How AR will Change Customer Experience
An article on Irish Tech News addressed the expected growth in Augmented Reality applications, claiming that AR offers more practical applications than Virtual Reality. The market size for AR is expected to reach $108 billion by 2021.
Drawbacks preventing AR from entering the mainstream currently include technical complexity and the need for faster processors to accommodate for AR. Due to its accessibility, the smartphone is the most important distribution channel for AR; however, some people believe that smartphones will become irrelevant after the breakthrough of AR. A completely new set of interfaces is anticipated to rise on the basis of possibilities offered by AR within the next decade.
Microsoft HoloLens and Meta Vision are presently the most renowned examples of AR solutions, as they both utilise smart glasses to observe the virtual layer placed on top of reality. This tech is most often used in B2B applications, however, the medical and gaming industries are also making use of it in applications such as giving surgeons additional information during operations, and lending greater intensity to video game entertainment. Meta’s vision is a world without screens, full of holograms, as this means fewer restrictions on what we can witness as humans.
The article then focuses on the value of AR for customers, which involves changing the customer experience by making it more digital and personal. For example, AR will be able to create personalised advertising in the real world, such as blank billboards which different images can be projected onto depending on the individual AR interface.
The retail experience can also be changed, as AR applications can allow customers to see what items of clothing look like without physically trying them on, as well as show customers the locations of shops and brands within a shopping centre.
The use of AR in the industry sector is also mentioned in the article. The technology allows professionals to view technical issues remotely (e.g. from the company headquarters) and therefore lend advice to on-site colleagues. This in turn means that more customers can be visited; waiting time and costs are reduced.
The article concludes that AR gives a significant advantage to companies and their relationship with their customers. In the years ahead, new and impactful applications will be developed to aid everyone in their daily lives.