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Though we spend ample time examining consumer-based XR endpoints, greater near-term impact is seen in the enterprise. This includes brands that use AR to promote products in greater dimension (B2B2C) and industrial enterprises that streamline their own operations (B2B).
These industrial endpoints include visual support in areas like assembly and maintenance. The idea is that AR’s line-of-sight orientation can guide front-line workers. Compared to the “mental mapping” they must do with 2D instructions, visual support makes them more effective.
And with VR, employee training and onboarding can be elevated through immersive sequences that boost experiential learning and memory recall. It also scales, given that far-flung employees can get the same quality training, versus costly travel for senior training staff.
Altogether, there are micro and macro benefits to enterprise XR. The above micro efficiencies add up to worthwhile bottom-line impact when deployed at scale. Macro benefits include lessening job strain and closing the “skills gap,” which can preserve institutional knowledge.
But how is this materializing today, and who’s realizing enterprise XR benefits? Our research arm ARtillery Intelligence tackled these questions in a recent report. It joins our report excerpt series, with the latest below on Wurth Italia’s “HoloProject” to sell bit-ticket items with AR.
Assisted Sale
Würth Italia provides consumer-facing technology that’s installed in retail locations and public spaces, such as high-tech vending machines and in-store displays. Its goal is to help these clients boost service levels to – and profitability from – customers that visit their retail spaces.
But the challenge in selling large equipment to retail stores and other clients is that the equipment is often too big to transport. At the same time, sales calls are most impactful when they can showcase products in a life-sized scale. Diagrams and models don’t have the same effect.
So Würth Italia found a way to capture the essence and awe of its machinery without shipping it. Working with Microsoft HoloLens 2* and software from Hevolus, it launched its “HoloProject.” This let its clients preview life-sized digital twins of its equipment during sales calls.
The idea is that visualizing products in 3D in the spaces they’re proposed to inhabit offers a clearer picture of the value proposition. Würth Italia then added a second program called HoloMaintenance, focused on post-sales operations like maintenance and remote support.
Confidence & Conversion
So what were the results? Using its new AR-fueled sales methods, Würth Italia’s customers grew by 50 percent year-over-year, while sales lead time was cut in half. These are both sizable gains that get right to the heart of the key performance indicators that sales organizations value.
As for strategic takeaways, Würth Italia’s AR implementation is similar in principle to dimensional AR try-ons in consumer-shopping contexts. Just ike those interactions can boost buyer confidence and conversions, Würth Italia did the same in its enterprise sales endeavors.
The success of its implementation was also boosted by its strategy to involve sales associates in the adoption and implementation processes. This is a critical and oft-overlooked step in ensuring AR’s success by gaining the confidence of those who are proposed to use it daily.
As we examined in a recent enterprise AR analysis, the buy-in and confidence of those front-line stakeholders can boost the probability of successful AR programs. Without their early participation – such as top-down implementations – AR can get stuck in the dreaded pilot purgatory.
We’ll pause there and pick things up in the next case study with more enterprise AR best practices and tactical takeaways…
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