Five Questions about Immersive Technology with Ranjana Easwar
Immersive technology refers to the integration of virtual content with a user’s physical environment. The user can engage naturally with the blended reality presented. In the coming years, we’ll see immersive technology in our personal lives and at our workplaces. By 2023, the AR market alone is expected to hit at least $70 billion in revenue.
To understand more about immersive technology’s impact on the way we live and work, I interviewed Ranjana Easwar, a business development consultant at an agency which provides extended reality (XR) solutions to the world’s leading brands.
“My journey of getting into the immersive tech space happened rather organically,” Ranjana explained. She had previously worked in television, on short films, and in the digital space in the UK and in India. She found a job as a video team lead at a digital agency, which introduced her to immersive technology. “So, it just was just a case of me being the right place and the right time, where I had unbridled access to this amazing technology to learn all about it and lap it up, which is exactly what I did,” she remarked. “I also took this opportunity to move from the creative to the business side of things and understand the client servicing and selling aspects of the job,” Ranjana added. “This way I was able to strike the balance between creativity and commerce.”
In the following five questions, Ranjana explains some of the most important issues facing immersive technology today.
What is the one thing you wish people knew about immersive technology?
There are a couple of things I wish people knew about XR. The first being that it’s pretty industry agnostic and goes beyond the gaming industry and social media filters, which is a common misconception. Immersive tech can be applied across industries like retail, e-commerce, education, healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, supply chain, live events and conferences, travel, to name a few.
My second point is a continuation of my first one, that XR is not necessarily used only for entertainment and gimmicks. It goes beyond the novelty factor and is actually quite utilitarian when it comes to moving inventory, data gathering, training, data visualisation, prototyping, predictive maintenance, etc.
What are the obstacles that hold people back from implementing immersive technology?
First and foremost, it’s the lack of knowledge about immersive technology, which is where I and other XR enthusiasts like me come in, to be able to bridge that gap.
Secondly, is the fact that they’re unable to imagine use cases within their own industries, until you actually spell it out or show it to them.
Thirdly, it’s the cost factor. Even though it’s a rapidly evolving industry, until it becomes mainstream and easily accessible, XR solutions are going to have a premium attached to them in terms of costs. There is going to be that initial investment required when you’re trying to do something disruptive, and business that only focus on day-to-day ROI are not going to see value in that. However, XR certainly has better recall value from a brand’s perspective and companies that are pioneers in its adoption, rather than followers, will certainly be seen as head and shoulders above their competition and be recognised as future-ready.
What are some exciting use cases for immersive technology?
The beauty about immersive technology or XR is that it is further divided VR (Virtual Reality, AR [Augmented Reality] and Mixed Reality [MR]). And each of these is useful in its own specific ways.
VR, for example, is great for training, learning and simulations. It’s shown great promise especially when it comes to military, sports, medical, skills training, because the user is fully immersed in a true-to-life virtual simulation of their industries, where they experience situations and procedures that they will encounter in real life. Similarly, in the field of education, it’s a wonderful tool for children and people with dyslexia and autism, because the learning can be simplified and represented in the form of dynamic visuals, patterns and audio, and can be absorbed better by those with learning disabilities. It has also been used in the field of mental health to treat patients who suffer from PTSD, anxiety, phobias and depression.
AR is fantastic for retail! When used correctly, it will actually help sell products and keep inventory moving, irrespective of whether there’s any foot traffic in your physical locations. Using AR filters, virtual tryouts, virtual walkthroughs, and projections that let you see items within your own space, you can sell everything from make-up, hair colour, jewellery and accessories, sunglasses and spectacles, clothing and apparel, furniture and home appliances, automobiles, and even real estate, to customers in the comfort of their own homes.
MR can be useful in the manufacturing space because it lets you create detailed prototypes and digital twins before moving on to the actual physical manufacturing of products. There has been a successful case study of MR being used in the manual building of complex batteries for electric vehicles. Factory workers were able to project 3D image-based systematic work instructions on their workspace and follow the digital guidance to construct power cells from scratch. Similarly, in medical education, a life-sized human anatomy can be created in 3D, which will allow medical students to walk around it, examine it from unobstructed points of view, move the organs, look closely at the complex blood and nervous systems, manipulate it, dissect it using hand gestures, etc.
What are the industries for which immersive technology is the best fit?
It’s clear that immersive technology solutions can be used in any industry. It just depends on what you’re trying to achieve by using XR.
However, based on a series of factors like costs, access to external wearables and the scalability of the experience, I think that web or app-based AR in retail is the way to go, and will provide companies with the best bang for their buck, because almost everyone in the world today has access to a smart phone and mobile data connectivity.
What are trends you predict for immersive technology in 2021?
I think the COVID-19 pandemic shook everyone the world over at their core, and forced them to rethink the way they worked, they studied, they shopped, they consumed entertainment, especially with everything being remote. I feel this time has provided the perfect catalyst for the adoption of immersive tech. So, based on a report titled the Top 2020 Trends: Enterprise AR and VR, published by Unity, some of the key learnings were as follows…
The use of mixed reality will expand to enable more human connections
Mixed reality has traditionally been used to aid in task completion; however, the pandemic has sparked the need for tools that mimic human connection and proximity to create more productive work environments and collaboration.
Cross-functional collaboration across immersive media will grow
2020 has seen more users looking for ways to collaborate remotely from multiple geographic locations, using media that mimic real life. Expect that to continue into 2021.
VR will prove even more useful in the workplace
The disruptions of COVID-19 have led many to look for creative ways to solve new and old problems across the workplace, such as keeping skills fresh, engaging learners without in-person training, improving employee productivity, and fostering collaboration and connection among teams.
Jeremy Dalton, Head of AR/VR at PwC, believes that in 2021 and beyond, we will see a wider range of businesses across numerous industries become more comfortable with emerging technologies that they would otherwise have left on the sideline until pressured to innovate.
