Augmented Reality: Why Businesses Need AR Strategy

As we all know, the internet is a huge collection of essential data and information, available to us anytime, anywhere. One of the major setbacks is that all these data and insights are trapped inside a two-dimensional screen or website.

This significantly limits the kind of interaction that we can have with these data. In other words, the 2D inclination prevents us from completely exploiting the volumes of information now available to us. To overcome such challenges, there is an innovative technology called Augmented reality (AR).

“It is a set of technologies that brings digital objects from the internet to physical or real-life environments.” 

In fact, most of us are actually quite familiar with AR technology because of prominent mobile games such as PokemonGO and similar apps.

The global Augmented Reality Market size stood at USD 4.16 Billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 6.12 Billion by 2021, exhibiting at a CAGR of 48.6% in the forecast period

Even social media giants such as Facebook and Snapchat have introduced AR into their platforms through filters. But the truth is, apart from entertainment applications AR can be applied in far more consequential ways for businesses as well.

The success of such immersive experiences in entertainment shows how well AR has been fully embraced by the people. It has made this technology very much familiar to people and has become a huge part of their day-to-day lives. This shows that even businesses can reach out to their consumers through this platform and do not have to think twice about whether the people will embrace it or not.

With an unparalleled level of interaction, Augmented Reality surpasses every other technological innovation. Now let us learn more about AR in businesses. 

The Importance of AR in Businesses

Much similar to the entertainment industry, businesses are also constantly looking for opportunities to enhance operations and unveil new strategies to engage with customers. Prominent organizations all across the globe have already implemented AR in the business life cycle.

Augmented Reality has shown utmost potential in everything from product development and manufacturing to logistics and brand marketing or customer service.

Organizations that have implemented such innovative technology with a combination of artificial intelligence are seeing major gains in quality and productivity. It has helped businesses to improve how users view their products, visualize information, receive and follow instructions, and interact with services or solutions. 

Here’s Why Businesses Need AR Technology

1. Your customers can discover the right product.

Ever since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital shopping, and e-commerce sites have skyrocketed in terms of daily usage. Customers have long abandoned the traditional method of brick and mortar shopping and are convenient with online or digital shopping.

Organizations that we’re unable to keep up with this change in customer demands were severely challenged with going out of business. Therefore, nowadays most brands are trying to make online shopping a seamless experience for their customers. 

Even though customers cannot see the physical product as they used to in a shopping mall or retail store, AR can give them a similar experience in the digital world. AR technology can offer the three-dimensional image of the physical object in a virtual world thus entirely transforming the shopping experience.

Especially brands that deal with items such as clothes, eyewear, jewellery, and more can help customers with the Try-on concept. By leveraging AR mobile applications, customers can overlay items onto an image of themselves online. Or with the help of the smartphone camera, the users can check the select furniture and analyze accurately if it fit their living room spaces.

2. Helps travel and hospitality sectors

The pandemic has significantly affected the travel and hospitality sector like never before. Though flights and transport have resumed operations in several parts of the world, travelling in groups is still restricted. This has considerably restricted the luxury of travel for solo travellers or backpackers. 

Also taking the help of a guide has been therefore limited not considering the huge amount of money guides charge for taking you places. This is no longer a challenge as AR applications in mobile phones are capable of identifying street names, maps accurate directions, etc with the help of mobile cameras. These AR applications even provide a virtual guide for tourists to show them the different locations and also interact with them in the language they understand. 

3. AR with Object Recognition offers new Possibilities.

Several product manufacturing companies and industries have leveraged AR to identify errors or issues with their products. Along with Deep learning capabilities and smart defect detection, AR can seamlessly analyze a product and list out all the issues in the virtual world. This accurate and precise data from the virtual world is essential to transform the product in the real world into a much effective, efficient product. 

Even the entire product documentation can be offered through AR technology nowadays thus eliminating paper or written catalogues. Customers who purchased a product can log in to its AR application, scan the product and get detailed information on how to use the product. It provides the users with a convenient way to recognize objects, then utilizes easy information from the internet, rather than reading pages of documented white paper or catalogues. 

This AR strategy can be employed by a small electronic retail shop or even a large automobile manufacturing company, to provide detailed information about their vehicles. It is also more fun for the users as it provides a more immersive and entertaining experience that enhances customer services and user satisfaction. 

Conclusion

Augmented and immersive technologies not only attract people but also help automate several strategies that people thought were impossible. It helps doctors perform remote surgeries, help customers understand any product or service. It helps industries and product manufacturers in letting consumers explore or interact more with the people and products to make better decisions. 

Such innovative technologies will impact our lives at a greater pace, therefore businesses must think ahead and find ways to implement AR, VR, AI services and ML in improving their business efficiency.