When ruggedized tablets, immersive virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) solutions were first launched, they were all the rage, and manufacturers experimented with them widely between 2014 and 2016 in initiatives designed to bring workers into the digital future. Industry experts made all sorts of marketing claims and predictions about their potential to rapidly change how industrial workers complete their tasks and the value the emerging technologies would bring to organizations. At the time, more than one-third of manufacturers said they were either currently adopting or planning to adopt VR and AR technologies in the next three years.1

Before we were hit by the COVID pandemic, the impact of these technologies didn’t live up to early projections. Gartner estimated in 2018 that it would take another 5 to ten years before the technologies reached a mature level. However, the onset of the pandemic has changed the dynamics of new technology adoption and accelerated digital transformation.

“The pandemic has put the value proposition for AR front and center for users and IT buyers. You can help someone repair a piece of equipment when normally you would call and they would say, ‘I’m on this jobsite, I won’t be able to fly TUONG HUY NGUYEN Principal research analyst, gartner 2 The pandemic has put the value proposition for AR front and center for users and IT buyers. out there for another three days,’ and my task gets put off for three days. Now, they can remotely dial you in, you can draw on my screen, show me how to do things and we’re off and running,” says Tuong Huy Nguyen, Principal Research Analyst, Gartner2 .