How we can expedite customers’ move to emerging tech like AR & VR

Many real-world scenarios have shown us the need to keep up with technology. The COVID-19 pandemic, for example, has proved to be an unanticipated catalyst in accelerating customers’ move to the new and emerging technologies and tools. As millions of consumers go into lockdown, they are forced to work from home that impacts their day to day habits of digital connectivity. 

Though COVID-19 has created a major drag on the world economy, it is playing an active role in accelerating the development and commercialization of several emerging technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). This is especially true for innovations that automate processes, reduce human-to-human contact, and increase productivity during social distancing. This article examines how new technologies such as AR/VR can influence various industries.

Wholehearted Support for Virtual Health Care

In a survey conducted by Perkins Coie LLP, a vast majority of the respondents found healthcare and medical devices as one of the top potential growth areas for AR and VR technologies.

Telemedicine had previously not received enough support from healthcare providers, financers, and patients. But now, the need for virtual healthcare advice is accelerating the adoption of telemedicine. Various countries have authorized their healthcare professionals to expand telehealth consultations to make it easier for patients to speak with their healthcare providers.

This pandemic is also spurring the interest in asynchronous healthcare, a form of telemedicine that eliminates the need for face-to-face appointments in managing and monitoring chronic health conditions. New technologies in AR/VR allows a healthcare provider to remotely assess and diagnose a patient in an ambulance two miles away. 

Related Reading: Is Mixed Reality the Future of the Healthcare Industry?

Promising future for the Real Estate Industry

Though the present scenario has stirred unrest in certain industries, the real estate sector need not come to a standstill at this time. The use of AR/VR technologies can facilitate communication and collaboration within the industry. As a useful tool for design communication, AR/VR has the ability to ensure virtual co-location of the teams making it possible to transfer messages and work cultures.

The new tech line (AR and VR) allows all project stakeholders to take a ‘walk’ inside the project before it is built. Such an understanding of project data can reduce errors, facilitate faster and better decision-making, and achieve greater business and profitability. In this period when physical mock-ups and on-site prototyping are no longer viable, VR-enabled online libraries can add accuracy to design projects without additional cost.

Related Reading: Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality: Transforming The Real Estate Industry

Use Chatbots Instead of Human Punching Bags

The COVID-19 pandemic has induced changes in customer behavior and business models, which might persist well after the crisis abates. Meanwhile, chatbots can be used to reduce the surge in customer frustration. Various websites are using chatbots to answer general FAQs asked by the customers providing them a better customer experience. 

AI-powered chatbots can communicate with humans in real-time. Such personalized chatbots can be developed for your websites, social media profiles, and SMS services to generate automated responses using pre-defined keywords and categories. COVID-19 has complicated the role of the customer service representative. They have to lead the delicate dance of balancing policy and empathy with frustrated customers. 

Read our case study: Using Chatbots to Create an Enhanced and Engaging Learning Experience

Chatbots provide proactive customer service and help protect the emotional well-being of the agents. Onboarding and training new customer service representatives are not viable options when the work volume increases. Chatbots allow you to scale-up teams and multiply output within seconds. Additionally, now chatbots can be used effectively to sell products directly to users via WhatsApp (WhatsApp for Business). 

Powerful Cutting-Edge Technology: Face-Recognition 

In the span of a few weeks, COVID-19 has reshaped how the world works. This new paradigm has opened the door to the deployment of latest technologies such as facial recognition. During this period of social distancing, business and government agencies are increasingly turning to facial recognition technology. Also, face recognition payments are growing in popularity. 

Read our case study: The Future of Communication and Security Using Augmented Reality

Grand View Research, Inc. forecasts that by 2027, the worldwide facial recognition market will increase at a CAGR of 14.5 percent to reach 9.93 billion dollars.

Face recognition is already getting a lot of momentum since it avoids touching surfaces and potential infection. Another benefit to face recognition is that it can enable thermal scanning to check body temperatures, minimizing the risk of the sick infecting other workers.  

The Race To Keep Pace

Today the globalized economy is in fierce competition. Technology helps increase efficiency across industries especially during this pandemic. That is why AR/VR is emerging as a critical solution. From accelerating user collaboration to streamlining processes, the use cases of AR/VR technologies in business will only get stronger. And as IT infrastructure increases in complexity, these new technologies will deliver multiple benefits to businesses as a whole. 

Fingent helps accelerate your move to new and emerging technologies such as Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Mixed Reality. Get in touch with us to find out how we help our clients deliver a compelling reality experience using these technologies. 

CX Solution to Improve Retail Growth

Nurturing communities and building loyalties is now more critical than ever for all retail brands. With instant access to the latest trends and technologies, customers demand better experiences in their interactions with retail brands across all touchpoints. Hence, Customer experience (CX) has become the most important facet of the retail marketing strategy. Retailers, therefore, have to focus on improving CX through every channel.

Importance of CX solutions

Companies can leverage authentic data and modern technology to transform customer experiences and positively impact their business’ future. While most organizations do have systems in place to track the performances of their CX strategies, few track the end-to-end customer journey. Using appropriate CX solutions, organizations can bridge the gap between expected and actual experiences. CX solutions help companies measure and understand the impact of their CX management strategies. 

By employing CX solutions, you can manage the interactions that current and potential customers can have with your brand, thus enabling you to meet or exceed their expectations. CX solutions leverage customer interactions to align the brand image according to the customer’s perceptions. This helps you foster strong and long term customer relationships.

Related Reading: 5 Ways to Enrich Customer Experience at Your Retail Store

Top Trends in CX

Staying abreast of the latest technologies and trends in Customer Experience will help you stay ahead of the competition. It’s time to hone your CX strategies by following these latest trends that rule the CX market.

• Omni-channel CX: Customer journeys have become more dynamic than ever. Based on convenience, customers constantly switch mediums. Since the line between physical and digital channels are blurring, customers expect seamless experiences in their interactions across all channels. It’s important for retailers to strike a proper balance between the “traditional” and “online” business models based on their customers’ preferences. Adopting omnichannel customer care strategies will help resolve complex issues quickly.

• Artificial Intelligence: CX enhancement requires comprehending vast amounts of chaotic and complex data in real-time at high speeds. This scenario is most suitable for AI-powered solutions. Using AI, you can replicate human-like engagements (chatbots for example), track customer-behavior and roll out customized campaigns on their preferred channel of operation. Thus you turn your data into valuable customer insights.

• Hyper personalization: Customers expect high levels of personalization and prefer to buy from brands that offer services/products that are fine-tuned according to their requirements. With a hyper-personalized approach, retailers can identify subtle customer traits and deliver highly targeted and relevant services. To develop this level of hyper-personalization, your data and analytics have to be aligned to paint a clear picture of your customers’ choices.   

• AR/VR: Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies are touted as the “technologies of the future” since they provide highly immersive and engaging customer experiences. AR and VR provide customers with a hands-on experience which helps them make better choices. Many retailers are already reaping the benefits of implementing these futuristic technologies. For instance, Ikea allows customers to check how the furniture would look in their homes before buying using AR. Famous clothing brand Marks and Spencer uses virtual try-on mirrors to boost their store experiences.

• Virtual assistants and chatbots: Virtual assistants and chatbots enable companies to deliver faster and more efficient services at low costs. Some may argue that chatbots lack empathy and hence cannot replace human customer service representatives. However, you should not overlook the fact that advances in AI have given bots the ability to decipher human emotions. By combining the technologies of a virtual assistant and chatbots, you can provide your customers with personalized and empathetic experiences.

Related Reading: Capitalizing on AI Chatbots Will Redefine Your Business: Here’s How

Future of CX

Customer Experience will continue to be crucial for brands to survive in a disruptive business environment. Retailers need to adopt agile models to retain customers and attract new ones. Going forward, CX will also depend on employee experiences. If your employees are empowered, they will in turn care for your customers. Your interactions, both with your customers as well as your employees across all channels need to be more meaningful and effective.

Smart Product Ordering System

Gartner states that 64% of consumers give more importance to their experiences with a brand than to the price of a product or service. Fingent helps you implement the latest technological advancements to make your CX strategies fruitful. Contact us to know more. 

How AR and AI work together to build unique mobile experiences?

The intriguing partnership of Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a match made in the digital heaven. An AR application can become more beneficial when AI is incorporated into it. The natural bridging of AR and AI enables mobile app developers to build more interactive and intriguing apps. This article explores a few practical ways in which AR and AI can be combined to build incredible mobile experiences.

Awesome Ways AI and AR Complement Each Other

The partnership between AR and AI is likely to have a profound impact on customer experience. Companies are developing next-generation applications for mobiles that employ AR and AI technologies. In fact, AI is the heart of AR platforms.

Related Reading: How Top Brands Embrace Augmented Reality for Immersive Customer Experiences

Though Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality have distinct technologies, they can sync with one another on a variety of applications. They can leverage each other’s best features and aspects building incredible mobile experiences. AI enables AR to have a multidimensional interaction with the physical environment. It allows you to manipulate 2D and 3D virtual objects with your words, eyes, and hands. 

It is anticipated that the demand for AR apps is bound to soar in the next four to five years. Hence, the search for appropriate software development kits (SDK) and application program interfaces (API) for AI and AR is on.

Current State of SDKs and APIs For AR and AI

As the capabilities of current SDKs (Software Development Kits) and APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) rapidly expand, the number of commercial opportunities increase exponentially. Consider a few examples:

• • Vuforia: It is an Augmented Reality SDK that enables app developers to build mobile-centric, immersive AR experiences. It is capable of supporting both IOS and Android, allowing brands to develop apps with minimal commercial and technical risks. 
  • ARCore: It is Google’s proprietary AR SDK. It enables developers to get their AR apps up and running on mobile devices. ARCore supports IOS devices and allows developers to build rich and immersive AR experiences supported by mobile devices.  
  • Core ML: It is a Machine Learning framework used across Apple devices. This API allows you to perform real-time predictions of live images on your device. Its low latency and near real-time results are its biggest advantages. Core ML is an application that can be run without network connections. 
  • TensorFlow Lite: It is an open-source deep learning framework focused on mobile device inference. TensorFlow Lite enables developers to insert their own custom models.

Practical Ways to Combine AR and AI

The marriage of AR and AI opens up endless opportunities. Here are a few ways in which this combination is working to create digital miracles.

1. Speech recognition: As an AI model listens to what you say, AR effects appear in front of you. For example, if you say ‘pizza,’ a virtual pizza slice appears in front of your mouth. 

2. Image recognition and image tracking: It allows customers to see how an object would look and fit in a given space. Combining AR with AI technology allows users to move still photos of items into a still image of a room and assists them in making a decision. Example: IKEA Place. 

3. Human pose estimation: It is a technique that detects human figures and poses. It predicts the positions of a person’s joints in an image or video. This can be used in controlling AR content. Yopuppet.com is one example. 

4. Education: It allows students to have new perspectives through interaction with virtual reality. For example, it enables them to visualize and interact with a 3D life-size version of the human body. 

Related Reading: Impact Of Augmented Reality In Education Industry

5. Recognizing and labeling: When the camera is pointed to a scene or an image, the AR app displays a label that indicates the object or the item when it recognizes it. 

6. Car recognition: Using a smartphone camera, it allows its customers to sit inside the car and explore the car’s interiors. There isn’t even a need to download the application. 

7. Object detection: AR-AI combination can be applied to automatically learn and detect the position and extent of the objects within an image or a video. This mobile-friendly model facilitates interaction between physical and digital objects. 

Take Away

The bridging of AR and AI is offering businesses an opportunity to empower their customers more than ever before with information shared in captivating ways. Together, AR and AI continue to enhance mobile experiences.  It enables developers to design richer and more intuitive, relevant experiences for their diverse consumers. As we noted earlier, the applications of AR and AI are numerous. 

To know more about how Fingent can help you build incredible mobile experiences by combining AR and AI, get in touch with our experts today!

How Extended Reality Is Transforming Business Environments?

Picture yourself diving into crystal-clear Grecian waters or taking a walk on the moon, all the while sitting in the comfort of your home.  As fantastical as this may seem now, Extended Reality is making this possible as we speak. What is Extended reality and what are its powerful real-world applications? Let’s check.

Understanding What Extended Reality Is

Extended Reality is a blanket term that encompasses all virtual and real environments generated by computer technology. This includes components such as Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality. Extended Reality is poised to completely revamp the way businesses interact with the media and has the potential to allow seamless interaction between the real and virtual worlds allowing its users to have a completely immersive experience. 

Three Remarkable Components of Extended Reality

These components fall under the category of immersive technologies that can affect our perceptions. Here is a little bit about them:

Virtual reality: Virtual reality transposes its users to a different setting through a simulated digital experience. It makes use of a head-mounted display (HMD) to create an immersive experience by simulating as many experiences as possible.  Industries such as healthcare and real estate have started using virtual reality significantly. 

Augmented reality: As the word suggests, augmented reality takes the existing reality and overlays it with various types of information, enhancing the digital experience. It could be categorized as marker-based, marker-less, and location-based. It has proven useful in medical training, design, modeling and numerous other areas.

Mixed reality: Being the most recent advancement among reality technologies, mixed reality is experienced through mixed reality glasses or headsets where you can interact with physical and digital objects in real-time. 

Related Reading: Augmented Reality Vs. Virtual Reality – The Future Technology

The implementation of these technologies through extended reality is enabling businesses to create innovative solutions and increase customer engagement, reduce human error and improve time efficiency. 

5 Powerful Real-World Applications 

“The market for Extended Reality is expected to have a compound annual growth rate of more than 65% during the forecast period of 2019-2024,” says Mordor Intelligence. 

Check out these five real-world applications of extended reality:

1. Entertainment and Gaming

The entertainment and video games industries are the foremost users of Extended Reality. Camera tracking and real-time rendering are combined to create an immersive virtual environment, allowing actors to get the real feel of the scene, thereby improving their performance. The extended reality also allows for multipurpose studio environments, thus reducing the cost of an elaborate movie set.

Video gaming is enhanced by the ability of Extended Reality to create a comprehensive participation effect. This allows users to dive into a completely different reality. Other entertainment events such as exhibitions and live music can also be enhanced by the capabilities of Extended Reality. 

2. Employees and Consumers

• Training: Extended Reality allows employees to be trained and educated in low-risk, virtual environments. Medical students, surgeons, firefighters, pilots, and chemists can closely simulate risky scenarios with minimal risk and less expense. The experience they gain will prove invaluable when they handle real-life situations.
• Information: Replacing physical manuals, Extended Reality can enable technicians to focus on the task without having to flip the pages of a manual. It can even connect an expert remotely to the real-time issue for his expert advice. This would save organizations a whole lot of money, and more importantly save them valuable downtime as they wouldn’t need to wait for experts.
• Improve customer perspective: Simulating virtual experience brought on by specific diseases and impairments can help doctors and caregivers receive empathy training. 

Related Reading: How Top Brands Embrace Augmented Reality for Immersive Customer Experiences

3. Healthcare

Extended Reality is improving healthcare by streamlining medical procedures while enhancing patient care. Allowing surgeons to visualize the complexities of the organs in 3D, it is enabling them to plan each step of a complicated surgery well in advance. Essentially, it is ensuring that surgeons can perform surgeries in a more safe, effective and precise way.

4. Real Estate

Extended Reality makes it easier for real estate agents and managers to close a deal by enabling prospective homebuyers to get a real feel of the property. The layout scenarios that are enabled by Extended Reality enhance customer experience while providing strong business opportunities. 

Related Reading: AR and VR- Game Changers of Real Estate Industry

5. Marketing

Extended Reality enables marketers to give their consumers a ‘try before you buy’ experience. It allows consumers to be transported to a place, immerses them in that world and motivates them to explore it. As an example, Cathay Pacific used a 360◦ video with hotspots to help potential customers experience the brand firsthand. That increased customer awareness by 29% and brand favorability by 25%. 

Face the Future with Extended Reality

There are many more advancements and applications to be discovered with Extended Reality, and it is soon going to be imperative to competitive advantage. Make sure your business isn’t left behind. Talk to our expert today. 

How to Solve Accounting Challenges in Business with Augmented Intelligence

The challenges faced by finance and accounting teams are like the underwater icebergs that can crash a huge ship. The Titanic sank because of poor decision-making. Likewise, weak financial decisions can affect your business. This blog will help your finance and accounting teams to identify the hidden challenges and provide insights on how to use Augmented Intelligence to overcome complex business challenges effectively. 

5 Reasons Why Augmented Intelligence Is Gaining Importance 

Many businesses are embracing Augmented Intelligence because;

• Enormous volumes of data can be processed quickly and efficiently with Augmented Intelligence.
• Accounting tasks such as audits, payrolls, taxes, and banking can be automated using Augmented Intelligence.
• Due to its ability to continuously learn, Augmented Intelligence can constantly improve efficiency while eliminating the risk of human error.
• It enables humans to make crucial decisions without bias by providing fair information and recommendations.
• Tedious tasks such as bookkeeping can be automated and streamlined.

Top 4 Solutions Offered by Augmented Intelligence 

Challenge 1: Protecting the business from fraud

According to the 2018 global fraud and identity report, 63% of businesses still continue to experience the same number or more fraud losses than the preceding year. And only 54% are ‘somewhat confident’ in their ability to detect fraudulent activity. The wide variety of fraud types and the enormity of the work involved in reviewing the data manually or by rule-based systems can make the detection and prevention of fraud a huge challenge.

Solution: 

With the help of Augmented Intelligence, large transactions can be analyzed in real-time which helps in detecting fraud. Since Augmented Intelligence can even categorize the score of fraudulent activity, investigators are able to prioritize their work effectively. Once the fraud is detected, Augmented Intelligence allows you to reject the transaction outright. Since Augmented Intelligence continues to learn from past data, it can learn from investigators’ reviews and understand how to discern patterns that lead to fraudulent activities.

Related Reading: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: The Cyber Security Heroes Of FinTech

Challenge 2: Risk Assessment

While evaluating potential risks in lending money or providing credit, businesses could end up denying credit without assessing their current situation using traditional methods. Worse yet, they could end up approving credit to churners who could affect profits. The organization might also face the challenge of explaining to the consumer the reason for denying them credit.  

Solution: 

Augmented Intelligence helps you assess your customers’ current income and recent credit history based on the enormous data that is available at hand. This allows for a more realistic and accurate assessment of each borrower. Such kind of assessment allows financial firms to make more individualized decisions. Besides, Augmented Intelligence can provide reason codes which would explain the important aspects involved in credit decisions, making it easier to provide reasons why credit is being denied.

Challenge 3: Trading and Investment

According to a 2018 survey conducted in the US, 70% of millennials use mobile banking in the US alone. And this figure is steadily increasing all over the world. Businesses cannot function without mobile applications. It has become a channel of interaction with customers who would like to review transactions, pay bills and find customer service. Failed interactions would translate into increased customer churn, lost transactions and even lost revenues.

Solution: 

Augmented Intelligence can assist your business in detecting anomalies in transaction volume by identifying the triggers for such anomalies. Based on previous data patterns, the system can look at expected data volumes which can then be compared with real-time transaction values. This will help in your decision-making process because it clearly and quickly indicates the highs and lows of a transaction by suggesting solutions that meet each individual demand.

Challenge 4: Combating Money Laundering

It is estimated that the amount of money laundered globally in one year is 2 – 5% of the global GDP! And this seems to be increasing at an alarming rate. To combat money laundering, extensive investigations must be performed by the finance and accounting teams. 

Solution: 

Augmented Intelligence can detect suspicious and complex transactions and raise a red flag on such transactions so investigators can further examine them. Augmented Intelligence can learn from each experience and more effectively safeguard your firm.

Related Reading: The Future Of Communication and Security Using Augmented Reality

Discover New Growth Opportunities by Applying Augmented Intelligence

Augmented Intelligence can help finance and accounting teams reduce costs, improve operations, increase consumer satisfaction and reduce the time taken for various processes by 80-90%. It can also reshape your entire organization from internal operations to treasury services. It can assess the available unstructured content and help your business unlock valuable insights from them. This enables smarter decision making, which in turn helps in the growth of your business. 

When your business adopts Augmented Intelligence as part of your methodology, it gives your customers benefits that will lead to loyalty and growth. Fingent has been helping many clients achieve this, and we can help you too. Give us a call and let’s discuss. 

Can Augmented Reality Improve Conversion Rates For Businesses?

Augmented Reality (AR) is a powerful tool that brands are using to bridge the gap between their products and their digitally empowered customers. With the power of AR, customers can see and experience their products without actually trying them on, helping them make purchase decisions instantly. AR is being widely used by many brands as the most cost-effective way to convert strangers into customers and promoters.

Let’s consider why and how top brands are embracing Augmented Reality for immersive customer experience. 

Top Brands Embracing AR 

When AR technology was pioneered by Ivan Sutherland in 1968, he described his concept of the Ultimate Display as: “The ultimate display would, of course, be a room within which the computer can control the existence of matter. A chair displayed in such a room would be good enough to sit in. Handcuffs displayed in such a room would be confining, and a bullet displayed in such a room would be fatal. With appropriate programming, such a display could literally be the Wonderland into which Alice walked.”

Today we are witnessing the massive affect AR is having on immersive customer experience. Wonderland looks close!

Here are a few examples of top brands that are using AR effectively to achieve this. 

LEGO Wear’s AR Shop

LEGO Wear’s first limited-edition clothing line for adults was featured on Snapchat with a uniquely designed Snapcode. This virtual cloth store had no clothes on display but allowed customers to shop virtually on a Snap-triggered portal. Studies reveal that Snachatters engage with Augmented Reality naturally on a large basis.

Around 70% of them play with an AR lens every day. So with the combination of AR and e-commerce leading to exciting customer experience, the company was able to drive sales rapidly.

Watch how AR simplify equipment maintainance

This video is made using InVideo.io

Patron Tequila’ s Immersive Distillery Experience 

Patron’s AR app is designed for its tech-savvy customer persona. Understanding the mindset of today’s socially connected generation to know more about the products they consume, the Patron AR app allows its customers to take a virtual tour of their distillery in Mexico giving them a glimpse of the history and origins of the distillery.

Speaking about the success story, the app-enabled more than a million consumers to have a memory of visiting Hacienda without even physically going to the place. Also, thousands of people have interacted with a virtual Patrón bartender, who is actually not a real person at all, but a robust data processing tool to simulate a real-world interaction.

Nike Snaps Up Customers

The Air Jordan Brand in collaboration with Snapchat and Darkstore, out together a virtual experience that brought in record sales last year. Using a special 3-D AR world lens of Michael Jordan circa 1988, taking off from the free-throw line in the slam dunk contest, Nike was able to target Snapchat users around the Staples Center where an NBA All-Star Game was taking place.

Users could walk around the lens and see Jordan changing into the All-Star uniform and the new AJ III Tinkers. In the following event, Snapchat brought out a QR code that users could use to buy the shoes from the Snap Store. The shoes would be delivered within 2 hours.  The shoes sold out in 23 minutes! 

MAC Cosmetic’s AR-enabled Video Tutorial

In June of this year, MAC cosmetics launched AR-enabled shoppable video tutorials on YouTube in partnership with the beauty influencer, Roxette Arisa. As the tutorial is playing, a ‘try on’ button appears below the video, allowing viewers to try on different shades of lipstick as they continue to watch the tutorial.

Once they have made a choice, they can order the lipstick without leaving the app. MAC sees a huge potential in this as beauty-related content generated more than 169 billion views on YouTube last year.

Speedo’s Customers Try It On Virtually

Early this September, leading swim gear company Speedo launched a mobile app that lets their customers try out their goggles before they buy it. This app is compatible with both Android and iOS phones. Commenting on this feature, Pentland Brand’s head of innovation Ben Hardman said, “This technology will undoubtedly enhance our customers’ shopping experiences by allowing them to interact with the product before they make a purchase. In this instance, it helps them address a well-documented human pain point: leaky goggles.” 

How Augmented Reality Can Simplify Equipment Maintenance

AR Is the Future – Are You Ready?

AR technology is working wonders for the sales and productivity of many brands. It is improving its business operations while giving their customers a more immersive and fun experience. Brands are able to market their products in fresh and interesting ways and are seeing great returns.

Fingent works with brands to achieve this for their business. By using AR technology like Microsoft HoloLens and more, we are making AR possible for our clients.

Reach out to us and know how Augmented Reality technology can be used to improve your customers’ experience and scale your business. 

Can Equipment Maintenance Be Simplified With Augmented Reality?

“If I had six hours to chop down a tree,” said Abraham Lincoln, “I’d spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.” Wise words which emphasize the fact that there is no substitute for consistent, preventive maintenance. And yet, it isn’t high on the priority list of many. Sure, equipment maintenance isn’t a ribbon-cutting event. A short-sighted CEO could argue that it increases cost and hinders the speed of growth, but effective maintenance is what will hold the business together in the long run.  

In an attempt to balance out the costs of maintenance with their goals to increase business growth, businesses are looking to Augmented Reality for a solution. With the power to augment reality and machines, AR is the perfect solution for firms looking to simplify equipment maintenance and increase their growth. This article provides an overview of how AR can achieve that.

Continue reading “How Augmented Reality Can Simplify Equipment Maintenance”

What Is Augmented Reality?

Do you fancy playing Nintendo’s game Pokemon Go? Or used the IKEA mobile application? These are 2 examples of how Augmented Reality technology has taken over the digital world to heights. 

The much-hyped AR technology has had a technological breakthrough in recent years and has witnessed many innovations. Snapchat Lenses are yet another example of AR technology implementation. AR keeps the real-world focus. It adds virtual elements to improve the user’s experience. 

The AR technology superimposes a CG (Computer Generated) image of the real world for the user. For instance, the Pokemon Go game provided its users with superimposed images, allowing the users to catch Pokemon simply by looking at their smartphones. The game had 65 million users as it gained popularity. 

What Is Virtual Reality?

If you have used VR devices such as Play Station VR (PSVR), you would understand how Virtual Reality technology completely provides an immersive experience by completely shutting you off from the rest of the world. 

VR technology is a display technology to create a simulated environment for the user. The key players in VR technology include Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and so on. 

Augmented Reality And Virtual Reality: Game-Changer For The Real Estate Industries

AR and VR technology has seen immense growth in recent years and is continuing to grow rapidly. According to recent Statista reports, by the year 2025, the total revenue in the VR/AR industry is estimated to be $2.6 billion. 

Initially, the real estate sector has been using 3D Video and 3D Photography for creative interactions with their clients. They used to portray this technology for showing their clients the interiors of the buildings etc. Virtual reality, thus enhanced the viewing experience for the clients of real estate builders and agents, without the viewers having to visit the premises physically.

From helping the construction industry to market, improve and maintain sites to train the workforce on security, Virtual Reality is a game-changer for the real estate industry! Let us see how:

Why The Real Estate Sector Needs AR And VR Technology Implementation

Virtual and Augmented Realities are Immersive Technologies that can create a new reality altogether by leveraging the 360 space. These technologies save time and expenditure significantly for buyers, sellers, agents, etc. Technological advancements have contributed to the increased use of immersive UX (User Experiences), thus easing the process of selling and/ or buying residential and commercial real estates. Implementing these advanced technologies in Real Estate will ease both buying and selling of properties.

Related Reading: Check out how real estate technology helps predict property prices

AR And VR Technologies: Benefits In The Real Estate Industry

A recent survey by the National Association Of Realtors stated that 95% of users search the Internet before buying a property. The major benefits that can be leveraged out of AR technology are as follows:

• Better Clarity Over Properties

Augmented Reality technology makes everything real and interactive with its ability to carry blueprints and images in real-time. AR mobile applications offer users a visual walk through the properties.

• Cost-effectiveness

AR replaces traditional marketing techniques offered by realtors to reach out to potential buyers. In addition to saving cost overheads, AR technology improves brand loyalty as well.

• A Better Reach-Out Platform

An AR mobile application on your smartphone offers a better reach-out than having to physically be present in worksites.

• Offers A Global Reach

With VR, arranging virtual visits, showing users the properties virtually, and negotiating costs with the users are made easy, even to long distance buyers.

Related Reading: Check out how smart home technology is creating an impact on real estate.

AR/VR technologies allow users to refine searches and avoid unproductive visits to any property. Let us walk through the key benefits that the technology of Virtual Reality has to offer:

• Virtual Visits

VR technology allows people to visit properties virtually which not only saves cost but time as well. Putting on a VR headset, users get an immersive experience by having 3D walk-throughs of properties. There are 2 types of 3D virtual tours. They are as follows:

1. Guided Visits – These are for existing properties that lets you capture a 360-degree video. Users can wear a VR headset or a gadget such as Google Cardboard to view the properties. This does not require any programming or complex rendering. 
2. Interactive Visits – Users can decide where to move within the property, by choosing specific hotspots in their field of view. 

• Virtual Staging

According to the statistical report by the National Association Of Realtors, 77% of real estate agents prefer to use virtual staging to help potential buyers to associate with a property they intend to buy. VR technology helps realtors to market-specific staged properties with minimal investment. 

With the advent of technology, 3D tools are used to create a virtual representation of spaces with required furnishings. For this, the 3D photographs are taken and further staged with the help of a 3D scanner. 

• Visualizing Architecture

Architectural Visualization has become immersive with the advent of VR technology. Potential buyers can imagine how their future properties will look like. The 3-dimensional computer-generated environment helps realtors create full-scale models of buildings and properties. VR technology thus helps in pushing thresholds without the risks associated with time and costs.

• Efficient Communication With Tenants 

3-dimensional tours in real-time with tenants can help landlords and real estate agents communicate with their tenants effectively. The VR technology is found to be more efficient and productive in case of vacation rentals especially. This is because businesses that offer short vacation rentals have high turnover rates associated with it, compared to others.

• Virtual Commerce

According to a recent eCommerce statistic report, 77.24% of potential buyers who intend to buy online, abandon their idea of purchasing. This shows a lack of convincing customers to go ahead with their initial choices. Virtual Reality technology finds use in these situations with its immersive capability.

With the mobility element of the VR technology, around 24 million VR devices were estimated to be sold globally, according to insights from CSS. 

With VR technology, after taking a virtual tour of the property, users can order from the virtual store as well.

Related Reading: Read on to know What Not To Do In Real Estate Business.

AR And VR Technologies – Future Game-Changer For The Real Estate Industry?

Immersive AR and VR technologies provide users the benefit of Analytics. This feature allows realtors to now derive critical insights and enhance the buying decisions of potential customers.

Providers of Analytics can offer web-page related KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). This includes page views and web sessions. Nuanced buyer behaviors can be better judged with data analytics. 

To conclude, AR and VR technologies reduce unnecessary expenditures associated with staging and scheduling visits. It helps users visualize properties and reduces the overall costs. 

Use of VR to support USA smart cities are forecasted to reach $330 million by the year 2024. 

AR and VR technology is surely the next big technological breakthrough in the real estate industries. For more insights on how to transform your real estate business digitally with immersive technologies, call our strategists right away!

How Is Augmented Reality Revolutionizing Education Industry?

Augmented reality is the latest breakthrough technology in the digital space. It has been almost half a century from when the concept of Augmented Reality first appeared in 1968, and as Augmented Reality (AR) is penetrating deeper, its uses continue to increase. 

By 2022, worldwide shipments of smart glasses are estimated to reach 32.7 million units. And by 2025, the global augmented reality market is anticipated to grow noticeably to about 198 billion U.S. dollars. With such significant growth, it makes sense to consider how AR can benefit our daily lives. In this blog, we will discuss its impact on the education sector in particular. Let’s begin by understanding what AR is.

Related Reading: Read on to know which technology stands as the future for industries: AR or VR.

What is Augmented Reality?

Augmented Reality is the bridge that connects the real world with the virtual world. Its popularity is growing rapidly in every industry from social media filters to surgical procedures. As the word augment suggests, AR enhances what we hear, see and feel. It has categories based on various technologies. Some of those categories are marker-based AR, markerless AR, projection-based AR, and superimposed AR. This makes AR useful for various industries. 

There are various industries such as public safety, tourism services, entertainment and so on that are leveraging AR. For example, AR aids the automotive industry by assisting with various parameters such as navigation and speed. It helps people not to lose focus while driving because the application can be projected from a console on the glass which only the driver can see. In Healthcare, there are numerous AR applications that support the video platform and can project augmented hands on the patient. Wherever the surgery is taking place, a senior surgeon can guide a beginner in his surgery.

Travel and tourism is another industry that has shown tremendous transformation through Augmented Reality.

Watch how Augmented Reality is reshaping travel and tourism industry.

This video is made using InVideo.io

With many more industries benefiting from AR, let’s see how the education industry is revolutionizing with AR.

The Role of Augmented Reality in Education

AR is set to revamp the world’s conventional learning model. It can bring about a positive change in the location and timing of classes and make learning more engaging. Today’s learning process is becoming much more tuned to bring in the elements of interaction and creativity. By providing visual representations, AR helps students acquire, process, and remember information. Thereby, it helps them to test out their knowledge in practice.

AR technology has also helped students to learn and understand their surroundings. The British Museum has already begun using AR technology to help students understand certain displays. It has proved useful in providing students practical knowledge of subjects such as math or science. Let us look into a few more benefits of AR in the educational sector.

• Edutainment versus Education

AR makes lessons fun learning. Today’s generation is not a chalk and board generation. Studies reveal that students are easily bored with standardized methods of teaching. The reality is that students tend to remember what they see more than what they learn by rote.  AR takes them to the next level by helping them not just to see, but also experience and participate. As a result, AR delivers a positive impact on the students by giving them edutainment.

• Simplify Complex subjects and Exemplify Abstract Concepts

AR breathes life into complex subjects that students are expected to learn. It can bring added creativity, interactivity and engagement to complex and abstract subjects. It simplifies the learning process. Both the teachers and the students likewise can thus take control of the educational process through AR. 

Each student’s level of understanding and the pace of learning differs. Certain AR apps allow you to create personalized learning materials. Such apps allow the tutor to create content for the individual needs of each student. This way, students will get to learn complex subjects quickly and easily.

• AR-Enabled homework

AR can also help students do their assignments and homework better. The fact that today’s generation is tech-savvy can be harnessed to promote education in a way that will appeal to the students.

AR emphasizes important concepts. By making images and information “pop out” of a textbook, AR can break the boundaries of textbook learning, which has been sidelined as boring and tedious and make it interactive and absorbing.

• Use what they already have

According to the Pew Research Center, 95% of teenagers have access to smartphones. It makes sense to use this to their advantage in education as well. Neither parents nor teachers have to spend extra dollars on buying gadgets for AR learning. The AR app on an existing smartphone is all that is required for interactive learning.

• Practical Knowledge at AR Labs

For various reasons, schools may choose to limit the scope of practical demonstrations. This is another fact that will change through the use of AR technology. With AR, students can perform practical experiments without the need of the physical lab. This is extremely helpful for professional courses. Students can also gain knowledge about safety procedures and potential hazards in the lab. 

The future of communication and security using Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality is the Real Future of Education

According to a survey on the impact of interactive technology on marketing students, it is said that 87% were likely to attend the class, 72% were likely to participate and 70% students said that they improved their understanding of specific concepts. If this is true with interactive technology, how much more of an impact would AR have on the student’s attendance, participation, and understanding? 

The children of millennials who are born between 2010 and 2025 are called Generation Alpha, which is considered the most technology-infused. AR education is poised to be the norm rather than the exception. According to the forecast, the AR market is expected to reach $60.55 billion by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 40.29%. Undeniably, AR is the real future of education. 

Fingent is on a go, to revolutionize education sectors with AR technology. With various education application platforms, Fingent is already helping organizations create effective collaboration between students and teachers. To know more about how Fingent can help you provide an effective and efficient learning ecosystem with emerging and trending technologies, get in touch with our experts today!

5 Technology Trends Real Estate Players Should Watch Out For

Digital transformation is today the hottest area of interest in almost every business sector. With the huge growth in a digital savvy user base, enterprises big or small are continuously investing in new age digital technologies and tools to help them serve customers better and survive the tough market competition. The real estate sector is no different in this regard as digital technologies have reshaped both the customer and property landscape over the past couple of years. From facilities such as a simple listing of properties online to AI enabled best property matching based on preferences, the list of digital innovations in the real estate sector is huge. If your primary business is centered around real estate, then the following 5 technology innovations should certainly be on your watch list for 2019.

Augmented and Virtual Reality Applications

Today, real estate is a globally accessible commodity and not restrictive to localized demand. A property may attract interest from buyers across the world and not just in the vicinity or city that it is located. The challenge then lies in providing a holistic experience for the interested buyer to have a good look and feel of the property before investing. It may not always be possible to bring them physically to the place due to cost or other travel related concerns. This is where technology such as AR and VR can make a difference. With hardware devices, making AR/VR capabilities, inexpensive and accessible, property managers can easily facilitate an AR/VR demo for buyers to make faster and better decisions from anywhere. Another useful application would be for homeowners to use AR/VR to decide their home décor or construction techniques. For example, the positioning of furniture, temporary or permanent interior fixtures, etc., can be decided way before the actual construction begins. This allows more planning and elimination of cost overheads wherein both buyer and builder would have a clear understanding of how the building is to be constructed.

Check out how AR and VR are revolutionizing the real estate industry.

This video is made using InVideo.io

Big Data Analytics

Real estate is one sector where pricing is a highly dynamic constituent. There are a number of factors influencing property or land prices and very often owners or enterprises that manage properties find it hard to offer competitive or profitable pricing to prospective buyers. However, several forward-thinking players have now started to utilize the power of big data analytics to get the most preferential pricing schemes that bolster both interests from buyers as well as maintain a competitive profit margin for sellers or property owners. Historical rental or property cost data along with trends such as demographic changes, population density, preferential behavior, amenity choices, spending patterns, etc., are supplied as data insights into powerful analytical systems. These in turn offer insights or in other words recommendations for property owners to price their offerings competitively and enhance the overall buying or rental experience for a consumer.

Related Reading: Find how Big Data is influencing the health care industry.

Innovative Property Management

The rise of start-up culture and the global workforce paradigm has impacted the real estate sector considerably. Today, it is not just one major tenant that leases an entire building or space within a building to set up its office, but several players invest to take up co-working spaces. In fact, studies have shown that shared workspaces have grown at an incredible rate of 200% over 5 years from 2013 to 2018. Co-working spaces facilitate companies to set up a presence where their best employees prefer to work thereby helping in boosting retention levels. For the real estate sector, this change in occupancy trend has called for the rise of innovative property management software that incorporates several new technology offerings. For example, power and other utility services have to be shared among multiple tenants in a co-working space and this requires the property management tool to be integrated with an IoT powered building management system that can monitor occupancy levels, adjust power and other environmental support features like lighting, temperature control, etc. Doing these tasks manually would require considerable overhead and hiring of a large workforce. Autonomous IoT integrated property management solutions can easily facilitate multiple tenants to collaborate in a workspace saving them the hassle of worrying about unwanted costs and the owners can have peace of mind without having to deal with manual supply and maintenance of essential support services.

Related Reading: Check out tips to select the right software for property management. 

Blockchain Powered Smart Contracts

While some of the technology advancements we mentioned before require autonomous property management, blockchain is the key ingredient that can help make it possible in real time. The decentralized and highly immutable features of blockchain can help transform real estate management and property leasing considerably. An owner or landlord can easily rent out or sell portions of his property with agreed terms and conditions all recorded on smart contracts. The contract makes the details of the sale or rental highly encrypted and complies with all local laws and regulations. Besides, several government agencies are increasingly investing in blockchain to set up regulatory repositories that can autonomously validate land records, property and tax implications and much more. So, if real estate buyers can bump up their investments in blockchain, they can turn to become more compliant and legitimate in the market. This would increase affection for their offerings for prospective customers.

Digital Advertising and Sales

Today, a large portion of prospective buyers or leasing clients are hooked to social media and other digital channels to gain information. As a real estate dealer, you need to ensure that your properties are marketed in the right digital channel and reach the right audience within such channels. There are tons of social media advertising platforms that help you filter your target audience to the finest level. If you do not want to spend time on the filtering part, there are AI-powered tools that help do the job even better than humans. AI is not just limited to ad filtering for the real estate sector. There are intelligent chatbot applications available today for deployment in your website. These bots can converse with potential buyers when they inquire on your website, collect their information, suggest them the best choices based on their preferences, pass the right information to sales agents to take the lead further and ultimately help them close it quickly. From marketing automation to intelligent sales conversations, there is a host of digital solutions that the real estate players, can utilize to win customer hearts with personalization in highly competitive markets.

Related Reading: Watch out for the emerging technology trends of 2019.

No longer can the real estate sector be labeled as a laggard in terms of technology innovations. There are plenty of digital avenues where smart players can invest and stand out from the competition. We have showcased 5 of these avenues that are increasingly driving more value for adopters and we believe that these should be on the watchlist of any real estate player in 2019. Going digital friendly is no easy task, especially if you do not have a sizeable technology team in-house who is well versed in all these innovations. But that is where a technology partner like Fingent can prove to be the decisive factor in on-boarding the best technology innovations in your real estate business. If you are aspiring to be a leader in the real estate space through technology, talk to our experts today to explore the vast opportunities in digital transformation for your business.