Bridging the Gap in Hybrid Workspaces with Mixed Reality
- (2-minute read)
- Article summary: Offering four ways mixed reality to transform industries today for on-site and distributed workforces.
- The rise of hybrid work has brought new challenges to collaboration and communication, especially for teams spread across different locations. This is where mixed reality (MR) steps in, offering a unique blend of the physical and virtual worlds that can revolutionize how distributed teams work together.
- 1. Remote MR Assistance: The first time I saw mention of this was when Microsoft with newly published case studies of the Hololens 1 in 2018.
- On-site technicians can receive real-time guidance from remote experts through MR overlays that highlight specific components or procedures. This can play out as a conversation (*Facetime-style), or as a step-by-step tutorial. This can save time, improve accuracy, and reduce the need for travel.
- 2. Virtual Training and Compliance: Trainees can learn new skills in realistic virtual environments or digital twins of your workspace that mimic real-world scenarios, accelerating the learning process and improving knowledge retention. Capture the expertise of select employees through MR recordings and simulations, making it easily accessible and transferable to new team members. These recorded 'lessons' will now be available in your shared virtual space and made available when needed.
- 3. Virtual Briefing: Use this same MR toolset to brief teams of program progress with a myriad of captured images, videos, and supporting material. Teams can showcase products in 3D to potential clientsor stakeholders, allowing them to interact with and experience the product virtually, regardless of location. 4. Real-time DevOps: Overlay crucial production data, maintenance manuals, and instructions onto physical machinery or scenes through a MR headset. This empowers workers to make informed decisions in real-time, reducing errors and downtime. Imagine being able to have these curated views with pertinent content all around you removing the friction of digging through layers of windows and a multitude of directories and drives so you can focus on the task at hand.
- These are just a few examples of how mixed reality can revolutionize enterprise collaboration, productivity, and innovation. As the technology continues to evolve and become more accessible, we can expect even more exciting applications to emerge, transforming the way businesses operate and how teams work together.
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About the Author
David is a U.S.-based creative marketing executive that defines and delivers DM & XM experiences that capture the moment, breathes life into the brand, connects people, and bridges technology, data, and behavioral economics to go well beyond "If you build it, they will come." He has created live brand experiences for Microsoft, Cisco, T-Mobile, Whirlpool, and the NHL.