Making VR a Business Reality

In case you didn’t already know, we are in the midst of an immersive technology revolution. Virtual reality (VR) has gone from a novelty or gimmick, you would stumble across at a trade show, to a highly-regarded business investment.

Many investors, start-up founders, technology executives, and consultants across the globe are adopting VR into their marketing, education, training, and overall business strategy to create true-to-life simulations that drive e-commerce sales and productivity. VR can also minimise costs associated with travel and employee training, saving company resources. Effectively, it has applications both internally and customer-facing.

This immersive technology’s transition from entertainment to utility is due to two key changes: First, headsets are more available and affordable than 10 to 15 years ago, and second, better 3D engines provide more realistic environments and tactile interaction.

VR headsets are now evolving at a much faster rate and available at a better price point, partly also due to their shared architectural heritage with smartphones - love it or hate it, we can thank Google Cardboard for that.

If we were to add a bonus reason for VR’s increase in popularity, it would be Covid-19. The pandemic has forced people to stay indoors and led them to revisit immersive technology from an education and training standpoint. VR training is a great example of how surgical trainees and interns have been exposed to practical experiences to improve their skills and intraoperative knowledge in a safe, simulated environment. Hand tracking is improving, making the application of learned skills less of a cognitive leap when moving from the virtual into the real world.

We’ve been working with immersive technologies as early as 2008, and have seen the recent invigoration of VR as an opportunity to provide something valuable and unique to the market. The right choice of hardware - such as screens and VR headsets - and supporting technology makes a huge difference to the experience, but the secret ingredient lies within our chosen content management system (CMS), Magnolia.

Magnolia offers an enterprise content platform that enables its users to manage and access all content and web properties in a single system. It can also leverage external systems, integrating microservices such as product catalog data and marketing forms.

In the context of VR, Magnolia manages spatial and 3D content such as 360-degree photos and videos, complete 3D models, textures, environments, and even game levels. While VR experiences can be delivered through modern web browsers, most VR or AR touchpoints are self-contained applications consuming content via headless APIs, which Magnolia offers out of the box.

With Magnolia, everyone can manage VR experiences because publishing VR content is as easy as publishing web content. After completing the approval workflow, updates to your VR content either happen instantly or can be scheduled for a specific date and time.

By working with Magnolia, we have been able to develop seamless VR experiences across every web property at speed. Together we can deliver immersive experiences that empower students to learn in a secure and engaging environment - or encourage customers to shop in stores that are never too busy.

Virtual reality has reinvented itself in the market and is now driving interest for businesses. It has become more accessible, both technologically and financially, and can be managed by robust and innovative content management systems like Magnolia.

By uniting creative ideas with a profitable business process, you are able to turn VR into successful learning, e-commerce, and brand-building experiences. We'd love to show you our most recent work and help you explore how the use of advanced immersive technology can enable you to offer the most engaging digital experiences.