The Return to The Workplace May Be Shaped By AR/VR
By
Scott Likens, Emerging Technology Leader, PwC

For most businesses, money is tight, and many employees are working from home because of COVID-19’s shelter-in-place rules. This new environment calls for upskilling, as many employees desperately need — and are eager for — training on new tools, apps and soft skills. Currently, however, sending workers to a classroom for in-person training is out of the question.

Given today’s reality, this may be a good time for businesses to turn to two previously undervalued technologies that offer benefits in training and other areas: augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). These technologies can help organizations train their employees safely and productively — without breaking the budget.

Augmented reality overlays digital content and images (such as instructions for operating equipment) on a user’s view of the physical world by using a mobile device, headset or smart glasses. In contrast, virtual reality immerses trainees in an environment that’s similar to a classroom, but without its distractions. VR enables individuals to practice in a safe, comfortable environment, which is especially important in leadership courses or for training on topics like diversity and inclusion, where learners can practice having important — but challenging and potentially difficult — interactions with a virtual human (avatar). Having the ability to keep trying a task till they get it right (without any judgments) makes employees feel more comfortable — and more confident in their decisions.

AR and VR work well together. For example, teams from a variety of locations can collaborate in a single virtual space to accelerate business or product development and agile project management. Teams can now easily explore, test and evaluate different product concepts without having to invest time and money creating physical prototypes, which, in turn, could enable companies to bring products and services to market faster and less expensively.

Enhancing Skills While Cutting Costs 

Until recently, VR has been used primarily for simulation training, such as learning safety procedures, simulating flights, and operating and maintaining equipment. Now, however, companies are also using VR for soft-skills training, such as handling employee interviews, building resilience, managing change and developing inclusive managers.

In today’s budget-strapped environment, it’s also essential to consider the cost of training employees. VR did well there, too. At 375 learners, PwC’s recent VR study found VR training achieved cost parity with classroom learning. At 3,000 learners, VR training became 52% more cost-effective than classroom training, and, at 1,950 learners, it achieved cost parity with e-learn courses. The more people a company trains using VR, the higher the return will be in terms of employee time saved during training.

Another cost consideration is that virtual reality no longer requires a complex, expensive setup: VR systems are now priced at only about 20% of what they cost two years ago.

During this time of working from home, VR headsets will need to be shipped to employees, picked up and sanitized by a company that decontaminates the units, and then sent to other workers. This is still more cost-effective — and respectful of employees’ time and safety — than requiring them to travel to an office facility or training center.

Going Beyond Training

Though the potential benefits of using VR and AR in training are substantial, the opportunities in other areas are even greater — especially during this pandemic when businesses need to operate as efficiently as possible and make every dollar count.

Take healthcare, for example. VR and AR can help doctors diagnose patients more efficiently, review their test results at bedside without a computer or paper notes, and ensure higher surgery success rates.

VR and AR can also help the retail industry, which has been heavily impacted by COVID-19, by creating new ways to engage, entertain and interact with consumers. These technologies give retailers the ability to create innovative customer experiences, such as virtual fitting rooms. AR can even let a consumer see how furniture would look in their home by superimposing an image of that furniture on a room in the person’s house. Retailers can also use VR and AR for consumer research to get a better understanding of customer behavior.

In manufacturing, VR and AR can be used to speed up a product’s time to market. At one engineering company, for example, employees located around the world work virtually, using digital visualizations to create new products collaboratively. And some automotive companies are already using VR to reduce from weeks to days the time between a vehicle’s initial design and its physical modeling. The time-consuming requirement to build physical prototypes can be reduced significantly — or even eliminated — helping manufacturers bring products to market much more quickly.

These technologies can also help improve processes, enhance productivity and improve accuracy. For example, while working on or repairing equipment, an individual can view instructions or videos that are superimposed on the machine, leaving their hands free to do the work.

VR and AR also can provide assistance to companies in the hard-hit travel and hospitality sectors by offering an immersive way for potential travelers to virtually explore hotels and tourist destinations. The hope is that these virtual tours will encourage travelers to visit those places when it becomes safe to do so. Use of these technologies for travel is expected to grow more quickly when they become less expensive and more popular for consumer use at home.

Telecommunications firms are also starting to look seriously at VR and AR, driven in large part by COVID-19 and the need to make live events — business meetings, conferences, education, sports and concerts, etc. — virtual. Telecom’s interest in these technologies has been given a boost by the launch of 5G and its improved bandwidth, which significantly improves streaming and the downloading of large files.

What It Takes to Get Started

Companies that are thinking about implementing virtual or augmented reality should follow these five guidelines:

Most employees will probably continue working remotely, or in a hybrid capacity, for the foreseeable future, so they will need training on soft skills such as collaboration and new ways of working, as well as on hardware and apps. Adding VR and AR tools can improve how businesses operate during — and after — the pandemic, making processes more cost-effective when budgets might be shrinking, increasing worker safety while training, and creating innovative employee experiences through increased virtual collaboration.