physical space or meeting rooms, further saving on rent and utility costs.
Increased Productivity
Coincidentally, by reducing the amount of time employees spend traveling to and from meetings, remote meetings in AR increase productivity. It can also be used to create more efficient meeting environments with augmented whiteboards and collaboration tools, which can help participants stay focused and engaged during the meeting.
These benefits are just the beginning. As AR technology advances, more businesses will adopt AR-based meetings as a standard practice, leading to more not-yet-realized benefits.
Use Cases of Augmented Reality for Meetings
With advancements in technology and increasing affordability, AR technology is more accessible than ever. Here are some of the use cases of augmented reality business meetings.
Global Team Collaboration
What if your team is distributed across New York, London, Tokyo, and Sydney?
Coordinating meetings across these diverse time zones and locations often results in logistical difficulties, which hinders real-time collaboration. Global corporations face the challenge of maintaining effective communication and collaboration across geographically dispersed teams.
Companies like Sphere, Zoho Lens, and Simply Video were built specifically for this type of use case. By creating complete digital experiences, they empower better communication remotely and allow users to live out real-life scenarios from anywhere with an internet connection.
Training and Workshops
When teams are tasked with learning a new process or technology, traditional training methods often fall flat. Whether it’s lectures or standard hands-on practice, these methods can be limiting in terms of engagement and practical understanding. With AR, the same team can be immersed in a simulated environment that closely mimics real-world conditions, allowing for a more engaging and effective learning experience.
Product Demos and Presentations
Launching a new product with features that are difficult to convey through traditional presentations with flat images? AR allows businesses to create three-dimensional, interactive models of products. Rather than verbally trying to convey exactly how your product works, AR allows users to explore the product – even in the comfort of their own homes. In this context, they can observe its features and functionalities up close without having to travel.
Examples of Augmented Reality Meetings
Augmented reality (AR ) is being used in various industries to facilitate meetings, collaboration, and networking. Here are some examples of how AR is being used in different sectors.
Tech Industry
The tech industry, known for being at the forefront of adopting innovative technologies, is embracing AR to revolutionize how meetings and collaborations are conducted. Major players like Facebook, Microsoft, and Google are not just using AR but are actively developing platforms to enhance workplace communication.
Healthcare Industry
In the healthcare industry, augmented reality (AR ) is not just revolutionizing patient care and training but is also transforming the way medical professionals collaborate and communicate. The use of AR for meetings in healthcare enhances the efficiency of medical teams, enables better planning, and facilitates more effective patient care strategies. Even surgeons use AR to prepare for difficult surgery.
In a recent interview, Zimmer Biomet, a global leader in musculoskeletal healthcare, discusses how they use both VR and AR for meetings and collaboration. By utilizing XR, they have created a platform for surgeons, physicians, and medical teams to meet virtually or with augmented reality and discuss complex surgical procedures and patient cases in a highly detailed and interactive manner.
The Future of Meetings is Immersive Reality
AR is a rapidly developing technology that has the potential to revolutionize the way meetings are conducted. The technology is already being used in various industries to enhance collaboration and communication, and its use is expected to grow in the future.
Still, there are a lot of challenges to integrating AR into professional meetings and collaborations. How do you control what the user sees? How do you track down headsets across multiple locations? How do you manage AR content and augmented meeting platforms?
With XR Management and Deployment (MDM) solutions, managing your AR devices has never been easier. ArborXR enables you to install content and control user experiences, ensuring your augmented reality meetings run smoothly and efficiently remotely.
Want to start elevating your business meetings with AR technology? It all starts with making sure your users can easily experience AR/VR and that your company can manage it at scale.
Sound overwhelming or complicated? Don’t worry. ArborXR is XR device management made easy.
Get started today and step into immersive reality.
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