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How will organizations take full advantage of the wealth of digital data being generated by a growing number of smart, connected devices? Doing so is a challenge, because much of that digital information is disconnected from the physical world in which humans must apply it. In a recent webinar hosted by MIT SMR Custom Studio, Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter and PTC President and CEO James Heppelmann explained how augmented reality (AR) technology is emerging as a key tool for bridging that gap.
New research data shared during the webinar shows that companies see opportunities for AR to deliver value across a range of functions, particularly service, manufacturing operations, logistics, and product development. Video examples of business AR implementations in action demonstrated how the technology delivers information to people in context in the physical world. This helps reduce the cognitive load of interpreting digital information, Porter argued, compared to viewing information on 2D screens and transposing it into the physical context.
Organizations seeking to leverage AR must think through five key points on the way to developing a strategy, according to Porter, including:
• What implementation areas they should prioritize
• How to use AR for product differentiation
• Where AR may be most cost-effective
• Whether to build capabilities in-house or outsource
• What role AR can play as a future communications medium.
Watch the webinar replay on-demand to learn more about the capabilities that AR can provide organizations, how it is being deployed, and the AR use cases that are generating the most value today.