Page 24 - Harvard Business Review (November-December, 2017)

SPOTLIGHT WHY EVERY ORGANIZATION NEEDS AN AUGMENTED REALITY STRATEGY

CONVERGING PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL

Augmented reality reduces the mental effort needed to connect digital information
about the physical world with the context it applies to.

SEPARATED PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL WORLDS CONVERGED VIEW

Mentally transposing GPS images onto the road ahead AR superimposes digital data directly on the real world.
is demanding and prone to errors.

AR-enabled devices can also transmit superimposed directly on the product buttons on a smart light switch the user
what an on-site user is seeing to a remote and operated using an AR headset, can place anywhere that’s convenient.
expert, who can respond with immediate hand gestures, and voice commands. The technologies underpinning these
guidance. In effect, this instantly puts Soon, users wearing smart glasses will capabilities are still emerging, but the
the expert at the user’s side, regardless of be able to simply gaze at or point to a accuracy of voice commands in noisy
location. This capability not only improves product to activate a virtual user environments is improving, and advances
worker performance but substantially interface and operate it. A worker in gesture and gaze tracking have been
reduces costs—as Lee Company, which wearing smart glasses, for instance, rapid. GE has already tested the use
sells and services building systems, has will be able to walk a line of factory of voice commands in AR experiences that
discovered. It uses AR to help its field machines, see their performance enable factory workers to perform complex
technicians with installations and repairs. parameters, and adjust each machine wiring processes in wind turbines—and
A remote expert can see what the tech without physically touching it. has achieved a 34% increase in productivity.
is viewing through his or her AR device, The interact capability of AR is still
guide the tech through the work to be done, nascent in commercial products but is
and even annotate the tech’s view with revolutionary. Reality Editor, an AR app COMBINING AR AND VIRTUAL REALITY
instructions. Getting expert support from developed by the Fluid Interfaces group AR’s well-known cousin, virtual reality, is
a central location in real time has increased at MIT’s Media Lab, provides a glimpse of a complementary but distinct technology.
Lee’s tech utilization dramatically. And, how it is rapidly evolving. Reality Editor While AR superimposes digital information
by reducing the number of repeat visits, makes it easy to add an interactive AR on the physical world, VR replaces
Lee saves more than $500 per technician experience to any SCP. With it, people can physical reality with a computer-generated
per month in labor and travel costs. The point a smartphone or a tablet at an SCP environment. Though VR is used mostly
company calculates a return of $20 on every (or, eventually, look at it through smart for entertainment applications, it can also
dollar invested in AR. glasses), “see” its digital interfaces and the replicate physical settings for training
Interact. Traditionally, people have capabilities that can be programmed, and purposes. It is especially useful when the
used physical controls such as buttons, link those capabilities to hand gestures settings involved are hazardous or remote.
knobs, and, more recently, built-in touch- or voice commands or even to another Or, if the machinery required for training is
screens to interact with products. With the smart product. For example, Reality Editor not available, VR can immerse technicians
rise of SCPs, apps on mobile devices have can allow a user to see a smart light bulb’s in a virtual environment using holograms
increasingly replaced physical controls and controls for color and intensity and of the equipment. So when needed,
allowed users to operate products remotely. set up voice commands like “bright” and VR adds a fourth capability—simulate—
AR takes the user interface to a whole “mood” to activate them. Or different to AR’s core capabilities of visualize, CLINT FORD
new level. A virtual control panel can be settings of the bulb can be linked to instruct, and interact.

50 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2017