Extended Reality Is Changing How We Do Business

Since the first VR headset was created in 1968, the world has seen significant technological growth. Extended reality (XR) is currently a truly exciting field to be a part of. Now, immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have allowed us to explore new ways of living by merging both the physical and virtual worlds. As we move forward, these technologies will continue to evolve and shape the world that we live in.

Recent announcements from the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona have signalled that these areas will be seeing significant growth soon. Thanks to the capabilities of 5G, XR will continue to evolve and become an increasingly important component of society. We’ll be seeing it on our phones, in our homes, and even in the workplace.

Extended Reality Will Change How We Do Business

“All areas of XR, be it virtual reality, augmented reality, or 360 videos, give users the chance to immerse themselves in something new and out of this world. It allows them to be told stories in a way that they have never experienced before,” says Cheryl Whetsel, author at Researchpaperuk and Last Minute Writing.

This field is only going to continue to expand, and no company will want to be left behind. Improvements in XR and all that it entails will give businesses a stronger incentive to be more creative with how they approach consumers. It will give them a chance to do bigger and more exciting things to change not only how they do business, but how they engage potential customers as well.

Mainly, it will transform how marketers share stories with their audience by immersing them in XR. As this area of technology continues to expand and become more easily obtainable, this will only continue to become a more popular strategy for businesses. Along with that, we can safely assume that it may even become commonplace in the coming years.

Advantages for Businesses

It’s not only marketing that will see a huge shift thanks to extended reality. Every sector of business will soon be changing. This is all down to the widespread use of smartphones which are becoming increasingly powerful and capable of performing impressive tasks. Since everyone has a smartphone, businesses will soon be able to reach people from all over the globe and captivate them using XR.

“Some companies have even jumped onto this trend already. IKEA, for example, has launched an app that allows potential customers to see whether the furniture that they like suits their home interiors through the use of augmented reality,” says Mildred Carter, creative director at Draftbeyond and Writinity.

Further down the line, we’ll be seeing more and more companies following in IKEA’s footsteps. In addition to augmented reality apps for furniture, XR will transcend into many different fields as its abilities grow. In the next five years, we can expect that it will be used in banking, healthcare, manufacturing, and just about any other field.

Wrapping Up

The most recent MWC has given us a lot to discuss in regard to the progression of immersive technologies. The announcements of Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 and Azure Kinect have shown us just how much these technologies have advanced in such a short time. In addition to that, Qualcomm’s new, immersive, 5G smartphone has begun the technological renaissance that could lead XR technologies to become a normal part of everyday life.

Extended reality is changing so much of how we go about our days and is already transforming how we do business too. In the near future, we’ll be seeing so many more advantages for businesses everywhere. Whether it’s changing how things are designed, how companies run their businesses, or how they connect with consumers, XR will become an integral part of it all.