Innovating Boring Companies — How AR Glasses will Bring Intelligence Augmentation for the Super Human in these 5 Types of Companies
Have you been wondering what the future will look like when AR glasses come to mass market?
I’ve been obsessed with Augmented Reality, which is why I speak to experts in AR/VR/XR weekly and take notes on use cases that will make AR glasses a must have device for work, life and home.
Before I jump into the use-cases and benefits, I want to address the headline I chose in using ‘Boring Companies’ to give context. I’ve been following Codie Sanchez’s Newsletter, Contrarian Thinking. She has been teaching thousands of people how to invest and build cash-flowing businesses.
Unlike most Tweets in my feed about startup x raising millions all to see they are just burning cash, she has open my eyes to the possibility to innovate from within an organisation. From buying a car-wash and implementing a solid digital marketing strategy to acquiring & rolling up similar companies to increase value of a company. I like to keep an eye out for interesting companies she talks about as a way to explore taking companies into the future with immersive technology.
Here’s a quick tweet thread that explains what she means when talking about boring businesses:
Now that we got the boring business elephant in the room addressed. I’m going to flip on over to what Intelligence Augmentation (IA) is.
If you are reading this, chances are you understand what Artificial Intelligence (AI) is. Here is how I look and understand AI, “machine behaviour” that, ultimately, allows machines to be “taught” to learn human characteristics. This is the broad concept to which IA is under.
Now, you are probably thinking AI, IA. What’s the difference, Casie?
Intelligence augmentation is deployed when technology is used to support and complement human cognitive functions. IA places humans at the core of the system and decision-making, whereas AI places technology at the core.
Where can we help humans?
- assisting and promoting human capabilities
- expanding human creativity
- we can blend the results of AI algorithms and lead humans to enhance their performance
Where can we help humans in Boring Businesses?
I would like to point out that I do not have a full view of what can be done with these boring businesses. I do have brothers and extended family who own these types of businesses for 3 generations back home in Wisconsin. I have talked about AR with them in attempts to persuade them that I don’t walk around with a toaster on my head.
So this is not a comprehensive list of what can be done in these boring businesses, just ideas that hopefully someone will run with.
Let’s get to it, shall we?
1. HVAC Businesses
In some markets, HVAC businesses are seasonal. This provides us with an opportunity for HVAC professionals in one location to remotely assist a professional in another climate to provide income during the low seasons.
HVAC contractors typically aim for about a 12 percent net margin for profitability, when in-season rates reflect the demand. Charging higher for an HVAC professional who can be trained on-the-job in AR glasses with a remote expert walking them through the service.
Perhaps there’s a whole new business model here, augmenting the intelligence of the expert along with the AI tools to help identify what is wrong. Then, prompt them to fix it.
2. Autobody
My father was an Auto-body instructor at Gateway Technical College for 39 years before he retired. Growing up, I remember watching my father grade paper after paper. This boggled my mind that in order to sand, grind, paint a fender on a car you had to first remember what tools you had to use on a piece of paper to write out everything. I knew back then people learned how to do things differently but in the 80’s not much was talked about in this area. I learned best by moving my body. I was a high level gymnast. I didn’t have to write things down on paper or remember how to spell them to be able to do it. So I thought (and still do), this was just bonkers.
BONKERS!
Now, we have a little bit more information about kinesthetics learning and other modes of learning. But this brings me to question if these students had dyslexia or learning disabilities that effected language processing?
What if students today have them?
How do we change the way we teach and train to cut down on time and give students the confidence to learn in a 3D virtual space before putting tools to the physical car parts?
Another challenge that I saw my father go through was with the hands-on training as getting vehicles to fix took time, money to tow in or store until it was time to train.
AR/XR Training for Auto-body Instruction & Training may be an option to overcome those challenges.
3. Landscaping
Another ‘boring’ cash-flowing business can adopt AR technology to benefit not only the bottom line but also increase the experience for customers.
My brother’s landscaping business is situated in a small community where he struggles to find workers. Most are jack-of-all-tradespeople that need 1 on 1 training to learn the ropes. This is a massive challenge when he has an influx of clients during the summer months and he’s the type of business owner who likes to give a 5 star service when speaking to clients.
A typical workflow for him is to survey the land, taking measurements with a 1000 ft measuring tape wheel. This can take anywhere from an hour to a few hours depending on the size of the land. Additionally, there are trees, hills, holes, creeks and lakes that make irregular shapes.
He takes pictures with his phone & videos to take back to the office and map it out in a software. This takes days and even weeks to for him to come up with a visual plan.
I’ve asked my brother to imagine putting on a pair of glasses that can map out the land, measure and create a 3D model of the clients’ land that can be input into his software for designing. He mentioned that this would be great because it means he didn’t have to be there. He could hire someone with less skills for landscaping but someone who is good with customers. (Not all his workers have the best customer service, hence he is normally talking to them.)
Going further, customers might even have the ability to do the scans themselves. Send in the scan & get a quotation.
There are many more use-cases for landscaping that could be explored in training and on-site construction but I’ll move on to the next boring business.
4. Snow Plow & Removal
If you’ve ever been to Wisconsin from Oct — May there’s a good chance you’ve gotten hit with snow. Yes, it does snow in May sometimes. That’s why many landscaping businesses turn to snow removal during those months where you just can’t work with the frozen land.
When the snow covers walk-ways, sidewalks it also covers EVERYTHING to the point where someone who doesn’t know what it looks like uncovered would remove not only the snow but everything the shovel or plow touches.
Property damage comes at a big cost for home-owner/business owners and the snow removal companies or contractors.
Could AR glasses provide an assistance in this case?
OR
Could AR windshields be the next step for snow plows?
I would like to see someone try to make these.
5. Tractor/Combine Mechanics
When a tractor or combine’s engine takes a poop in the middle of a job, there’s not much you can do but wait.
There’s the call for help.
Then, there’s the call for a suitable mechanic who is free or to schedule that time which could be days or the following week.
Sometimes a mechanic will show up, but there’s a missing part so they will have to go back, order it & wait for the part to arrive. Things could be worse, they need someone more experienced to call and come to diagnose what is wrong. This starts that process over again.
What if someone could be deployed at the time of the initial call for help? What if they had glasses that could identify the problem, show them what needs to be fixed and offer a way to order those parts right then & there?
Could John Deere or Case offer AR glasses to product owners as an instruction manual & parts ordering system that also offer a safety layer for personal protection?
If we build it, will they come?
If you think there is a possibility, I would like to invite you to the 5G Catalyst Summit on 29 Nov — 3 Dec. This is a FREE weeklong summit for anyone interested in piloting, launching & commercialising 5G enabled AR, VR, XR & Metaverse applications.
Frasier Bowie of NuEyes Technology has inspired this post from his session on “Building the Superhuman with AR Glasses”. You’ll want to check him out and the 25+ more speakers talking on topics such as funding, partnership consortiums, grant programs in the age of uncertainty and practical case studies on how to land enterprise clients with creating outreach and content.
More speaker sessions are being added daily so expect to see updates on the regular for the month leading up to the event.
Join us, it will be fun!
