The growing push towards immersive technology has been solidified by many forecasts favorably leaning towards their exponential growth in coming years. One such report by analyst Omar Akhtar reveals that the combined market size for VR and AR is predicted to grow from $18 billion (2018) to $215 billion by 2021. The promising statistics are causing businesses to question how they can optimize the benefits of VR in their favor.
“The sooner your company understands the language of Virtual/ Augmented Reality and becomes fluent in recognizing possibilities, the faster they’ll master how to react to the changing wave.”
~ Emily Olman, CEO of VR/Ar at Hopscotch Interactive
There’s no doubt that VR holds immense potential in its DNA and can potentially change the genetics of the world as we know it. Here are 3 of the many ways businesses can use Virtual Reality for their benefit:
Revolutionizing Sales: Try Before You Buy
Automobile industry has been capitalizing on VR simulators for quite a while. Corporations such as Ford and Audi have already entered the virtual reality market to capture the interest of their customers, cementing their image of innovation-driven businesses. VR test drives are not limited to the car manufacturing industry alone. Rather, if your company manufactures and sells any kind of product, chances are that you can attract your target audience in an entirely new way. Because getting the option to bring designs to life in virtual reality, without buying it and regretting it later, is a huge plus for the customers.
It’s not a question of if but when the companies will adopt the strategy and the ones who keep up with the changing waves are more likely to thrive than the companies that fail to change with time.
Education & Training: Retain What You Learn
While VR has taken the gaming world by storm, it has also made significant developments in education and training fields. Over the past few years, several institutes have adopted virtual reality learning to bridge the gap between hands-on learning and theoretical education through immersive learning simulations. VR learning is closest to the natural way of learning things, which is why it has been observed that students learning through immersive technologies have a higher retention rate than others who use the conventional teaching model.
Virtual reality has also proved its worth and efficiency in training employees, offering them a close to real-life experience through simulations. Employees learn by doing instead of just reading through learning material and are observed to do better in their jobs than otherwise.
Virtual Tourism: A Sight For Sore Eyes
Traveling is probably one of the most coveted lifestyles for countless people across the globe. But, not everyone can afford to pack up and leave to explore the wonders of the world. This is where VR for tourism comes in. Companies are now coming up with VR experiences for people, promoting their virtual tourism “as good as the real thing”.
Virtual tourists can enjoy all the things they would in real life, from taking a stroll on a beach to feeling the ocean breezes and natural sounds with the rapidly advancing gear being designed to make VR feel more immersive.