Moving far beyond gaming, augmented reality and virtual reality can create value in health care, manufacturing, retail, and other industries. But winning with AR and VR means carefully identifying—and integrating—the right strategy, technology, data, and operating model.
AR and VR technology transforms how you visualize and use data, sparking innovation, efficiency, and competitive advantage. And it’s industry agnostic. Using AR and VR, retailers can fulfill orders faster and more accurately. Surgeons can perform operations more precisely. Models for remote work and assistance—more crucial than ever given our changed world—become more accurate and more effective. The benefits of AR and VR—and the combination of the two through mixed reality—are evolving, growing, and ready to be seized.
But AR and VR technology is not plug-and-play. Companies that realize the full value of augmented reality and virtual reality get a lot of things right. They identify just how AR and VR can be applied to their challenges and goals. They understand how to integrate it with their data, business models, and people and organization. And they move quickly—but effectively—from concept to pilot to scale.
There are a lot of misconceptions about augmented and virtual reality: It’s just for gamers. It puts you in a virtual world. It requires cumbersome headsets. But today’s AR and VR technology is multifaceted—and tailor-made for the business world.
Augmented Reality
AR keeps you in the physical world but overlays your field of vision with digital information through wearable or handheld systems—for example, displaying sensor readings and maintenance instructions as you perform a repair. The field is evolving rapidly, and it is brimming with business potential: AR puts relevant data in reach and in context—enhancing capabilities and insights.
Virtual Reality
Fully immersive, VR uses a head-mounted display to place you in a computer-generated environment, where you can view and manipulate virtual objects. VR completely blocks out the physical world, which works well for some uses—such as training soldiers or oil and gas workers in risk-free surroundings—but means you can’t interact with objects in the real world.
Mixed Reality
Melding augmented reality with virtual reality, MR lets you interact with digital objects within your physical environment. A neurosurgeon, for instance, might manipulate a 3D MRI scan projected above a patient. Mixed-reality systems use sophisticated imaging—built into smart glasses or head-mounted displays—to superimpose virtual elements on your field of vision. They avoid the isolation of VR systems while providing more digital augmentation than AR.
Winning with AR and VR means linking strategy, technology, and execution. We help companies identify where—and how—AR and VR can support a business process, model, or goal, and then move quickly into prototyping and implementation.
It’s an agile, launch-and-learn process that plays out in several phases:
At the same time, we work with companies to make the changes to roles, organization, and platforms that let them master the use of AR and VR in business.
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Through sensors in everyday—and not-so-everyday—devices, the Internet of Things (IoT) generates an enormous volume of data. Augmented reality and virtual reality put data into view, context, and use in real time. That makes for a strong link between IoT and AR and VR. It also generates virtually unlimited business applications, such as order picking, AR-enhanced surgery, and digital twins, enabling a next-generation approach to modeling and monitoring plant operations, supply chains, and other complex systems.
Our AR and VR consulting team leverages BCG’s expertise in IoT as well as data and digital platforms to help companies develop solutions that unlock the full potential of their data. But because technology is only part of the equation, we also work with companies on the factors that are critical to winning with IoT and AR and VR, including data governance, people and organization changes, agile at scale, artificial intelligence, and digital transformation.
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Telefónica’s Maurice Conti roams widely through fields as diverse as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, synthetic biology, and the future of work.
