Blog series to watch – Atheer: 7 signs of an enterprise-ready AR platform
A new blog series worth following for readers comes on the Atheer blog. The first in the series gives the readers the 7 signs of an enterprise-ready Augmented Reality platform.
A summary of the 7 signs to look out for are given below (more context and background is given in the blog). The next in the series is a deep dive into each.
What signs should enterprise customers look for that an AR platform is truly enterprise-ready? We’ll look at that question in more detail in the second part of this series, but here’s a sneak peek at what’s on that list:
1) Security – A great AR platform needs to provide you with a way to secure the data that will flow through it, whether that data is the content of a video call, a set of proprietary work instructions or data from IoT devices. The security solution could be supplied on-board by the hardware vendor, be a feature of the operating system or be third-party technology that works with your AR productivity software.
2) Ability to scale – You don’t want an AR platform that is stuck on a particular make or form factor of smart glasses, smartphones or tablets. To be really useful, your AR platform needs to be able to “scale up” to match the changing needs of your organization and not be limited by fixed numbers of allowed users or supported mobile operating systems.
3) User management – People work in your organization, not machines. You want to have information stored with each user profile that ensures that a given employee gets the information that matches their needs, job role and task – and gets context based on previous work.
4) Integration – Just as no person is an island, you don’t want your AR platform to act like one. It needs to integrate appropriately with your existing enterprise infrastructure, tools and device management.
5) Ease of deployment – A great AR platform shouldn’t be tough to deploy. You are more likely to have success with something that can deliver real, measurable ROI quickly and easily – and achieve greater adoption by the workforce – if it’s as simple as possible to roll out and use.
6) Interaction flexibility – To deliver the best and broadest possible solution for your enterprise, your AR platform should support modes of interaction that match the scenarios faced by your workforce. In many cases, that will mean supporting hands-free interaction using technologies such as gestures, head motion, gaze tracking and voice recognition.
7) Technology partnerships – Who does your AR platform provider work with? To be broadly successful, you want a provider that tightly partners with industry leaders, innovates around standards and can bring the right team to the table when you tackle sometimes complex and thorny integration issues.