AR and VR have become integral to enhancing customer experience across industries: Gulshan Purswani, Delivery Head at Bosch Global Software Technologies

The automotive industry is increasingly adopting AR/VR applications as part of its quest for competitive advantage. With the ever-evolving hardware landscape, deployment of these applications is capable of delivering a high-quality experience, more immersive environments and handling larger assets.

1. How has AR/VR evolved in the last few years?

In the last couple of years, there have been rapid advancements in the augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) space, both on the hardware and software sides. This growth has been further accelerated by the pandemic as with more and more enterprises going digital, they are finding value in AR and VR technologies. The combined market for AR and VR is anticipated to be worth up to $300 billion by 2024 and $100 billion by 2030, as estimated by Morgan Stanley, according to Statista. The automotive industry is increasingly adopting AR/VR applications as part of its quest for competitive advantage. Typical scenarios where AR/VR adds value in Automotive include Field Service, Technician Training, AR Enabled R&R instructions, Remote Assist etc. We at BGSW have be working with automotive industry on these scenarios for some time now. With the ever-evolving hardware landscape, deployment of these applications is capable of delivering a high-quality experience, more immersive environments and handling larger assets. With a lot of enterprises already experimenting and releasing innovations, tools, and applications, the concept of AR/VR is swiftly gaining popularity.

2. How will AR/VR revolutionizing the market and solving the challenges? How will it transform the future of businesses?

We have seen that AR/VR is quickly finding adoption in 3 key areas – Training, Industry 4.0 and Customer Experience. We at BGSW are actively engaged in developing solutions in all the 3 areas:

1. Trainings – With things going digital, remote training is becoming a preferred platform as they are enabling better trainings by reducing travel requirements. We at BGSW are actively working on training platforms which enable the rapid creation and deployment of effective trainings.
2. Industry 4.0 – Remote Assist, Digital Twin and Guided Maintenance are most frequently addressed by AR/VR. BGSW’s Digital Twin offerings are already available for enterprises to start using.
3. Customer Experience – Augmented Reality has been actively explored in customer experience (CX) and Retail domains. While there are successes in individual areas, AR’s adoption in CX is still low due to challenges in content creation and the “Platform-isation” of offerings. BGSW is working on various initiatives to address these challenges. For example, we recently launched a solution for AR Enabled eCommerce which allows enterprises to quickly incorporate AR experiences in their eCommerce apps. This solution is called Bridge Commerce and is available on SAP Store.

3. How is BGSW positioned in the entire AR/VR ecosystem?

AR/VR space is constantly evolving, opening a plethora of opportunities for enterprises. BGSW is uniquely positioned on AR/VR as one of the early adopters of these technologies. We have a unique mix of services and solutions which enable us to solve customer problems in training, industry 4.0 and customer experience.

Our AR/VR offerings can be classified into 3 broad categories of Training, Industry 4.0 and Customer Experience.

The service offerings across these 3 include 3D Content Generation, AR/VR core application development, platform solutions such as VR Training and Bridge Commerce etc. We at BGSW provide end-to-end solutions which include Cloud, Frontend, Backend and integrations besides the Core AR/VR requirements. This enables to give comprehensive solutions and act as a partner in our customers’ XR Journey. We work with a combination of expert teams, and partner networks and are doing start-up collaborations to address business problems in the most effective way.

4. Extended Reality (XR) is one the emerging technology and buzz words in the industry. How is XR transforming customer experience? How are AR/VR accelerators, Virtual DemoZones, and Metaverse Experience Centres are enhancing the experience innovation?

Over the years, customer experience has evolved significantly. Brands are working towards enhancing the customer experience by introducing extended reality (XR) experiences such as virtual demo zones, virtual stores, AR product experiences, AR-enabled configuration and much more. These experiences are quickly changing the way customers interact with the company’s products. XR gives greater freedom to experience the products better and interact in an immersive environment before making purchase decisions. At BGSW, we have recently published an AR Enabled Accelerator which plugs into SAP Hybris and Mobile e-commerce apps to create a more immersive product experience. This solution significantly reduces the time taken for Sellers to create AR Product experiences in the e-commerce apps.