How to Know If You’re Ready for Augmented Reality

This was originally posted on elearningindustry.com April 8, 2019 .

Ready for Augmented Reality? 5 Questions to Answer Before You Decide

What is the reality of your employees? When we look to engage employees in corporate training, we want all employees to be on the same page. We try to tap into the reality of their jobs. We strive to make work easier. What better way for us to do that than to recreate their reality and give them a safe space to try out things out. Augmented Reality gives employees the environment to try new things and see consequences without having to test it out in their actual reality.

1. Are Your Employees Ready for AR?

When companies think of using AR as part of their training strategy, Learning and Development departments have to consider how their employees will react to a new form of training. They assume that their younger employees will be excited about the new training innovation, but they worry about how their older employees will adapt to the use of new technology for training. However, Baby Boomers are the fastest-growing segment of technology consumers. They are using technology to enhance their personal lives to manage travel, health, and caregiving. They also use it to connect with their children and grandchildren. Your older employees may not have considered how this technology can help them in their workplace, but it doesn’t mean they are resistant to it.

2. How Will Your Employees Respond to a New Type of Training?

Augmented Reality can seem like a new shiny object to employees: new and costly. However, training employees is a large expense for companies. Even outside of onboarding, companies spend approximately $1,200 a year on training per employee[1]. Augmented Reality apps, like Siteline, allow employers to provide training to a large number of employees without hiring an instructor and minimizing the cost of lost production.

Employees are also likely to embrace the accessibility of AR training. Rather than waiting for classroom time or trying to track down their supervisor, AR allows employees to access the information they need when they need it. This can increase the employee’s productivity while allowing supervisors and managers to focus on other things.

3. Does Your Type of Work Warrant the Use of AR?

Augmented Reality provides a safe space for any task to be completed. Some people may feel that this should be used specifically for high-risk industries, such as healthcare or manufacturing. In these cases, the employee or a patient/customer is at risk of injury. However, Augmented Reality can be used in any situation where it is important that employees can practice real-life situations without real-life consequences.

See, for example, how Mercedes-Benz is using AR for all employees, including sales and marketing.

4. How Can AR Help You Prepare for the Silver Tsunami?

Within the next few years, 25% of Americans will be over 55 and heading to retirement, an event referred to as the ‘Silver Tsunami’. By creating training using AR now, companies will be set up for success as they look to replace a larger number of workers than ever before. AR will serve companies in a number of ways through this change.

• For this new workforce, technology is important. They have expectations and by adopting AR now, companies will be set up to meet those expectations.
• AR apps can be updated and distributed to a large number of employees that will make change management easier and more time-efficient.
• AR allows for just-in-time information, allowing employees to get up to speed and stay there.

5. Can Your Company Afford to Not Be Ready for AR?

Technology moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it. With the upcoming changes in our workforce and the need to distribute training to a large number of employees, AR will allow companies to meet their goals, decrease loss in production, recruit better talent, and manage change in a way that just can’t be met by traditional employee training. As we enter into the ‘Silver Tsunami’, companies who have stuck to traditional classroom training will be left behind.

References:

[1]How Businesses Are Cutting Employee Training Costs With VR