Gaining momentum: Extended Reality, what is its potential?

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To what extent are businesses compensating for the limitations of “real reality” with the freedoms and capabilities of augmented reality (XR)? We asked IT leaders how they envision Extended Reality transforming business and other industries.

For the past few months, Dell Technologies has been following technology and business trends, surveying 800 IT decision makers (ITDMs) in 6 countries (US, UK, France, Germany, Brazil and China). This month we are focusing on extended reality.

What is Extended Reality?
The term extended reality comes from the English word “extended reality”, abbreviated as “XR” . It is not a new technology as many people think, but rather a general term that combines a series of what we call immersive technologies.

The easiest way to understand extended reality is to say that it covers virtual reality how to get usa whatsapp number augmented reality, and mixed reality. But it also includes concepts that exist between these realities (such as 360 video), that relate to or complement them (such as artificial intelligence or 5G), and everything that their advancements and innovations produce.

“Therefore, Extended Reality is a combination of Augmented Reality [AR], Virtual Reality [VR] and other immersive environments yet to be created.

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In vertical markets and business operations, extended reality is growing in both volume and usage. The main reason for its importance is that it removes distance barriers. With the expansion and geographical distribution of a large number of operations, extended reality is going to help solve big problems.

The results are in. We interviewed Martin Sawtell, Software Lead for the CTO Office at Dell Technologies, to get his take on the results.

We just asked IT decision-makers how XR will revolutionize business in three to five years. What stands out to you most?
Looking at the data, it’s clear that XR technology is finally breaking into the enterprise scene. We’ve been talking about its enormous potential for years, but that elusive tipping point is no longer so elusive. It’s here.

Why now? Partly because the pandemic has forced businesses to experiment with new technologies and innovate within current restrictions. More than three-quarters (77% of respondents) say they have accelerated their VR/AR deployment plans due to the pandemic . There are many possible reasons for this. Being able to work, collaborate and achieve goals in safe, socially distanced environments would certainly be a factor. With VR, immersion can be so vivid that users can still experience an emotional connection to their surroundings. Or see something they wouldn’t normally be able to see (such as the inner workings of a machine) within an Augmented Reality overlay.

In fact, research suggests we may be moving towards a certain level of ubiquity – everyone having a device with VR. Today, three in ten respondents say they have state-of-the-art VR/AR, with natural user interfaces (interfaces/modalities that are so easy to use that they feel natural). 42% believe they will be commonplace in their organisation within one to two years; another 16% predict this will happen in three to four years. Not at all far-fetched when you consider that many phones are already VR/AR-ready.

But what will they do with them? More than a third (34%) of ITDMs say they are already using VR/AR in “many different scenarios .” Another 38% expect this to be the case in one to two years; 17% expect it to be in three to five years. That’s almost nine out of ten companies.

Next, we asked about potential use cases. Overall, respondents are enthusiastic about the technology (except for those in the UK, who gave more muted responses). Emerging economies are especially enthusiastic. They are the most open to trying new things. Of course, this could be a cultural response and/or the fact that they have fewer legacy technologies to navigate. But the truth is that they have less to lose and more to gain.

At its core, the drive behind XR comes down to the age-old determination to focus on solutions, not problems. Society has been plagued by problems of late. But a technology like XR can address many of them with inventive new solutions.

What does research tell us about how businesses can use VR/AR to be more productive and creative?
According to the research, more than three-quarters (77%) of ITDMs believe VR/AR will enable people to be more empathetic, imaginative and productive. They are uniformly optimistic about VR’s contribution to their business in areas such as marketing (79% believe it will promote their offerings/services in new and memorable ways), and training (77% say it will enable them to train people “in the moment, on the job”). But they also foresee it being used in wider society within the next three to five years.

For example, 87% believe VR/AR will soon be used for high-risk job screening by simulating stressful scenarios and testing participants’ decision-making. 86% envision doctors using VR/AR to see inside the human body (and then use this view to guide patients through their surgical/medical plan). Eight in ten foresee psychiatrists using VR/AR to help their patients “face” their fears and overcome trauma.

So are respondents right in believing that XR will transform business and even the world as we know it?
It certainly has that potential, but there are some caveats. First, there’s the growing emergence of shadow IT to address. Currently, 39 percent of ITDMs say their lines of business (LoB) are leading the VR/AR initiative/purchase process: 87 percent believe this will happen within three to five years.

This is a red flag. A fragmented and siloed approach would not only lead to standardization issues, but could also cause security gaps and vulnerabilities. In Brazil, 60 percent of LoBs are already leading the way. Overall, Brazil was the country most enthusiastic about VR/AR (closely followed by China). We must be careful that exuberance does not overwhelm the need to pursue due diligence. This is confirmed by our barrier question. Brazilian respondents are the most likely to cite shadow IT as a barrier to VR/AR adoption.