“Extended Reality” Is Vital to the Future Workforce

The term extended reality refers to anything that enhances reality like virtual reality or augmented reality. Technologists believe that this new world is going to be essential in the modern workplace in a very short amount of time. Some futurists believe that before long, this technology will be just as popular as the ubiquitous smartphone.

It’s not just for gamers and media watchers anymore. Now virtual reality is becoming essential in order to train employees in a variety of ways. VR headsets are not just being sold as a consumer product either. Now brands like HP and others are offering sets geared towards the enterprise customer. It’s an affordable way to allow employees to learn without having a bad outcome that can cost the company a lot of money!

So what is important to enterprise consumers of VR and Augmented Reality that is different than what is important to regular consumers? Well, according to some surveys, they care more about the hardware being too bulky and believe that if it doesn’t become a bit more svelte, the adoption of VR technology could be hindered by that factor. Not surprisingly, these tech experts also guessed that gaming would be the industry with the greatest growth and investment in the VR field. Businesses are still figuring out how to incorporate virtual reality into their programs. However, they predict that healthcare, education, the military and manufacturing will also benefit greatly.

For example, in health care, medical students can practice complicated medical procedures in virtual reality before trying them on cadavers or real life bodies. This avoids them wasting precious resources or harming real people. In education VR is indispensable because it allows students to come to new environments they may not be able to reach otherwise. These are just a few of the industries that can benefit from virtual reality.