To communicate the value of Augmented Reality in the workplace to someone who is uninformed or has been shown only the games and marketing use case, you will need more than a slide presentation or a glossy brochure. A live demonstration is really valuable, but you will need to have the real object or target which isn’t always available, the digital assets you think the decision maker will need to use or see used, and then time, skills and software to build the experience in the tools of your choice.

Most people are creating videos of their enterprise use cases and sharing them on YouTube. The video approach is effective if you only have a few minutes of audience attention but has at least three drawbacks:

  • creating a professional looking video with high quality sound requires money or, if you have the skills, your time (and in my experience both of these are necessary)
  • an AR experience can be simulated in a video and many of those with whom you will want to convey a real value proposition have already watched plenty of video mockups, and
  • it doesn’t permit a feedback loop with the audience.

Conducting a webinar in which you provide sufficient background, interact with the audience and perhaps use your video mock up is a good, cost-effective way to gain some information about the audience interests, share knowledge and then tailor your strategy for an in person demonstration.

You’ll begin by informing people about the webinar so they can schedule it. SAP’s VP of Mobile Solutions, Josh Waddell, posted a blog about uses of Mobile AR and obstacles to adoption and announced the date and time of their webinar. Then you’ll need to combine a few speakers, slides and some interactivity. SAP’s Webinar has two polls.

If you missed it and still would like to watch the playback of SAP’s “Beyond the Hype” event you will learn how SAP positions AR as part of a larger mobile strategy and other valuable insights. It was well balanced in terms of setting expectations, use of video to simulate a live experience and providing suggestions for next steps.