It is sometimes said that there are only two guarantees in life: Death, and Taxes. On closer inspection however, there is a third guarantee and that guarantee is Change. We all face change, for better or for worse, almost every day of our lives. We change jobs, we change partners, we change where we live and how we think. Change is the harbinger of both uncertainty and opportunity and one of the true marks of greatness can be seen in those who know when to embrace it and when to let it pass us by.
3D television is a clear example of the latter and was an expensive lesson for those who pushed the technology and those who adopted it only to find the technology dead in the water mere months later. But these things happen and if nobody ever took these kinds of risks then where would we be? In stark contrast, a clear example of when change has been embraced for the better can be seen in the realm of Virtual Reality.
The scope of what we think of when talking about Virtual Reality technology has evolved vastly over the past decade with the advent of the Oculus Rift, HTC Vibe, Google Cardboard, Google Daydream Playstation VR and many more besides. First it was seen by the public as the next expansion of gaming which, to be fair, isn’t altogether incorrect. But that was by and large where the scope of what was expected from the technology and its applications ended.
Now however, Virtual Reality gaming is one of the most comparatively underdeveloped applications of the technology as a vast array of businesses across a vast array of disciplines have instead adopted the technology to augment the way they conduct their business and interact with their customers and partners alike. Household names like Microsoft, Sony and Facebook have made enormous investments in the VR space. But for this change to have taken place somewhere along the line someone had to make the call to take a risk. To change the status quo. To be the first. For an individual, they risk humiliation in trying to do something different from the proven method. For a business, they risk much, much more.
Which is why it’s incredible that so many businesses in Perth, Western Australia that have taken that leap during what is still an early adoption phase of this technology in the business environment. Businesses like Bwith architectural walkthroughs, the Department of Parks and Wildlife with Australian tourism, INPEX with occupational health and safety training in mining and Boral & Hanson with VR showrooms to show off polished concrete in hyper realistic 3D environments, these are just a few of the companies that Viewport has helped to take a chance on Virtual Reality and we helped them turn that risk into an opportunity that they could capitalise on.
Right now, Virtual Reality applications are not only poised to be more efficient than more traditional methods of doing things when applied correctly, but they also come with the added benefit of being new and novel which serves to differentiate your brand from competitors. It’s no secret that being regarded as cutting edge is an advantage, it’s also no secret that only so many brands can adopt a new technology or way of doing things before it becomes standard. It is for this reason that it’s heartening to see Perth and by extension, Australia playing a large part in the global trend towards harnessing VR to improve processes, engage with customers and bolster productivity. Whether it be through virtual showrooms, high resolution 3D walkthroughs of cutting edge architecture or even innovative methods of bringing cost effective, high quality training to staff. As a country, we have an unprecedented opportunity to be world leaders. As a company, Viewport isn’t about to let that chance slip through our fingers or that of our Perth based clientele.
