Picture yourself working from a beach in the Caribbean, sipping cocktails as you scroll through your emails, or even attending suit-and-tie meetings when you’re really poolside. Sounds like a dream.
Once reserved for investors and CEOs with the funds and freedom to work from anywhere, increasingly across the world more workers are going mobile. In 2017, it was estimated that over 43% of the US workforce had spent at least some time working remotely, and this number is only set to increase.
Enterprises are starting to recognize the potential and benefits of more flexible working for the companies themselves and their employees. Gone are the days of that nine-to-five behind a desk – with mobility making up a top priority for around 71% of enterprises.
Enterprise Mobility Benefits for Remote Employment
Some of the benefits of enterprise mobility for remote employment include:
• Increase in success, productivity, effectiveness – when employees work in an environment that makes them comfortable, they are simply more likely to get more done.
• Lower stress – aside from telecommuting, there’s no need to make any stressful journeys from the home to the office. This has two benefits: an employee is more likely to feel happy as they spend more time with their family and friends, and secondly, they are likely to get more done, as they’re not losing their energy on the trips.
• Improved relationships between the business and the employee – staff are more likely to feel valued and trusted if they are allowed to work from home.
• Lower office costs – having remote employees equals reduced real estate costs. No employees, no desk, no coffee machine, or at least less of it; this shifts the focus from presentation to productivity.
• Meeting the needs of millennial workers – as the so-called millennial generation and Gen Z’ers enter the workplace or continue to climb up their career ladder, demands are shifting from traditional roles to more digital ones. Remote working provides employees with the benefits they need to get the job done.
• It’s the future – it’s that simple. The world is changing and turning increasingly more digital. In order to keep up, to find the best staff for the job, and to be successful, businesses will have to adapt.
New Solutions, New Technologies
All this and more are the reasons why companies are turning to new innovative solutions that encourage mobility while still retaining responsibility and accountability in the workplace.
Currently, employees working remotely primarily utilize communication systems, such as Skype and Slack, and task managers, such as Asana and Teamwork, to interact and complete work.
However, it’s just not enough; it doesn’t completely fulfill the needs of a traditional workplace. This is one of the primary reasons why enterprises are seeking to adopt non-traditional technologies such as AR. And here’s how.
Enter Augmented Reality
Augmented reality and, in particular, AR apps for enterprises are changing the way we do business. They provide a variety of solutions, specifically designed to address changing business needs while retaining the critical factor of doing business – work.
• Communication
Whichever term you prefer – telecommuting, remote working, distance employment – they have one huge thing in common, and that’s communication.
When you remove the ability to walk over to your colleague to discuss an issue, you create a distinct communication barrier. Traditional remote systems, such as Skype, use video to address this, but it often feels like it’s not enough.
AR apps can help create virtual conference rooms with the feel of being in the office, even if you’re miles away. Such technologies can also include presentations, and recreate the authentic feeling of the office.
• Human resources and onboarding
Augmented reality also presents excellent solutions for HR staff. When working with remote employees, it can often be a challenge to truly get to know the person behind the screen. Augmented reality interviews can create a more comfortable environment for the employee and employer.
Once they’ve passed the interview stage, or perhaps even before, you may want to send you employee a test task to see how they’d solve a problem or complete an essential element of the proposed work. Augmented reality allows you to create realistic simulations that help immerse the candidate and truly test their skills; helping you find the best fit for the job.
Then comes onboarding. Known to be a determining factor for how long an employee will stay, successful onboarding is key. Even if an employee isn’t going to work remotely, AR can help introduce an employee to an office, or their team, by, for example, including useful facts – how to use the coffee machine, where IT support is located, who does what – in an internal office app.
• Working processes
Once you have the employee, then it’s time to get to work and this is where AR enterprise solutions truly shine.
Augmented reality technologies enable not just successful communications, but also the sharing and receiving of digital visuals, charts, and more. It allows users to go through them in an understandable format, for example creating visual comparisons, or even see how marketing materials may look on location.
AR also makes it possible to share digital prototypes, allowing different distributed teams to see the product in progress. For example, engineers may be able to spot defects in a structure, and product designers may critique visual nuances, etc. In essence, it allows for more people to get involved and streamline the working process.
Add AR to Your Enterprise
As enterprises are adopting more digital solutions through AR and other technologies such as virtual reality, perhaps you too started questioning, “how can I modernize my business?”
One of the most straightforward ways is to decide on a singular solution that could benefit your particular industry and use enterprise mobile apps development to create an effective solution tailored to you.
Whether you’re considering AR-based mobile conference rooms, upgrade of your HR processes, or something completely different, once you have an idea in mind you’ll need to find a specialist team who can give life to your idea.
Be sure to choose a reputable organization with experience in the AR sphere who will be able to guide you through the process and ensure your solution truly meets your needs.
