Virtual reality isn’t only about gaming: real case studies in real companies

We’re still convinced Virtual Reality is about gaming consoles, but the business reality is different. Leaving the “hype area”, it is now a technology been applied more and more to companies in different industries.

What we need to know is that from now on Virtual Reality won’t be only a trend anymore. VR and AR are going to be applied to businesses and companies projects in a practical and efficient way.
In this article, you’ll find a bunch of real examples and practical cases about applications in VR and the benefits they’ve brought to international businesses (if you want to know more about real cases you shouldn’t miss out on the European Summit on Emerging Technologies which will be held in Milan on 25–26 March 2020, tickets here)

What are the projections of VR?

The size of the global VR market is today 16$ billions, with an estimated growth of 78$ billions in 2026: a turnover which won’t only be referred to games and the entertainment industry. Even if today the majority of VR developers works in games, the application of those technologies to companies in different industries is growing very fast.

The B2B space is becoming even more important compared to consumers, with an estimated growth of 134% compared to +69% in the B2C market.
On top of education and training, which more than other will benefit from this technology, we can find the industrial maintenance and the retail sectors, showing that is indeed in companies that we can find the most interesting opportunities to apply virtual reality.

VR in B2C

Thanks to Virtual Reality companies and people can work with a fraction of costs and improved security.

Easily integrated into classrooms, VR is a powerful tech tool to help students learning the story of the old roman empire or to simulate Saturn’s rings, and the learning results are even better than computers.
Not only for humans: Toyota is using VR to train robots as in-home helpers, allowing human teachers to see what the robot is seeing live, in 3D, from its sensors.

Engaging users in virtual reality can also happen during a real-world experience, for example, while admiring Giotto’s frescoes, or by reviving the famous Mona Lisa’s story at Louvre. Children can also be entertained at museums thanks to personalised experiences, that’s the idea of Musemio, a London-based startup presented at EICS 2019.

Facebook has also announced of working towards this goal: soon we’ll be able to move our hands in the real world generating a consequent impact in the virtual life. Not mentioning the fact of watching matches of our favourite team sharing the virtual sofa with our friends and family!

The possibility of engaging with consumers on multiple levels is particularly interesting for marketers as it allows sharing brand values by let people living them instead of communicating them. And this is becoming particularly interesting as also The Drum says that consumers are going to be creators and not only clients anymore.

Crédit Agricole has recently developed a VR experience to engage with their customers during a new opening in Verona, allowing them to virtually exploring London or Paris and feeling like they were connected to the world in a few seconds.
The Edge is an immersive adventure challenging our personal limits allowing companies during new openings or company events to connect with their customers on an emotional level.
We’re still figuring out how immersive advertising will look like, but say that it’s a bit more intrusive than the traditional one, my advice is to act with caution.

VR in B2B

In B2B there are even more opportunities to apply and use Virtual Reality, to improve efficiencies, team working and save money.
Here the latest case studies:

• Virtual reality allows more efficient corporate training, helping managers to improve their soft skills facing specific situations with their team members.
• Thanks to VR teams can be securely trained, helping people to manage security issues they can find during their remote work, for example at Nokia and Electrolux;
• technical meetings and instructions can be held more efficiently and effectively as, instead of having to organise them in risky areas, they can be managed virtually, for example when there are offshore platforms or particularly risky maintenance jobs involved;
• VR can simulate how an idea can be developed and its impact on a project. It’s what happens at Boeing, where virtual reality is applied to optimise tests and inspection processes. It’s also used at Adidas, to develop new models helping the communication and the cross-functional teams collaboration.
• VR shows how complex projects can be managed and get an easier comprehension on how they work and they can be sold, as it’s happened with Riedl Phasys, the Pharmacy Automation SyStem launched by the GPI/Riedl group and a virtual reality experience developed by Uqido.

If you want to learn more about real cases on VR, AR and how emerging technologies are shaping the future of businesses, you shouldn’t miss out on the European Summit on Emerging Technologies which will be held in Milan on 25–26 March 2020, tickets here.
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