Always, there has been a fundamental gap between the wealth of information available to us and the real world to which the data is applied. While the digital data we have are plain and limited to screens and folders, the reality is three-dimensional. Augmented Reality has filled the gap between reality and digital data by superimposing the information to the objects as they happen, right in front of us. No wonder why Augmented Reality in businesses, though in its infancy, has hit close to USD 60 billion today.
The cost-effectiveness of AR technology is one of the primary reasons businesses are looking at the innovative use of the technology as an opportunity. Augmented Reality is both economical and enticing enough to allure the targeted audience or customers. Again, the stats say that AR is expected to grow at a phenomenal rate, touching $198 billion by 2025.
Top industries that use Augmented Reality to boost their business
Though AR has been quite raging these days and almost all industry verticals have grabbed an opportunity to integrate the contemporary technology in their marketing campaign and better user-experience drive, here are a few industries where Augmented Reality has been used innovatively.
Retail
The retail industry is one of the frontrunners in terms of using AR to boost its revenue. The industry participants are using AR Technology to enhance the shopping experience on both online stores as well as the brick and mortar ones.
A classic example includes that of the motorcycle giant Harley Davidson to what customization is a significant revenue drawing approach. To help customers customize their favorite Harley, the motorcycle major teamed up with Marxent. Together, they built an iPad app that allows the customers to try out various combinations of body types, lights, seats, graphics, and other options. The app helps Harley fanatics realize their dream of a truly custom bike, right from the comfort of their living rooms.
Ikea, the leading furniture retailer, is adopting AR to help its customers choose the right furniture for their homes and offices. One of the primary reasons Ikea was losing customers is that nobody today had the time or the inclination to go on a 3-hour expedition in an Ikea store to find the right piece of furniture. Ikea was slow to adopt digital technologies, a reason which hit its e-commerce sales hard. Ikea then launched an app called Ikea Place, which allows the users to see whether a piece of furniture would look good in their actual place or not.
Michael Valdsgaard, the Ex Senior VP of Digital Transformation at Inter Ikea, says, “Most people postpone a purchase of a new sofa because they're not comfortable deciding if they aren't sure the color is going to match the rest of the room, or it fits the style”. “Now, we can give them those answers in their hands, while letting them have fun with home furnishing for free and with no effort,” he concluded.
The global consumer goods manufacturer Unilever is using AR to train its workforce. The company estimates that it will lose around 330 years of combined work experience in only one of its European workstations when its workforce retires. The old hands have an expertise level, which they have acquired after years of service. The new hires do not possess the same level of expertise, which can prove costly for the company. Envisioning this scenario, the company decided to train the new hires in the presence of a remote expert. According to Unilever's management, due to AR tools, the company has seen a 50% reduction in downtime.
Airlines
One of the most critical tasks while building an airplane is the wiring of the plane. It is a complex task that has to be carried out with meticulous precision as the probability of rectifying a wiring fault 30,000 feet in the air is pretty slim.
Typically, the engineers would refer to 20 feet long paper diagrams while doing their work. The process is so complex that it is quite difficult to do it all correct at the very first time; ultimately, such a procedure results in significant rework and rewiring of the entire aircraft.
In the modern-day Boeing factory, one can find engineers wiring the plane using the Microsoft Hololens. The apparatus provides digital 3D wiring diagrams directly on the parts that the engineers are wiring. According to initial studies, the AR technology improves the first-time wiring quality by 90% and cuts the time required to wire the plane by 30%. Boeing says that the AR technology helps in saving millions of dollars per aircraft.
Healthcare
AR is helping to improve the quality of patient treatment in the healthcare industry by enhancing medical professionals' performance. AR helps medical professionals to understand a patient's condition better by overlaying CT scans and other images onto a patient's body.
Today's surgeons are equipped with AR glasses that allow them to stay focused on a task while the vital information is being fed to them. AR tech is playing a pivotal role in training future medical professionals. The students at the Cleveland Clinic are learning about the nuances of the human body by using AR headsets.
Doctors at St. Mary's hospital and the Imperial College in London use Microsoft Hololens AR glasses to perform reconstructive surgery on patients who suffered grave injuries. Another good example is Accuvein, a unique product that helps the nurses to find veins quickly by using AR.
Logistics
DHL, one of the world's largest logistics companies, has equipped its staff with smart AR glasses. These AR glasses allow the team to locate, scan, sort, and move the goods without using handheld scanners or referring to paper forms. The display provides vital information regarding the parcel to the workers allowing them to be 15% more productive. DHL is rolling out the glasses to its locations worldwide, and according to its Supply Chain COO, Markus Voss, the company plans to upgrade the glasses with object recognition.
Jan Cirullies, the head of logistics at the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering in Germany, believes that one of the major applications for AR in warehouses is to support operational processes, either as a permanent tool or as a temporary tool. The pick by Vision Technology is one example of AR technology in action. The AR devices are utilized to highlight individual boxes or shelf locations from which the worker needs to pick.
Skoda is another company that uses AR Technology to assist its staff in material picking. The technology provides information that empowers the team in removing process errors. Continue Reading on Top industries that use Augmented Reality to boost their business.
