How we are going to use X Actuality (XR) in enterprise
Are you ready for X Reality? It also comes along with a host of exciting business and marketing opportunities.
Here's what it is, why it matters, and how you can use it to grow your business.
What is X reality?
X Reality is the abbreviation for Extended Reality. Sometimes referred to as cross reality, it is a convergence of the real, physical world around us and a digital world or space.
One way to think about it is to combine a digital or virtual experience with a physical one. There are many different ways this can work, but as technology evolves the possibilities explode.
Let's take a moment to get a better idea of what we're talking about. Have you ever taken a tour of a museum wearing headphones that provide an audible experience while walking? All of a sudden it sounds like you are walking through the Wild West or wherever that experience is taking place.
Now add visual elements and other physically interactive elements. Perhaps you can actually touch the salon doors or watch the scenes change as you walk down the dusty street. You can draw your gun for a duel.
Imagine having these experiences even when you are not in the museum. Maybe it's in your own garden. Or the main street of your hometown. Your reality has merged with the virtual one. Your reality is expanded.
The technology that enables these immersive reality experiences is constantly evolving, bringing our reality closer to the virtual experience.
Certain hardware may be required to get the full X-Reality experience. Again, remember to improve the physical with the digital. You may need tools to provide this combined experience. Typical hardware can include a tablet such as an iPad, smartphone, headset, headphones, or other body wear, including gloves, and so on.
The details reflect the specific experience and what you want to achieve for the user. Some augmented reality experiences are simpler, while others are more involved and haunting.
In many ways, it's the future of marketing. Regardless of what marketing campaign you develop, the goal is to get your brand known and show your target market how they can't live without your brand. Augmented reality opens up a world of opportunities to interact with products, services and brands.
X Reality can support your brand growth not only in the sales funnel at the introductory level. It can help you increase brand awareness, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, word of mouth, referrals, and more.
Here are some ways it can be used in your business:
- Train your staff to prepare for difficult or difficult customer service situations.
- Equip your sales team with tools to connect customers with the best options.
- Let customers "try out" a product beforehand.
- Connect personal buyers with digital information.
- Create new designs or products in a virtual world.
- Bring some amount of fun to your brand.
As X-Reality continues to grow, the entire marketing ecosystem will also evolve and ask us to act on it. Everything from stationary experiences to SEO is influenced by X-Reality.
AR vs. VR vs. MR: The Three Types of X-Reality
X-Reality is a generic term that can refer to any of these terms: Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR). While these are sometimes used interchangeably, the specifics may vary and they have precise definitions. Let's dive in.
expanded reality
Augmented Reality is about overlaying the real world and the experiences of the physical world around us with virtual or digital improvements. Augmenting means making something bigger or better. So augmented reality means somehow making the things you see around you better, depending on your definition of better.
It's a way to simultaneously interact with the people and things around you and a digital space, often using the camera of a smartphone or mobile device to interact.
Virtual reality
Virtual reality refers to interactive, immersive experiences that are computer generated. Virtual reality experiences are about complete digital worlds that represent a kind of escape or separation from the real world rather than an overlay. Virtual reality requires hardware so that the user can jump into the virtual world. These tools can include a headset, viewer, glasses or goggles, and other items such as gloves. With these the user can simulate experiences in his virtual world and thereby include his own body and his own movement.
Mixed reality
Mixed reality is exactly what it sounds like. It's a mix of the virtual and the physical world. According to Microsoft, when it comes to the spectrum of the physical and virtual worlds, the mixed reality is in the middle. It's also in the middle of virtual reality and augmented reality. It takes place with a foot or a digital foot in every room.
In the mixed reality, a lot of technological developments are currently advancing. While it's easy to find examples of AR or VR, mixed reality is more about bringing those concepts together and using all the tools and technology we need to create even more exciting experiences.
How AR, VR and MR differ
While these three concepts differ slightly in their starting points and the tools required to make them work, they all have one thing in common: they are about expanding a digital world into our daily lives with greater ease and more seamless connections.
These three types of X-Reality offer the opportunity to provide your customers with a better user experience throughout the sales process so that you can ultimately achieve your own brand goals.
5 ways to use X Reality in business
As fun and enjoyable as it is to use X Reality, there are also powerful and exciting ways to incorporate the technology into your business to support your sales goals. Using Augmented Reality will keep you up to date and set you apart from your competition who may be slow to adopt them.
It also presents opportunities for your customers and your team. Here are just a few ideas to get you thinking.
1. Product content management
When it comes to staying organized with everything you create and sell, your product content management system is the heartbeat of it all. Regardless of whether it is a spreadsheet or integrated software, this is where you store all the details, facts and data behind each product.
This is where X Reality can take your product management system to the next level. Imagine that you can react to the needs and product requirements of your customers in virtual 3D space. This interactive design is growing in popularity and allows teams to tweak or try new designs to simulate a real world without the cost or ability to actually create elements.
This is especially useful for large-scale products that are too large or too expensive to prototype. Plus, the entire team has the opportunity to actually interact with a product, so you don't have to slow down, collect questions, enter the numbers and make the changes you need. This saves time and brings the proof of concept faster.
These digitally connected X-Reality systems offer an additional benefit. You can connect to your product content management system and exchange data. You can track all specifications of your current products as well as all information about products in development in real time.
2. Remote team building and collaboration
Remote teams benefit from a variety of technologies to communicate and stay in touch, including video conferencing and instant messaging.
However, there's nothing like speaking in person and interacting with the rest of the team and the actual products. PromoLeaf conducted a survey and found that 72 percent of respondents preferred an in-person conference in their industry rather than an online conference. In the youngest group they interviewed, ages 16 to 24, 84 percent preferred to be personal.
X Reality can help bring these opposing options together by making it seem like remote workers are in the same place, collaborating on projects.
3. Product preview
We have all felt the need to "try before you buy" when it comes to new products. It's just not clothes, tools, or the latest smartphone. How about furniture, cars, houses, and more? Does that seem too far out of reach?
Not with X reality. With the help of emerging technologies, brands can create apps that allow you to view and interact with a product yourself. Now you can test our furniture at your home before buying it. You can get your ideal car down the streets of your morning commute before it's even created. You can walk through your dream home while you are still on the other side of the country or the world. Imagine all the possibilities.
From in-app devices to headset-enabled simulators, you can “be there” without being there and trying before it even exists.
4. Interactive advertising
X Reality has so many fun benefits to get people talking. Sometimes these functions alone can be the reason to take them on.
Using X Reality in your advertising can allow the public to interact in different ways and help you come across as more authentic than other ads. It can also get people talking and add extra exposure to your ad.
Brands have tried all sorts of things, including bringing a printed item to life through an app. Suddenly your magazine or brochure is interactive or other videos. Other brands have used augmented reality and large screens to welcome passers-by and viewers to interact with virtual characters. Others use social media filters and other features to showcase their brands.
5. Train your team
The store is full of training. From security and regulatory training to sales conversion and customer service training, providing your team with the most relevant information is critical.
With X Reality, your team can do more than just talk about situations. You can walk through them together and interact with people and products. They can even simulate potentially dangerous situations without putting them in danger, and still gain the experience and confidence they need to be ready for real life.
Examples of X Reality
Have you already experienced reality yourself? Here are some examples of some of the most talked about.
Pokémon Go
Pokémon Go put augmented reality on the radar for all of us. Through the lens of a mobile device, the world could suddenly be full of Pokémon characters. This game demonstrated how entertainment and X Reality can boost small local businesses, with real-world locations signing up as Pokéstops and gyms.
IKEA app
With IKEA Place, customers can "place" IKEA furniture in their own space and see how it looks and fits. It sets the bar for other furniture makers by offering a service that others may not have integrated yet. Plus, it's fun to use. Even if people aren't ready to buy just yet, they can play around the app to see what it's about.
Warby Parker
Warby Parker also took the opportunity to have customers try them on before buying. An app allows customers to view any number of Warby Parker glasses.
It's not just a snapshot with overlaid frames, but a real-time interactive experience where customers can move their heads, look from all angles, and then attract another couple.
Conclusion
X Reality is a fun idea that seems geared towards games and entertainment, but is tailored for business and online marketing. From product development to customer service, augmented reality can transform the way we interact with our brands, our customers, our team, and our world.
As the business world evolves, there are many reasons to believe that augmented reality will be part of that equation.
How will you incorporate X Reality into your brand?
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