Thanks to Facebook, the metaverse or a form of virtual reality (VR) with digital representations of humans or things has become a household name. However, German remote work company TeamViewer is urging enterprises to seize the unrecognized opportunities the metaverse offers for businesses.
TeamViewer revealed how the industrial metaverse can optimize industrial value chains in a virtual round table on Monday, July 25. This expansion of the metaverse is the digitalization of the shop floor for both humans and machines. Rather than being confined to VR’s wholly immersive experience, the industrial metaverse also encompasses augmented reality (AR) solutions that add digital elements to user’s surroundings.
Imagine seeing instructions for servicing a car engine or warehouse picking right in front of your eyes through smart glasses or taking a picture for documentation with a voice command through the glasses’ in-built microphone. These possibilities and more are reality in the industrial metaverse.
“It is a more holistic approach of looking at the metaverse,” Dr. Hendrick Witt, TeamViewer’s chief product officer described during the event.
“It is a blend, basically, of the real world and the digital world, which coming together, have huge impact and benefits for enterprise businesses around the globe. No matter whether they are a manufacturer, a logistics company, an assets operations company, a mine, or an oil and gas company.”
TeamViewer stresses this version of the metaverse that focuses on integration of the digital and the physical because many enterprises’ operations are undeniably anchored in the real world. In fact, TeamViewer estimates that 80% of the world’s workers or 2.7 billion people are working in deskless jobs.
“By the end of the day, it is the software, obviously always in combination with the hardware, that allows you to reshape your business processes,” Witt asserted. “So, on one hand’s side, a win for the enterprise driving the key business KPIs. But on the other hand’s side, using this type of technology in the industrial metaverse, it’s also the win for the actual worker because they can now experience hands-free ways of tapping into digital information, which makes their lives easier.”
While this technology sounds like science fiction, TeamViewer has been offering its industrial metaverse solution, TeamViewer Frontline, for the past four years.
TeamViewer Frontline is the company’s line of AR productivity solutions for businesses’ manufacturing, logistics, maintenance, training, and field service activities. These customizable solutions are being used by some of the world’s most well-known companies like Coca Cola, Airbus Helicopters, Audi, and BMW North America, to improve warehouse efficiency, conduct product inspections, upgrade personnel training, and augment their maintenance services.
Currently, TeamViewer is keen to spread awareness of the industrial metaverse and the opportunities it offers to more enterprises in the Asia Pacific region, including Southeast Asia. They set up a headquarters in Singapore in early 2022 to be closer to their potential customers and have been joining trade fairs with their local partners.
Sojung Lee, TeamViewer APAC president, affirmed: “Together with our local partners, not just global but local partners in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Southeast Asia, we are constantly creating awareness.”
