Immersive spaces are quickly emerging as valuable solutions for the future of work. In the past, “immersive technologies,” like virtual reality headsets, offered organizations an opportunity to bridge the gaps between distributed teams. Now, the use cases for these technologies are growing.
Aside from supporting collaboration between remote and hybrid workers, immersive solutions also have the potential to elevate field worker safety and productivity, improve training initiatives, and enhance interactions with customers.
As a result, countless innovators, from Microsoft to Lenovo, are introducing solutions to help companies embrace the power of immersion. Here’s why you should consider investing in immersive spaces in 2024 and beyond.
1. Immersive Spaces Transform the Workplace
The way companies design office spaces has changed drastically in recent years. Even as leaders introduce “return to office” mandates, flexible work is still a priority for countless employees. This means organizations must create workplaces that adhere to the needs of a wide range of employee personas and bridge the gaps between teams.
Immersive Spaces, built with software like Microsoft Mesh and extended reality hardware, allow companies to build highly adaptable digital environments for productivity. With low-code and no-code tools and metaverse-as-a-service offerings, organizations can develop bespoke work environments that adapt to a range of employee needs without investing in real estate.
At the same time, they can ensure employees working remotely or on a hybrid basis can still participate in highly engaging meetings, brainstorming sessions, and tasks. This helps to ensure everyone in the workplace can enjoy an inclusive environment.
2. Improved Productivity and Efficiency
Immersive workspaces provide team members with highly flexible and scalable environments tuned to their specific workflows. Companies can embed immersive tech into various tasks to make workplaces safer, more productive, and more efficient. For instance, companies like Siemens and Amazon are already using augmented reality to help employees manage stock and create products.
Immersive spaces improve productivity by facilitating collaboration between distributed staff and offering real-time access to valuable digital resources. Companies can use remote guidance tools to train and onboard new team members.
Studies have shown that implementing immersive technologies, like augmented reality, into business workflows can reduce work completion time by 46%. Plus, they improve productivity performance metrics by as much as 32%.
3. Immersive Spaces Enhance Creativity
Technology used to create immersive spaces, such as AI, extended reality, and metaverse solutions, can pave the way for rapid innovation in any business environment. These solutions eliminate the real world’s restrictions, helping teams work in an infinitely scalable space.
Employees can create new products, experiment with solutions, and more without worrying about space restrictions or wasting valuable resources. Moreover, advanced immersive spaces, including generative AI assistants and inspirational content, can drive creativity. One report found virtual reality significantly improved creativity and design performance.
By bridging the gaps between teams, critical content, data, and resources, immersive spaces empower R&D teams to accomplish more without unnecessary expense. Development teams can essentially step inside 3D designs and evaluate them from every perspective.
4. Optimized Training Outcomes
Skill gaps are a major issue today, particularly as digital transformation continues. Unfortunately, delivering comprehensive, safe, and engaging training opportunities isn’t easy. Fortunately, immersive spaces can address this issue.
Immersive technologies allow companies to build highly realistic training environments for onboarding, upskilling, and development. Organizations can develop safe but engaging spaces for practical training activities, teaching teams new hands-on skills without risk.
PWC even found that immersive training is more effective than virtually any other form of education. Learners leveraging virtual reality technology completed training in a study four times faster than their classroom-based counterparts and felt 3.75 times more connected to the content.
5. Reduced Costs and Greater Sustainability
In a challenging economic environment, companies in every industry constantly search for ways to reduce operating and overhead costs. At the same time, a greater focus on ethical business practices is pushing organizations to revamp their approach to sustainability.
Immersive spaces can assist companies in reducing costs and minimizing their carbon footprint. First, they enable companies to provide their employees with an ever-evolving range of office space environments and digital landscapes without investing in physical space.
Secondly, they pave the way for immersive training and collaboration opportunities, which reduce travel costs. A reduced need for travel among teams further reduces the company’s carbon footprint, while the ability to experiment with resources and materials in an immersive environment minimizes unnecessary waste.
6. Immersive Spaces Improve Customer Experiences
Many companies investing in the development of immersive spaces focus on how these technologies can improve employee and team experiences. However, immersive spaces can elevate customer experiences, too. With the right technology, companies can create virtual showrooms, immersive onboarding experiences, and even remotely deliver customer support.
For instance, HP’s xRServices solution supports users worldwide with immersive troubleshooting tools, onboarding experiences, and remote assistance. Welcoming customers into immersive spaces allows companies to differentiate themselves in the customer service landscape.
The right technologies can ensure customers can rapidly learn more about your products and solutions, address common problems themselves, and make the most out of your offering.
7. Attract and Retain More Talent
Finally, as noted above, skill shortages are a major issue for today’s businesses. By 2030, as many as 85 million jobs could go unfilled due to this problem. Investing in immersive spaces allows you to overcome the current skill gap.
With immersive spaces, you can employ team members from around the globe while still ensuring they can interact with your team members and critical technologies wherever they are. This widens your talent pool and simplifies the recruitment process.
Immersive spaces can help deliver onboarding and training strategies to remote and hybrid workers and even make your business seem more appealing to technology enthusiasts. They can also enhance retention rates by optimizing the employee experience.
Invest in Immersive Spaces for the Future of Work
Immersive spaces are now a valuable component of the future of work. They offer companies an opportunity to enhance employee and customer experiences, boost productivity and efficiency, and even reduce costs. With the right technology, your company can unlock the benefits of the metaverse and discover new ways to innovate and compete in a changing landscape.
