AR in business?
It’s true that AR is still entwined with games like Pokemon Go and fun activities like using Snapchat filters. However, the potential benefits of Augmented Reality in the business world is not confined to these two domains only. The technology has entered into different business verticals and given a transformative look. It has proven to be a perfect weapon to taste success in the present competitive market.
A ripple effect of which is that the AR market size, which was USD 67.5 million in 2019, is anticipated to reach USD 1848.9 million in 2025 with a CAGR of 28.6%.
But, in case you are still clueless about augmented reality benefits in the business spectrum, this article is going to be a good read for you.
Here, I will help you to get an understanding of the impact and role of Augmented reality in business and various processes. And this way, aid you to prepare your brand for a ‘digitally augmented reality’.
AR Impact On Different Industries (& Real Use Cases)
When discussing the industries in which AR has entered, gaming, retail, food, and travel & tourism are on the top of the list. However, the use cases of AR are not confined to these business verticals.
Augmented Reality technology has helped entrepreneurs address core challenges and make better profits in various other industries. Some of the businesses using augmented reality and benefits of augmented reality in business are as follows.
1. Healthcare
The role of AR in medical & healthcare app development is remarkable. This technology is offering a new set of opportunities and benefits to healthcare professionals, medical students, and others to get a better experience. Some of the ways it is transforming this industry are:-
- Augmented diagnosis
Many times, patients overlook some of the minor symptoms or fail to describe them to doctors. Because of this, healthcare professionals are not able to diagnose and provide the right services to them.
But, with the help of AR technology, the two can better understand the symptoms and diagnosis effectively, resulting in better results. For example, AccuVein lets nurses and healthcare practitioners determine the exact location of veins by projecting a handheld scanner onto the patients’ skin. This reduces the procedure time, makes the process painful, and improves the patient satisfaction rate.
- Augmented Surgery
Earlier, it was quite strenuous for surgeons and other healthcare professionals to make a complicated surgery successful with limited information gathered a few days before the surgery.
But, with the advent of Augmented reality in the surgery process, it has become too easy. Now surgeons can get access to live-saving patient information in real-time, study the information precisely and overlay the patient anatomy over the body to perform surgery accurately. They can visualize every body part and this way, ensure that no other organ gets affected adversely while surgery. This ensures higher surgery success rate as well as shorter recovery time.
In the present scenario, various hospitals like Imperial College and St. Mary’s Hospital in London are using this technology for reconstructive surgery of patients suffering from severe injuries.
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Augmented Training and Practice
Another augmented reality business applications in healthcare is that it makes training sessions more systematic. It makes medical students encounter real-life medical situations and ask them to act, rather than going with random training in a dissection lab.
This not only helps to test the knowledge and wits of the students, but also how they handle stress and other emotions while treating patients.
2. Military
Another use of augmented reality in business is reshaping the landscape of the military sector. In fact, this industry is one of the foremost industries being disrupted by AR technology.
When looking ahead to the use of AR in the military field, the technology is helping the soldiers prepare for the battle, dispose of bombs and other explosive elements, enhance their skills at using different weapons, etc. without putting their lives at risk. It adds labels to the real-world scenario and provides better navigation services to them – even in dark. In addition to this, the technology also makes it possible to reap the perks of remote maintenance.
3. Entertainment
Entertainment is also one of the industries that is improving with the advent of Augmented Reality (AR). The technology has touched all the subdomains of the industry, be it music, live events, or movies in numerous ways. For instance:
- AR in Music Industry
AR-powered earbuds and other equipment adds an augmented layer on the top of the real audio to enhance users’ listening experience. And that too personalized according to the background noise and other filters.
- AR in Movies
When talking about the advantages of Augmented reality for business in the field of TV shows and movies, the technology is helping the directors add unrealistic/non-existent elements into the movies such as dinosaurs, enabling dancers with physical disabilities perform effortlessly, along with showing different effects on the screen.
Besides, it enables users to see real-time subtitles hanging on the TV show they are watching.
Some of the movies that have embraced AR technology are Iron Man, Minority Report, Avatar, and Terminator.
- AR in Media
Augmented Reality is also playing a pivotal role in the field of media. The technology is enabling media experts to enhance the effectiveness of multimedia, games, videos, and presentations to build a better impression. It is encouraging them to share their content in a highly interactive manner and relish better outcomes.
4. Manufacturing and Supply chain
Involvement of AR and mobile apps in Manufacturing industry is a prime reason behind the industry’s unprecedented growth. For example:-
- Less time required to maintain all the manufacturing processes.
In the field of manufacturing and supply chain management, people often find themselves occupied with finding the right location of the object/equipment in need. This eventually leads to an increase in the time required for completion of any task.
AR, in this scenario, helps them detect the location of the object by adding virtual labels to the object, view the 3D image of each element, and get access to navigation information. Something that ultimately simplifies the process and makes it time-efficient.
- Higher customer experience
Ar-powered parcel service mobile applications gives customers an opportunity to track their shipment in real-time – right from the warehouse to their doorstep. The app also shares product-related information such as its size, weight, and price. This gives an enhanced experience to the customers, leading to higher positive response.
5. Real Estate
When it comes to understanding the benefits of Augmented reality in real estate, the technology has undeniably paved the way for higher success. It has helped Entrepreneurs take their real estate business beyond the limitations of current tools. A few of those limitations are:-
- Unappealing text description of apartments.
Though real estate agents are crafting really impressive descriptions of the apartments, many are still failing to connect. They are finding it too boring to read all the details and imagine how the property actually looks.
AR, in this case, engages the target audience in a more interactive way and results in higher conversion.
- Longer time to make a decision.
Many times, users get confused if the proposed property is suitable for the type of facilities they wish to have in their home. And the prime reason behind this is that photos show a 2D-picture of the property.
Here, Augmented Reality enables users to see a 3D-image of the property and interact with it. Meaning, they can move products from one corner to another, helping them how their house would appear. Also, the technology eases the process of measuring the dimensions of the apartment/land in real-time.
This, as a whole, helps them make a decision in less-time and without compromising at any factor.
IKEA Place and Curate are the two best examples of inclusion of Augmented Reality in the Real estate domain.
6. Education and Training
Another industry that is experiencing transformational changes with the advent of Augmented Reality is Education and training.
The technology has helped students and teachers in coping up with numerous prevailing issues, such as –
- Difficulty in understanding the concept
Many times, students and teachers fail to portray a bigger picture of the concepts. They keep their visualization power limited to the angle being highlighted in the books and references. Because of this, they often struggle with getting in-depth knowledge of the concept and determine the real-life implications.
AR technology helps them to view a 3D model of the object and see the working of the complete concept in front of them. They can get a glimpse of the concepts via the 360-degree view, which increases curiosity, brings forth new queries and thereafter, leads to higher application of the same.
- Short-memory retention power
With the study material available majorly in textual form, many students find it hard to grasp the concept with the limited memory power. AR, in this context, makes the information available in visual form such that they can touch everything virtually. This eases the processing of remembering the information, which further results in high end performance.
- No Practical Knowledge
Another advantage of AR in education is that it is providing students and graduates with a way to test their theoretical knowledge and prepare for their job in a better manner.
- Issues with student performance evaluation
AR not only helps students with getting information in an interactive way, but is also simplifying the task of teachers. It is empowering them to expose students to a virtual environment and observe how they respond to things around them. And this way, give them scores as per the performance of students and not the crammed information.
One of the finest use-cases of AR in the education domain is Human Anatomy Atlas. This mobile app shows more than 10,000 anatomical 3D models of the human body and delivers associated information in different languages, along with options like rotating and interacting with organs, individually.
7. Social Media
Last but not least, Augmented Reality is also redefining the way people engage on social media.
The technology, on one side, is enabling users to bring their updates into life with catchy AR filters as well as see all the posts and interactions overlaid on their device’s display in the form of a grid as we have already seen in the case of TweetReality app. While, on the other side, it is offering brands an opportunity to deliver an immersive experience to their target user base in the form of AR stories, 360-degree videos, AR-focused ads, and AR games.
Presently, various social networking platforms like Snapchat, Facebook, and Tik Tok are empowering users to add AR features to their content and share with their app fellows. In fact, Snapchat launched a Lens Studio app back in 2018 to let users create their own AR filters.
A result of this incorporation of AR in social media is that the AR-based advertising market is expected to undergo a significant expansion, gaining $13 billion by the end of 2022.
So, as we have seen above, the use of augmented reality in business world has been leaving a remarkable impression on all. AR business ideas are making it quite difficult for one with traditional business processes to survive in the market.
In such a scenario, it is imperative for every Entrepreneur to invest in Augmented reality app development to gear up their business.
But, is it that easy?
Since the technology is still evolving, it is likely that you end up baffling about when and how to embrace the augmented reality business opportunities.
So, keeping the same into consideration, let’s look into how to prepare your Augmented reality business plan and enjoy ample benefits.
How to Integrate Augmented Reality Into Your Business?
When talking about how is augmented reality used in businesses, here’s the roadmap to follow –
- Do market research
Rather than going with the hype, it is required that you dive deeper into your business market and understand the potential of technology. It is necessary that you invest your effort into augmented reality market analysis along with competitive analysis to see what can AR be used for, what is its future, and how the technology has helped them build a different image in the marketplace.
- Examine internal business challenges
While getting familiar with how others are making profits from AR, it is crucial to understand the limitations of your traditional business processes. That implies exploring the different segments of your business and bringing the individual teams on board to get a clear picture of what challenges they are facing. And later, discuss how to build augmented reality apps for Android or iOS.
- Hire an AR App Expert
Once the problem and the outcomes possible with the inclusion of AR in business is evaluated, the next thing to do is to select the right AR VR development company .
A company like Appinventiv, which has years of experience in creating augmented reality apps for business will help you with getting acquainted with how the technology can mitigate the challenges you are facing currently. Besides, they can give you sound advice on what Augmented Reality app features to focus upon while estimating the cost of building an application.
An AR-based mobile application, when introduced into your business processes, can definitely help you stand out from the crowd, hook your audience, and drive higher revenue.
So, why remain sitting on the fences? Connect with reputed augmented reality app development company today to discuss the possibility of entering the ‘digitally augmented’ business world and relish higher benefits of augmented reality in business processes.