The Tech Revolutionist, Singapore: Cognizant’s APAC Head Says Augmented Reality-Based Training Takes Learning From the Textbook to the Playground

“Augmented reality (AR) has captured the attention of everyone worldwide,” writes Jayajyoti Sengupta. “More than a passing fad, AR is now becoming an important technology in the enterprise, literally bringing the digital world to life.” Excerpts:

"For all their benefits, AR applications are also not complicated to deploy, and once properly in place, they require minimal effort for maintenance.

Success stories lend greater credibility to the benefits of AR and cement the technology’s position as an innovation set to take the world by storm.

One area where AR is gaining traction is in workforce training. Many companies are increasingly applying AR tools to create training programs that drive employee engagement. According to the American Society for Training and Development, investment in employee training has a direct impact on the bottom-line.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of AR-based training lies in its ability to take learning from the textbook to the playground. Rather than have employees rely on hard copy instructions or user manuals, they are equipped with a handheld device such as an iPad or a wearable such as Google Glass instead. When these devices are directed on the AR machine, a realistic, 3-D, life-sized model of the machine is rendered into the physical world with information on each part of the machine and its role, making it seem as if they are training on a real machine. Learners can then interact with the 3D model using gestures and touch.

The ability to customize AR-based training for different situations is another one of AR’s key value propositions. In the medical sector, for example, AR technology is being used in training sessions on body parts and functionalities for medical students. The same technology can also be tailored to other industries easily.

AR has been around for a while, but was seen more as a fun thing rather than as something useful at an enterprise level. That has changed. AR is now viewed as a potential game changer, because it can produce experiences that can actually reduce hardware and people dependencies by delivering real-time information on user movements."

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