While still in its infancy, virtual technology has come a long way from its initial iteration during the late 1990’s with devices such as the Oculus Rift creating truly unique interactive programs that broaden the horizon when it comes to how we might all begin interacting with one another in the future.
In its 2015 E3 demonstration, the Oculus Rift was shown to create a hyper-realistic virtual environment that a person could “walk” around. It took the form of a cloud landscape with a clear lake of water that could be traversed. In this area, a person could bring out any number of potential applications such as a large movie screen to watch a movie, a calendar, various Google applications and most interesting of all was what can only be described as the future of conference calls, a virtual conference center where a person could directly see, move and interact with the avatar of another person that was hundreds of miles away.
What is interesting about the current iteration of virtual technology is how it can potentially be combined with present day video conferencing in order to truly create a fascinating conference call.
How Will Virtual Reality Impact Companies?
In order to handle a meeting involving numerous individuals who are stationed thousands of miles apart, it is normally the case that Singapore based companies have to use conference calls from companies like BlueJeans in order to accomplish such an endeavor. This is the process that many local companies utilize in order to communicate with their representatives in other countries in order to receive updates regarding projects or negotiations. Suffice it to say local companies are dependent on this form of technology so that they can penetrate new global markets and coordinate strategies in order to stay relevant in the competitive market that they find themselves in.
However, one of the current limitations of conference calls is that if you are discussing a particular problem or issue it is hard to truly visualize and know how the problem could potentially impact the operations of the company. One possible solution though would be to combine present day virtual reality technology and conference calls in order to create a means by which managers can view the aforementioned problem in a virtual environment while at the same time listen in to the voice conference detailing the problem as it is being viewed. Wareable.com states that through the use of virtual reality headsets and video conferencing technology, you may be able to direct speak and interact with a person that is located in another country without having to leave your boardroom.
In fact, based on the specifics of the Oculus Rift that was revealed, a virtual reality headset can become the equivalent of a very detailed PowerPoint presentation in board rooms around the country. Wherein the conference call itself acts as a means of guiding the manager or executive through the presentation being shown in the virtual environment. 3deaspacesys.com explains that the potential for this technology is that presentations no longer need to be held in a specific location; rather, all that would be needed is the necessary head set for them to go to a virtual location in order to be presented with an assortment of different images or even video about a process that concerns the company they work for.
How Will Virtual Reality Impact Employees?
Given the potential of the technology, it is likely that it would enable companies to allow employees to work from home through the use of pre-programmed virtual reality work environments. While this type of work environment has yet to be created, its foundation has already been set and it is likely that within the next 20 years the concept of an “office environment” will change considerably.
For instance, if an employee is going to be asked to join a conference call, it is likely that all they would need to do is input a set of coordinates into their terminal then all of a sudden they would find themselves in a virtual boardroom surrounded by people that are hundreds of miles away. The audio would come from a conference call that has been set while the visuals will primarily be from the virtual reality headset. In fact, RoadToVR.com stated that the employee in question doesn’t even need to be within the premises of the company in order to pull this off. Since the work from home programs have gain considerable popularity over the past few years, the use of virtual reality technology combined with voice conferencing will merely cement its use within many companies.
When taking into consideration the sheer potential of this technology to impact the way that employees in Singapore will go to work in the future, you can’t help but envy the next generation of workers as they will never experience the same frustrations that we have to contend with in the present.