How Augmented Reality Technology Helps Businesses During the Pandemic?

The Covid 19 pandemic may have caused a lot of damage and loss to the world but it has also served as a reminder of how important technology is for survival and growth. With every industry going digital, internet services such as Cox internet bundles and others gained further demand and emerging technologies like Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality came to the forefront.

Augmented Reality is a technology that brings real-world objects and environments to life by creating their 3D versions. Its sound and touch capabilities allow you to view and manipulate images from different angles. This ability of AR to place digital content over a live view of the physical world has benefited businesses a great deal during the pandemic. Let’s see how.

#1. Bringing Store to the Customer

Due to lockdowns and quarantine, customers have a preference to purchase from online stores. But e-commerce has had its limitations in the past. What if a customer purchases a pair of shoes and upon delivery realizes they’ve got the wrong size. Or what if they buy a piece of furniture that doesn’t jell well with the decor of the living room when put there physically. Such instances are disappointing for the customers who then refrain from purchasing from your store in the future.

This is where the use of AR technology comes in. It has granted businesses the ability to bring the store to the customer. That’s right. With AR tools and apps customers no longer need to travel a distance to try and check an item before purchase. For example, if you wish to buy a sofa set from the home furniture store IKEA, all you need to do is aim your mobile where you want to place the sofa and you can view whether or not it matches your decor.

Similarly, the sportswear brand Nike has introduced an AR tool that uses your smartphone camera to scan your feet and return the size you should go with.

2#. Remote Assistance

AR-enabled remote assistance has greatly benefited organizations to maintain business continuity in a pandemic-struck world. Due to travel restrictions and social distancing, it is not always possible for front-line workers to physically go to an office to operate, maintain or repair machines. AR technology has allowed them to connect with employees/customers to offer them guidance and contextualized information. 

AR-enabled remote assistance is different from video conferencing because it uses the computer’s vision technology to track the camera movements of the device across a screen. The participants are able to add annotations such as graphics or redlines onto the scene; they remain at the same place in the physical world as viewed by the user. Such apps are very effective in facilitating collaborative projects or communication between a remote expert and a user with a faulty machine.

#3. Manufacturing

Businesses are also using AR technology to accelerate and facilitate the manufacturing processes of products at factories. With AR markers on equipment, project managers can now monitor the progress of a task in real-time.

Also, using digital maps and plants can help save a lot of time. All you need to do is point a device into a location and it will show you how a machine/product part would fit in its final construction.

#4. Generating Analytics

Market research is essential for a business to grow. The rapid pace of digitalization during Covid has urged businesses to explore different means of collecting and analyzing data. Since AR is a combination of hardware and software, it can help businesses gather analytics data thereby equipping them to design a more effective and competitive ad campaign.

For example, AR-enabled ‘Try on’ clothing apps can give the business insights about the kinds of items men and women with different body types are looking for. You can then use these analytics to introduce or modify products that cater to those needs/desires.

Conclusion

AR technology is gradually but surely being recognized by businesses all over. The pandemic has given companies/brands many reasons to explore this technology and discover the opportunities it provides in terms of better customer experience, speedy processes, useful analytics, remote collaborations and much more. Since our realities today are deeply integrated with digital experiences, businesses are increasingly adopting and benefiting from this mixed reality technology called AR.