From generation to generation, the world is changing. The way that we interact with one another, both socially and commercially, is changing along with it. Perhaps one of the biggest drivers of this change is the development of the internet and the online world.
In the present day, there are two separate realities – the ‘real’ physical world and the ‘virtual’ online world – and people are now attuned to conducting aspects of daily life in both.
The progressive development of virtual reality has some exciting applications for the business community.
Carrying out business online
For many business sectors, the online marketplace has steadily overtaken the real world as a place to buy and sell.
Perhaps the recognition of the legitimacy of doing business in the virtual world was encapsulated in Bill Clinton’s signing of the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act in 2000. President Clinton signed the act twice – in traditional pen and with a digital signature. Symbolically, it indicated the equal weight given to the traditional ink signature and the modern-day digital signature. Many DocuSign alternatives, which offer superior customer support and pricing transparency to DocuSign, now provide this new means of legal, contractual formalization.
Perhaps this was a milestone moment in society’s progress to recognizing the virtual world as a very real and legitimate place of business.
In that sense, virtual reality is the next step in the further development of the online world as a place for doing business.
Online reality replacing physical reality
In recent times, global conditions have accelerated the further replacement of traditional aspects of doing business with a virtual alternative. Today, very few businesses are unaware of names like Zoom or Microsoft Teams, as online conferencing took the place of physical, real-world conferencing and business meetings.
Presentations and product displays could be conducted online, and remote working, as well as the ability to interact instantaneously with multiple people over multiple time zones, became achievable.
The natural progression from that online interconnection via a computer screen is a step into the immersive experience of virtual reality.
The immersive experience
Instead of viewing business colleagues or a presentation on a flat 2-dimensional screen, imagine being able to interact with them in a 3-dimensional immersive world.
A real estate agent could walk a prospective client through a house virtually. A travel agent could take potential holidaymakers on a virtual tour of a resort or holiday destination.
Manufacturers like automotive designers can walk stakeholders around a new design in 3-dimensions.
Without the physical restriction of location, virtual reality permits users to see into a digital reality that mirrors and replaces the real-world equivalent.
VR and customer interaction
The business applications for VR technology are virtually endless and will likely transform the way that people interact with both colleagues and customers in the future. The sales, marketing, and showcasing of products take all of those traditional real-world processes into the virtual world.
Without the confines of the physical world, a business can be anywhere it wants to be in the blink of an eye. The virtual world is rapidly replicating the physical world, and for business enterprises, that is something they need to consider for the future.
