DEC 2019 - JAN 2020HR TECH OUTLOOK8In MyOpinionFROM THE CLASSROOM TO THE FIELD, AUGMENTED REALITY CREATES MORE ENGAGED, CONFIDENT EMPLOYEES Walter Davis, Head of Talent & Learning Technology, AggrekoByHow much of what you were taught at high school can you recall today? Very little, I'm willing to bet. And yet, if you learned to ride a bike as a kid, it doesn't matter how many years have gone by- you never forget. Why? Because learning by doing lodges information far deeper than studying something in a classroom. Muscle memory is a powerful thing. This phenomenon doesn't end when you graduate. As we progress through our careers, tackling new skills and technologies, it's vital we get plenty of practical experience to cement our understanding. From a training perspective, that ideally means giving every employee plenty of individual access to the actual technology they need to use and structuring their training around practical use cases. It means creating a direct through-line from their in-classroom training to their experiences in the field. But traditionally, this approach was prohibitively expensive and tricky to scale. It could even make training riskier by giving learners free rein on fragile or potentially dangerous equipment, with real-world implications for their mistakes. Augmented reality is changing all that Many organizations already incorporate AR-driven technologies and applications at some level within their business. That may range from single-department deployment of augmented task flows, apps and "see what I see" video calling through to industrialized AR technology stacks or AR platforms integrated with CRMs, ERPs, and PLMs. Some companies even roll out complete software platforms to their extended enterprise network, supported by interconnected sensors, glasses, devices, and machines. Typically, AR works in one or two ways. Firstly, by virtualizing specific machines so you can work with them in the same way you would a real one. Secondly, by overlaying relevant information, guides and documentation onto what you see in real life. This helps you understand what you're looking at or access important insights to address the problem at hand. For example, at Aggreko, we use this approach to allow users to pull up a fully digital compressor on a one-to-one scale, exploring how it works and going through all the same activities that they would if they were working with a physical compressor. The user can learn how to perform commissioning, decommissioning, maintenance, repair procedures, quality assurance and even safety tasks on the virtual product - all without access to a physical version. One of the most attractive things about this model is its cost-effectiveness AR programs don't require heavy investment in new hardware or digital infrastructure. They can be delivered as apps for any smartphone, tablet or desktop computer, downloadable from your existing company store. Rather than pushing up your costs or giving your IT team more things to worry about, you extract more value from your existing devices. When it comes to complete AR platforms, the vast majority have been developed with common enterprise applications in mind. For example, balancing single sign-on with stringent security and encryption. All of which makes AR training a breeze to scale Let's go back to that compressor example. When it comes to sales, Aggreko has a strong presence in the North American market, but in some countries we work in, customers have been more hesitant. Often, they've not used compressors before and are unsure how this will benefit them.
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