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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 AR’s role in helping Coca-Cola elevate its training methods.
Inherently Dangerous
Manufacturing environments often have a dilemma. New employees need to be trained to safely and effectively operate equipment, but those environments can he inherently dangerous. This can include several common industrial job functions – from maintenance to assembly.
Coca-Cola is one of the many global organizations that faces these challenges. But it’s also an innovator and early adopter. This compelled the company to find automated, simulated, and safer ways to train personnel in its logistical operations and eliminate bottlenecks.
So it turned to ARuVR to develop an immersive training program. This yielded modules that simulate job functions like warehousing and shipping. Compatible with common off-the-shelf VR hardware such as Meta Quest, ARuVR’s software leads trainees through targeted simulations.
The goal here is to boost experiential learning, speed up training procedures, and eliminate safety hazards inherent in real-world training scenarios. Importantly, ARuVR also offered Coca-Cola the ability to create its own customized training modules using a no-code interface.
Tactics & Takeaways
So what were the results? Through its training program, Coca-Cola was able to achieve a 15 percent boost in learning retention compared to traditional classroom training. It also achieved a 100 percent reduction in employee risk exposure – meaning hazard levels went down to zero.
Other key performance indicators included a 75 percent increase in training efficiency and an 80 percent increase in employee training engagement. The training program also reduced carbon emissions by eliminating the staff travel required by traditional training methods.
As for strategic takeaways, this program’s success was partly owed to reducing friction. Though VR holds tremendous potential and validated efficacy in the enterprise – especially in training – there’s still cultural resistance and organizational inertia around new technology adoption.
Therefore, the name of the game is to reduce friction to increase the chances of adoption and sustained engagement. ARuVR achieved this with Coca-Cola through its no-code approach to customizing training modules, and its ability to work with off-the-shelf VR hardware.
We’ll pause there and pick things up in the next case study with more enterprise XR best practices and tactical takeaways…