ROI of XR Episode 3 - Enterprise Use Cases

Summary

In this episode of the Roi for XR podcast, hosts Scott and Dane discuss various enterprise use cases for extended reality (XR) to drive return on investment (Roi). They explore soft skills training in VR, faster recruiting and hiring through immersive experiences, virtual collaboration for distributed teams, remote assistance for IT support and facility audits, interactive 3D design reviews with customers to reduce shipping and iteration costs, hospital accessibility planning, and sponsorship sales. They emphasize starting with operator-based training use cases that directly impact productivity, then expanding to secondary benefits around communication, design, and marketing that provide further value over time as the technology progresses.

Takeaways

• 😀 Using VR for soft skills training like leadership and hiring practices can improve quality of applicants and shorten hiring cycles
• 😊 VR collaboration spaces allow for remote teams to review products and designs together
• 🤓 Remote expert calls via VR reduce travel costs and increase efficiency even outside factory settings
• 😎 VR/AR allows customers to visually inspect designs and prototypes earlier, reducing shipping costs and development iterations
• 😏 VR job fair booths attract more interest and allow pre-qualification of candidates’ skills
• 🥳 VR building/space designs allow for accessibility audits, sponsorship pitches and employee feedback before construction
• 😜 Operator training is the first priority for VR in manufacturing, but there’s a ‘second wave’ of soft skills and collaboration use cases
• 😇 There’s lots of short term ROI to be gained from VR/AR even as the tech continues advancing long term
• 🤠 Comments and suggestions welcome from community on other enterprise VR/AR use cases and ROI
• 🥸 Thanks for following the podcast series on realizing ROI from extended reality!

Q & A

What are some ways XR can be used to realize ROI outside of manufacturing floors or health and safety?

Some ways include using XR for soft skills training like leadership development, using it to reduce hiring cycle times, facilitating remote collaboration between distributed teams, creating virtual walkthroughs of designs or spaces that haven't been built yet to gather feedback, and more.

How can XR be used to help with the recruiting process?

XR can be used in recruiting by giving potential candidates a realistic preview of what a job would entail during job fairs, helping filter candidates by having them try tasks in VR, and getting them excited about forward-thinking companies using new technologies.

What compliance risks exist when using XR for hiring?

Some compliance risks include unintentionally filtering out candidates based on their VR aptitude rather than actual job qualifications. Care should be taken not to exclude people based on their XR performance.

How can remote collaboration be facilitated through XR?

XR enables distributed teams to meet virtually as if in-person to review products, designs, or other assets. It also allows mobile workers to access a virtual working environment from anywhere.

How were virtual walkthroughs used to gather hospital sponsorship?

A hospital put their campus into VR and showed potential sponsors branded wings or areas named after them, allowing them to see the future state before committing money.

What are some second wave use cases for XR after initial operator training?

After using XR for operator based manufacturing training, additional applications can be pushed to headsets for soft skills training, public speaking development, and more.

Why start using XR now instead of waiting for the technology to be perfect?

There are a lot of valuable use cases now and by adopting early, organizations can start seeing ROI today while continuing to grow and expand usage as the technology develops further.

How was accessibility planning conducted in VR for a hospital?

By having people with disabilities virtually walk through a hospital space that hadn't been built yet and provide feedback on aspects like door width and light switch placement.

What makes physical product design an ideal XR use case?

The ability to iterate on virtual prototypes instead of expensive physical ones reduces costs and speeds up development cycles significantly.

Where else are the podcast hosts seeing XR ROI besides manufacturing floors?

Other areas include recruitment, enablement of distributed teams, gathering input on virtual designs, using wayfinding applications in office buildings, and conducting virtual audits.