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by mattbrewsbytes 1252 days ago
Maybe. What I don't get is any sense of what value VR adds for a business.

Imagine a 200 person call center dealing with health insurance claims, questions, etc. They likely have a PC, headset/phone (possibly digital) and a bunch of licenses to software that might cost an average of $1500 per person to have them be functional. It operates in a cost center part of the company, budgets are tight, investments in IT have to have an ROI to make sense. What value is there in a $1500 VR headset per person? How is this going to save that department money?

2 comments

It won't, they set up the call center so they could get rid of the more expensive in person local offices that used to exist to handle claims and sell insurance. That's not the right business for VR anyways, it's too broadly customer facing whereas VR for business is more B2B or internally focused. Remote workers are a big target for VR. Virtual doctor's visits are another. Remote education. Internal company training for maintenance, emergency or other physical procedures. B2B sales calls. Interviewing. Even tradeshows would be a target with a capable enough network and server setup.
To be honest I haven't thought about the business case for VR much. I enjoy it as a recreational tool.

I do think AR has some amazing potential for business and I suppose VR efforts could work as a stepping stone to getting that right.

Some random thoughts that might work now that I'm thinking about it:

* A social tool for remote companies. * It might improve remote meetings/whiteboarding. * I'd probably be more likely to go to a VR trade show than a real life one.

I don't think it's going to take over every enterprise. A laptop is more than enough for a lot of work, VR would probably get in the way.