Virtual Reality can support a business
VR or Virtual Reality sounds like science fiction, largely because it is often associated with Oculus Quest or Play Station games or fictional and cinematic references like Minority Report, Ready Player One, etc. A couple of years ago, in of one the episodes of the popular sitcom FRIENDS, David Schwimmer’s character Ross talked about a world where our memories and thoughts would be uploaded on a computer; cut to the year 2016, Netflix released an episode titled San Junipero on its sci-fi show Blackmirror that had same baseline – a virtual world where human brains along with its memories and active thoughts were uploaded on a cloud machine that allowed characters to live in a digital city called San Junipero.
While these are popular fictional references to Virtual Reality and what it could do, however, in reality, VR has grown beyond the idea or concept form. Virtual Reality has found a ground beyond theories, stories and video games; VR is now becoming an integral part of education and business sectors serving enterprises of all kinds and sizes.
Contemporary cinema halls with their 4D and 3D movie experiences too have been offering a taste of VR through seats that vibrate and the sensory experience like wind and scene-associated odors.
To understand how VR can impact modern businesses is it essential, to begin with the basic question:
What is Virtual Reality?
Virtual Reality or VR is a digital environment created and designed in a way to simulate reality to such an extent that everything appears so real that a person experiencing forgets it’s just a view into a computer-generated environment.
The ability to create a fully immersive artificial environment to deliver a surrounding that can connect or bring people from different time zone or cities to the same table, is how VR is attracting businesses and institutions like travel and education.
VR works with a VR headset, VR glasses, or VR helmet which then transports a person, wearing the gear, into a digital but real-world powered by simulation of a reality-based surrounding or environment.
How Virtual Reality can help a business grow?
Truth is even before VR’s current expansion in different sectors and industries, most organizations are already experiencing a bit of VR and AR (Augmented Reality) via low-key tools like Zoom meetings or Google Street view.
VR can impact multiple businesses and has the potential to change the course of entertainment, sales, marketing and education. Here top 3 ways Virtual Reality can help a business:
Remote Conferences
Virtual Reality is the perfect way to cut costs and time travel associated with face-to-face meetings and conferences. VR makes the new era of digital conferencing easier and more productive, as clients or colleagues can all be present in the same space or room while being in a remote location. Unlike video conferencing, VR-powered conferencing offers a clearer ability to read body language, facial reactions, and expressions.
HR Training and interviews
Any aspect of the physical world when it comes to HR sessions, training or hiring can all be performed in a VR or simulated digital space. VR has the potential to innovate the way HRM or Human Resource Management works, by making it possible to arrange candidate interviews and hiring rounds in a VR space without the hassle of arranging the availability of interviewee and interviewer at the same location. HRM can also include immersive training and teaching by integrating VR simulation into the program. Enterprises with multiple departments and offices can make the most of the immersive and interactive features of a virtual space.
Sales & Marketing
VR has the potential to redefine the customer experience by allowing them to try or explore the product in a digital space before buying it. Travel or hotel industries can use VR to create a digital variant of their services which will allow a customer to use VR gear to explore the hotel, the room, and the services by being in a simulation before making a booking. eCommerce websites or fashion houses can use Virtual Reality to allow a customer to enter the simulation with their avatar, try the jacket or shoes or the dress on display, and see the fit and comfort, before making a purchase. Furniture or real-estate sectors too can offer a display of furniture or offer an open house via simulation view to attract customers, create more sales-boosting presentations and engage buyers with more appeal.
These are just a few of many examples; Virtual Reality has the power to change how shopping can be done, irrespective of the product, thus becoming a sales driven and marketing driven tool.
Testing Prototypes
A lot of companies are busy creating or innovating and VR gives an ideal space for testing the prototypes, their performance or durability with various factors in a simulation. This digital testing of product designs, prototypes or models is safer, quicker and cost-effective. Manufacturers around the world can benefit from product-driven VR testing for their prototypes to explore the possibility of innovation, new features, design modifications, etc.
So, what’s the future of VR?
Virtual Reality is here to stay, and to offer modern solutions to modern problems. ECommerce, Entertainment, Travel, IT, Hotels, Hospitality, Training institutions, Medical and Banking sectors are a few of the many areas where VR has already begun to prove of great assistance.