Having said that, I was super excited to get my hands on the ML2. Kudos to Magic Leap as they sent us a demo unit right away so we could start putting together solutions.

Have to say I did not expect a brand new one as a demo unit but that’s what they sent – awesome (thanks to Shane Rochester for getting it done!).

So what’s in the box vs. what I expected? Short story is it’s what I expected plus a couple things, and there were some “that’s nice” moments.

I expected the ML2 glasses and the drive of course. On closer inspection, the glasses are quite a feat of technology, with the optics being center stage. Even to someone new to the AR (Augmented Reality) field, I could tell there’s a lot of tech packed into the eyepieces. If you look closely you can see multiple layers of optical material (waveguides, to be more precise) sandwiched together along with lots of inward and outward-looking sensors (cameras to us regular people). This is what gives the ML2 the precise spatial awareness it needs to overlay virtual reality on real reality so you can see Augmented Reality.

On closer inspection, the glasses are quite a feat of technology, with the optics being center stage. Even to someone new to the AR (Augmented Reality) field, I could tell there’s a lot of tech packed into the eyepieces. If you look closely you can see multiple layers of optical material (waveguides, to be more precise) sandwiched together along with lots of inward and outward-looking sensors (cameras to us regular people). This is what gives the ML2 the precise spatial awareness it needs to overlay virtual reality on real reality so you can see Augmented Reality.

The other really important part, and you don’t see this until you turn the ML2 on, is the dynamic dimming feature. This dims or brightens the virtual content according to the conditions of the physical environment. As you can imagine, being in a really bright environment could easily wash out the virtual content being projected in front of you. Being a guy who lives in Florida, I looked out the window and to nobody’s surprise, it was super bright and sunny. So………what the heck, let’s go outside. What I found out standing on my pool deck in 100% sunshine was the virtual content in the ML2 appears just as bright outside as it does inside. It was a “that’s nice” moment.

I like that the drive only has a power button and a volume up/down button. Just push the power button and watch the lights come on………no instructions necessary – I like that. I noted that the fan is on continually. The drive was easy to clip into the belt. To my surprise, the drive and the headset are hardwired together, no connectors. Not that it bothers me either way.

The drive itself looks like a sandwich, with space in the middle of it. I’m sure there’s a good engineering reason for it – I’ll go dig it out eventually – but it has an interesting look. Again, not something I have a strong opinion on.

The single hand controller is the last major piece of hardware. Totally reminds me of the Meta Quest Pro hand controller, which I like very much.

The ML2 controller fits very comfortably in your hand and it has a nice, smooth rubberized grip – another “that’s nice” moment. In use, it is very precise, which I expected and is a minimum requirement for the kinds of things we anticipate doing with the ML2. Expectations met.

Other than that, there are miscellaneous bits and bobs in the box. Some fitment pieces you can put on to get a better fit, a micro fiber cloth to clean the glasses, a tether for the glasses so they don’t fall off as well as a tether for the hand controller.

And there are cables for the two power supplies – one for the controller and one for the drive. Why two? No idea – we’ll have to ask one of the ML engineers. The case itself is really nice. Neoprene form-fitted cutouts for the headset and drive. And the Magic Leap wording on top of the case has that smooth, rubberized feel to it……..yep, another “that’s nice” moment.

The last thing of note is heat dissipation. That turns out to be a major challenge for AR glasses and it’s always instructive to see how manufacturers address the issue. I did notice when I was outside in the sunshine, about the time my feet got too hot to stand on my pool deck, the glasses were getting too hot to be on my head. Even inside, they get noticeably warm. I noted that the design ensures the heat is mostly at the top of the glasses and so radiates out into space rather than onto your face. And I suspect the odd drive arrangement is a way of separating and cooling the main CPU and GPU chips. Magic Leap has done well with the heat challenge, and I expect will do better still in the future.

I’ll finish by saying these AR glasses are state of the art, incorporating the leading technology in the field. Everything about them, everything about the components and associated carrying case says “quality”. And………they have that “I live in the future” look to them.

Can’t wait to put them to work.

Abstract:

Mobile Device Management (MDM) is a comprehensive technology that enables the management and security of mobile devices used in an organization. MDM platforms provide a centralized console for administrators to remotely manage, monitor, and secure mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, and now even VR headsets. This technology is becoming increasingly important in the business world as companies adopt mobile and VR technologies in their operations. With MDM, organizations can ensure that their mobile devices and VR headsets are being used efficiently and securely, preventing cyber threats and data breaches. MDM also helps in the deployment and configuration of mobile and VR applications, ensuring that they are compatible with the existing systems.

Now there’s a greater need for efficient administration and security of mobile devices due to their broad usage in the workplace. This issue may be resolved thanks to a technology called mobile device management (MDM), which enables businesses to protect and control their mobile devices from a single dashboard. MDM solutions offer several functions, such as remote management, monitoring, and security, that enable businesses to guarantee the effective and secure usage of their mobile devices. MDM has grown more important in controlling and safeguarding VR headsets as VR technology has become more prevalent in the workplace. In this context, MDM platforms can provide a streamlined way to manage a VR system in a business environment, ensuring that the devices are secure, up-to-date, and used efficiently.

MDM can be used to manage and secure almost any VR gear at the office by providing a centralized console that enables administrators to manage, monitor, and secure VR devices remotely. MDM enables businesses to remotely install and set up VR apps across various devices, ensuring that they are compatible with current infrastructure and adhere to security guidelines. MDM can also be used to update the VR software and firmware, configure network settings, and monitor headset usage to ensure the devices are being used efficiently. Furthermore, MDM platforms can enforce policies such as requiring strong passwords, encryption, and two-factor authentication to protect sensitive business data that may be accessed through the VR system. Additionally, MDM can provide the ability to wipe the data from a lost or stolen VR headset remotely, ensuring that sensitive information does not fall into the wrong hands. MDM can offer an all-encompassing solution to manage and protect VR equipment at work, ensuring that the equipment is utilized effectively, safely, and in accordance with the company’s rules.

When administering a VR system in an office setting, Mobile Device Management (MDM) platforms might be crucial, especially when managing many VR headsets that are dispersed globally. The organisation can manage and secure VR headsets remotely with the aid of an MDM platform, doing away with the need for manual interaction. With the use of VR devices becoming more prevalent in the workplace, companies need to have a way to manage and secure these devices. MDM can provide companies with the ability to remotely manage, monitor, and secure their VR devices, ensuring they are being used appropriately and are not at risk of cyber threats or data breaches. MDM can also help with the deployment and configuration of VR applications and ensure that they are compatible with existing systems.

1. An MDM platform provides a centralized console that allows administrators to manage multiple devices from a single interface which includes tasks such as updating software, configuring settings, monitoring usage, and troubleshooting issues. In the case of a VR system, this could include tasks such as updating the VR software, configuring network settings, and monitoring headset usage to ensure that the devices are being used efficiently.

2. MDM platforms can also ensure device security by providing features such as remote wipe, which allows administrators to wipe the data from a device if it is lost or stolen. They can also enforce policies such as requiring strong passwords or encryption, which can help protect sensitive business data that may be accessed through the VR system.

3. MDM platform can provide analytics and reporting capabilities, allowing the company to monitor usage and identify trends that can inform decision-making. For example, if the data shows that certain VR applications are being used more frequently than others, the company may decide to invest more resources in developing or acquiring similar applications.

Even Meta has an MDM of its own. It’s called Quest for Business. It is a service that provides enterprise-grade features and support for the Quest VR headset. This includes features such as MDM for managing multiple headsets, remote device management and control, device kiosk mode, support for custom enterprise applications, and more. Meta Quest for Business is designed to meet the needs of businesses and organizations that want to use VR for training, collaboration, or other purposes but need additional support and features beyond what is provided in the standard Quest headset.

There are several MDM software available for VR devices. Some of them are:

1. ArborXR: ArborXR is an AR & VR device management platform that allows you to manage your devices, deploy content, and monitor usage.

2. Radix VISO: Radix VISO is a comprehensive cloud-based device management platform (MDM) equipped with a unique set of tools to manage your VR/AR devices.

3. VISO VR Command Center: VISO VR Command Center enables centralized IT management, group management, collaboration across your VR/AR device fleet, and above all taking coordination and training to the next level.

4. HP ExtendXR: HP ExtendXR is an MDM platform offering from HP that is based upon and built in.

5. ManageXR: ManageXR is another option for managing VR devices.

Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based MDM and mobile application management (MAM) solution that is designed to manage a wide range of mobile devices, including VR headsets. Organisations can protect and manage their mobile devices, apps, and data thanks to the tools it offers for device and application management. Intune supports a range of VR headsets, including the HoloLens 2. With Intune, organizations can manage device settings, enforce policies, deploy apps, and secure data on their VR headsets.

Conclusion and Recommendations

MDM platforms are becoming increasingly essential for managing and securing mobile and VR devices in the workplace. With the rise in use of VR technology in various industries, businesses need to ensure that their VR systems are being managed efficiently, securely, and in line with their policies. MDM platforms provide a centralized console that allows administrators to manage, monitor, and secure multiple devices from a single interface, ensuring that they are updated, configured correctly, and being used appropriately. MDM can also enforce policies and security measures to protect sensitive business data that may be accessed through the VR system, such as two-factor authentication and encryption. Additionally , MDM platforms can provide analytics and reporting capabilities, allowing the company to monitor usage and identify trends that can improve decision-making.

Three things stand out in my mind.

1) It’s still kinda hard

Even though the modern version of the VR headsets have been out 7 years (Facebook’s purchase of Oculus in 2014 started the VR headset race), the initial setup of a VR headset is still a heavy lift compared with initial setup of a laptop or a phone, no matter who makes the headset. Some of the challenge is unavoidable because there are brand new ideas and ways of doing things that don’t exist anywhere else in technology. You need to create a boundary inside your room so you don’t run into things, and there are unfamiliar controllers you use to interact with the virtual world. But some things seem needlessly complex (Meta – why do you have to create two accounts just to be part of the business environment, and then account-like things if you want to use the Meta business app?).

None of that really concerns me, though. It’s just the way technology develops. At first, everything is manual and requires input from the user. Gradually, much of it is automated and streamlined, and initial configurations are quicker and more accurate. Configuring a VR headset today is much, much easier than it was even just 12 months ago. Meantime, I still suggest you phone a VR friend if you’re a consumer putting on a headset for the first time. And if you’re a business dipping your toes into the VR waters, I highly recommend you hire a really good VR services and consulting business to help you adopt the technology in a way that will work for you. If you’re in need of a recommendation, I know a good one (Bernoullium Services). 🙂

2) VR for Business is Awesome

In spite of the initial configuration work, VR remains awesome. Even though I’ve spent what has to be thousands of hours now in virtual reality, I am always struck by how really cool and game changing it is.

As we were configuring all those headsets and installing applications, I couldn’t help but look around every time I stepped into the Workrooms VR conference room. It’s just cool. And it’s compelling for business. If you have a business where travel is a major expense, VR for Business is for you. You can have effective and productive meetings in virtual reality at a small fraction of the cost of in-person meetings (Cost of in-person vs VR meetings). You can have your team from London, Atlanta, Singapore, the countryside in Nebraska, the desert of Dubai, or wherever they may be, gather in a conference room and share directly from their laptops and collaborate around a whiteboard. It is so realistic that you can actually feel crowded sometimes – think about that.

3) GenZ can bring it.

Last thing is a shout-out to the GenZ’ers. Last week, working with our Bernoullium GenZ team, I was struck by the swirl of new ideas they bring to the table, their endless energy and enthusiasm, and the easy camaraderie and acceptance these young professionals extend to everyone.

It put a huge smile on my face and made me proud. GenZ’ers configuring virtual reality headsets – I mean, that’s like seeing wildlife in it’s native habitat, right? Our GenZ team is a tremendous benefit to Bernoullium and I look forward to the continuing impact they’ll have.

So, yeah, if you have to spend hours configuring things, it’s better if you can do it with cutting edge technology like VR, and it’s best when you can configure VR with GenZ’ers.

If you’ve never put on a VR headset the experience is, to put it gently, all-encompassing. Even after you’ve spent quite a bit of time in the VR world the experience remains powerful.

At the time of this writing, the leading VR headsets are the Oculus Quest 2 headsets. To be sure, they are large and clunky, with two hand controllers that look like someone split an Xbox controller in half and put circles on both halves. The headset is heavy on the front of your face and doesn’t quite seem to fit no matter what you do. After a while, using the controllers gets easier, although they always look and feel a little odd to me.

But the minute you step into the VR world all of that clunkiness vanishes from your mind. “Overwhelming.” “Amazing.” “Comprehensive”. “All-encompassing”. These are all words that immediately come to mind. Even more descriptive are peoples’ reactions on stepping into the VR world for the first time.

A typical reaction is this: “Wow!!!……Wow……..wow…….wo……..” and as their voice trails off they simply stare around unable to even speak. I find that if I don’t say something they keep staring around for 10 or 15 minutes. Makes me smile. One executive summed it up perfectly when we brought him into a VR workroom for the first time. I started pointing out some of the features and he stopped me. He said, “Give me a minute…..this is a lot to process.” Totally captured it. He did need a minute. Everybody does. It’s a really powerful experience.

In my view there are three main things that make the experience so powerful. First, you ENTER the VR application. In other words, you can get up and literally walk around in it. You interact with the application in a way that’s completely different and far more realistic than how you’ve interacted with applications on your laptop or phone. In fact, you forget it’s an application. You can reach out and touch things. You have to be careful you don’t bump into (virtual) things when you’re moving around. You are immersed. You become part of the application in ways that are similar to you being part of the physical world. The second thing is the “spatial” audio, or audio that sounds natural in direction, tone, and volume. In our case we are working with business VR apps so there are a lot of conference table settings. When someone is sitting next to you at a conference table and speaking, it is totally natural and as if they were sitting next to you and talking in the real world. What you hear is that person’s real voice in high quality audio. The third thing is the avatars. Avatars in VR have the ability to point, gesture, smile, blink their eyes, turn around, and move to different places in a room. They do all those things at the time you do them and the way that you do, so there’s a good bit of your “personality” that comes through your avatar. One interesting note about about avatars. When someone makes their own avatar for a business setting they generally select features, hair styles, eyes, etc…that represent them in the real world. When you first see their avatar it’s quite shocking how close to real life their avatar is. I remember the first time my business partner and I connected in a VR workroom. I said “Vince!! That totally looks like you!!!” He said the same to me. And we’ve both observed that people who make their own business avatars look very much like the real person. It’s crazy how realistic avatars can be.

So there is no question the experience of VR is compelling – powerfully so. And a business minded person will immediately begin thinking how to leverage VR in a way that increases productivity and gives a competitive advantage. I believe there are several significant business advantages to be had by incorporating VR into a company’s processes, and that’s the topic of a future blog.

Meantime, if you’ve not yet stepped into the VR world, I strongly encourage you to do it. There’s no telling where the change in perspective will take you in your career.

P.S. If you need someone to help you take that first step, give me a shout. I love to introduce people to the world of VR for Business. 🙂

In this analysis I look at the cost of holding VR meetings for one week compared with the cost of traveling to an international location and holding in-person meetings over that same one week. And to keep it simple, this analysis is the cost incurred by just one person: the person traveling (virtually or in actuality) to the meetings. If you want to get right to the cost comparison you can skip down to the table below and make your own assessment, although you’ll miss out on my (fascinating) commentary.

As a former leader of a global team at a Fortune 50 IT company, I did quite a bit of in-person traveling during my business career, both domestic and international. I consider myself fortunate to have been to many of the most interesting cities in the world and to have met some truly amazing people.

But as I look at that travel now, I realize there was a significant cost to it. There were hard dollars my company had to spend for me to go and hold meetings, and there were also “soft” dollars I personally had to spend in terms of lost time with my family and physical recovery from all the crazy timezone changes.

Let me start with the hard dollars and btw, all of these numbers are in US dollars. You can make the adjustment for whatever currency you use.

I generally planned $2000 for economy airfare from the US to an international destination. Sometimes it was less, like a trip from the US East Coast to Western Europe, and sometimes it was more, like a trip to Asia or Australia. Airfare is usually the single largest cost of an International trip.

Meals and hotel are the other main hard costs of an international trip. I’ve included a little extra for modest entertaining but I often found meal costs to be significantly higher when traveling to meet with customers and partners. Hotel cost is $250/night and I’ve included 5 nights for this analysis. That would be for a long trip – to Asia as an example. I would leave sometime on Saturday and arrive sometime on Sunday in order to be ready for Monday morning meetings. Side note: no matter how you plan it, one of your nights away from home on an international trip is spent on an airplane. Let me say that again. You sleep on an airplane. That’s a little known fact that never appears in the “travel brochure” about the glamour of business travel. And that’s also why you really need to be able to sleep on an airplane. So if you add all this up you come to the realization that it costs $4000 real dollars to spend the better part of a week traveling for international meetings.

Now there are “soft” costs to travel too, and those costs were generally just ignored by most of us who did a lot of traveling. But I came to believe these soft costs were perhaps even more costly than having to find budget money to pay for plane tickets and hotels. Key among these soft costs are: missing important life events with your family and social circle, and the physical toll rapid timezone jumps takes on your body. Let me break these down.

It’s a little bit complicated to describe but no matter how you travel to an international destination, you miss at least one full day of work in transit when you’re on an airplane, in an airport, or in a car enroute to your hotel. That’s a whole day you are out of touch when everyone else is working. And there is at least a half day of recovering from jet lag during which it’s a challenge to concentrate or stay awake. I’ve put a cost of $200/hr for the work hours lost. That represents a moderately high level leader but you put in the hourly value of your time for a more accurate calculation of cost.

The really expensive soft costs are the important life events you miss because you are gone. How much did it cost me to be gone on my daughter’s birthday? Or when my son had a Cub Scout meeting? Or when the key user conference I needed to attend was being held Mother’s Day weekend in Las Vegas? How do you put a price on things like that? It’s impossible, really. My family has forgiven me for missing all those important events, but I still remember them and wonder if I did right.

At any rate, the cost I’ve put on these life events is this: one life event equals two hours at the hourly rate of $200/hr. Seems low but it is hard to value soft costs.

That brings me to the cost of having VR meetings. Essentially it’s just the cost of acquiring a VR headset. VR headsets today vary wildly in cost but I believe as the business side of VR matures, the cost of a headset will likely settle to somewhere around the price of a laptop. I’ve put that cost at $2000 which may be a little on the high side. As for other costs, really the only other cost is you still probably miss out on some important family or social activities. The ability to meet in VR at any time means you will be having meetings outside traditional 8am-5pm work hours in order to accomodate people in other timezones. Also, the ease with which you can meet people in VR scattered around the globe means you may be working more hours.

One of the amazing benefits of VR is you can hold VR meetings from any physical location where you have a good network connection. My preferred location is my home since I live in a secluded area and have a nice home office.

But any quiet spot will do. I suggest you pick one of your favorite locations. That way when you’re done with your VR meetings and leave the world of virtual reality, you get a great surprise when you take off your VR headset and remember you’re at one of your favorite places in “real reality”. It always puts a smile on my face.

The table below summarizes all the commentary in a nice, succinct format.

The cost of one week of meetings in VR vs the cost of one week of in-person meetings:

Let me just admit this right now. I have lost all perspective and you should be suspicious about listening to my thoughts on Virtual Reality (VR) for business. The reason is I have changed from being deeply skeptical of the value of VR in a business setting to being a huge advocate of VR in a business setting. To me, it seems almost limitless what can be accomplished with VR for business and I lay out why I think that below.

With a strategic use of VR for business in combination with traditional meeting methods, you can literally run circles around any competitor who is tied to a face-to-face and/or a Zoom-like business model for their sales revenue. (Want to skip my pithy commentary and go right to the pro’s? Click here.)

Tell me if this sounds familiar. The day starts at 6am when you pile out of bed, clean up, brush your teeth, and grab a cup of coffee before your first meeting at 8am. The first meeting is a call – a Zoom call – with a handful of people talking about some internal company issue or an external customer challenge. Everybody takes notes, has ideas, and promises to do things. After an hour it wraps up. You immediately get onto the next Zoom call which also takes about an hour. Followed by yet another call. And on it goes until the day is over. You finish the day in total Zoom fatigue having had no meaningful human contact. Furthermore, it’s all been entirely about business: no sidebar conversations, no hallway conversations with colleagues, no just catching up with somebody on what’s going on with them – none of that. Just business on a 2-D screen. And if you’re doing it on a laptop like I do, it’s not even a nice 2D screen…….it’s a tiny 2D screen.

As pandemic travel restrictions fade around the world, we are faced once again with the prospect of traveling near and far to attend meetings……which at this point almost sounds like a breath of fresh air. But do you remember what those days were like? Get on a plane Sunday to be ready for meetings or a conference Monday thru Thursday morning. Fly home Thursday evening. Catch your breath on Friday. And while the customer or the team you are there to conduct business with is well served while you’re there in person, it’s frustratingly difficult to keep other projects and sales moving ahead with the rest of your customer base or team members. So you end up desperately making short calls on bathroom breaks during the days to keep up with the rest of your business, and you blast out volleys of email late at night and early in the morning. That way you’re only half out of the loop by the end of the week.

VR for Business holds tremendous promise to mitigate the challenges of distance and time, while simultaneously accelerating the velocity of business. All without increasing the insanity that often accompanies increased business activity. Do I think VR for business replaces the need for face-to-face meetings? No, I don’t. Do I think there are downsides to VR for business? There are some. Do I think strategic use of face-to-face meetings combined with copious use of VR meetings can have you running circles around your competitors? Absolutely.

Here’s why I think VR for business is a tremendous competitive advantage for whoever embraces it.

1. VR for business dramatically reduces the number of face-to-face meetings necessary to successfully achieve a given business objective. Firstly, on philosophical grounds, is replacing face-to-face meetings with VR meetings even a good idea? In my opinion it is, SO LONG AS VR for business can provide a reasonable approximation of a face-to-face experience, which means there is a sense of being “in” a meeting room with other people, natural (spatial) audio, natural gestures and facial expressions. (I wrote a more detailed description about the VR for business face-to-face “experience” here). VR is capable of this today. This mean VR has the capacity to convey a sense of being “with” others in a meeting room. You are able to build on existing relationships and dramatically reduce the number of in-person meetings. This has tremendous advantages in that it multiplies the time you have available for transacting business. Throwback: when I was working for a fast-moving startup, I found that if I traveled during off-business hours I was far more productive than my competitors were who traveled during business hours. I wasn’t necessarily far better then they were, I was just more available to do business than they were. And so I was more successful. This is the same advantage VR for business gives someone who utilizes VR to hold meetings. They are less frequently on planes, in cars, or just plain exhausted than their competitors. They are more available to do business. And in my view, they will be more successful simply because they’ve figured out how to have more business hours. Their greater success will be in direct proportion to their greater availability.

2. There is a significant reduction in the cost of doing business by utilizing VR for business. This is a major benefit to using VR for business that usually is the first reason mentioned. I think it only becomes a consideration if VR for business can provide a reasonable replacement for some of the in-person meetings. Case in point. Zoom-like meetings are a huge cost savings over in-person meetings, but are they a realistic long-term replacement for face-to-face meetings? I believe the recent uptick in business travel now that pandemic restrictions are fading would suggest a resounding “No!”. In my opinion, VR for business actually has the potential to permanently replace a subset of in-person meetings because of the sense of being “with” others that it conveys. So it’s reasonable to look at how much of a cost reduction can be realized by an organization utilizing a hybrid VR/in-person meeting approach. I’ve calculated that cost reduction to be 70%, detailed in a blog post here. That’s based on the cost of one person making an international trip for one week of in-person meetings vs. the cost of having that same one person hold those meetings in VR. To be entirely fair, I believe the real cost reduction is more in the neighborhood of 50%-60% because I don’t think it’s productive to entirely eliminate face-to-face meetings. Even still, consider what you could do with 50% of your Travel and Entertainment budget money still in your pocket at the end of every quarter.

3. All participants remain fully focused throughout a VR meeting, thereby substantially increasing the effectiveness of time spent. Wait….what? You mean people in a VR meeting are actually paying attention? Yes, they are. And the reason why goes to the heart of why you have in-person meetings to start with. Remember VR for business meetings have an in-person feel. But why not just use email to conduct business? After all, it only takes milliseconds to get an email to your intended recipient. It’s because people aren’t focused on email. They are distracted by a million other things……, phone calls, reading docs, planning presentations, sending texts. Bottom line is we all know it takes way too long to try to do business with a group of people over email.

What about a Zoom call? Same reason. People mute audio, turn off video, and are texting, answering email, and doing other things when they’re not talking. You may get 25% of someone’s attention. And that translates directly into the quality, or lack thereof, you get from Zoom-like meetings. So instead, you have everyone get together physically in a meeting room. That way you get the most focus from attendees and the highest quality participation. VR for business meetings are similar because there is a similar sense of being “with” someone, sitting “next” to someone, and looking “at” someone. For the same reason you’re not likely to get up and leave while someone is speaking to you during an in-person meeting, you’re not likely to do that in a VR meeting either. Now do people sneak peeks at their laptops and get distracted in VR meetings? Yes…….just like they do at in-person meetings. All that said, out of all the collaboration methods available, in-person and VR meetings are still the most efficient ways to collaborate and the quickest way to achieve a business goal. That’s why people do them……and that’s why you’ll consider VR meetings as a reasonable replacement for some of those face-to-face meetings.

4. The main conference room tools can be used intuitively and effectively in a VR for business meeting. Standing at the front of a VR meeting room and giving a presentation is natural and effective. It feels a lot like you’re in a physical conference room giving a presentation. A laser pointer is available to all participants for presentations. Physical laptops/computers can be easily and quickly projected into the VR meeting room, thereby enabling sharing of information the same way as in a physical meeting room. VR meeting room whiteboard sessions are natural. Multiple people can stand at the front of the room and in addition to the whiteboard at the front of the room, each participant has a whiteboard at their desk where they can add to the whiteboard content. All of these are standard, but indispensable meeting room tools that are as simple and effective to use in a VR for business meeting as they are in a physical business meeting.

I’ve listed four of what I consider the most important “pro’s” to VR for business meetings but there are many others. For instance you can customize VR meeting spaces to fit a meeting theme, or with company logos & pictures. You can even change the room arrangement to meet different meeting needs – boardroom style for excellent bi-directional discussions, or classroom style for trainings.

The point is VR for business meetings are a tremendous tool and you should be building a meeting model which takes advantage of this new and effective way to accelerate your business velocity.

Almost invariably, the second thing someone says to me about Virtual Reality (VR) is: “Am I going to get seasick/motion sickness when I put the headsets on?” The first thing people say, by the way, is usually a comment about how cool, or exciting, or capable of dramatically changing the digital world VR is.

But to answer the question of seasickness in a classic, frustrating way, the answer is – it depends. And the reason it depends is because the world of VR applications is vast and encompasses such a wide variety of user experiences. So with some applications you may indeed get that queasy feeling and need to take your headset off. With other applications, it never crosses your mind. In order to know if you’re likely to feel queasy or not, I’ve learned to identify VR applications by their level of depicted motion plus the amount of actual physical movement from the user. It’s pretty simple to understand and once you do, by reading the app description, you’ll know whether or not you’re heading for an unpleasant experience even before you start.

I’ve made three tongue-in-cheek “queasy” rankings: Queasy Rank 1 = grab the nearest bucket and get ready to hurl, Queasy Rank 2 = move close to a bathroom just in case, Queasy Rank 3 = find your favorite recliner chair, relax, and enjoy the show.

Queasy Rank 1. The application depicts a high level of motion, but I am not physically moving. There are lots of examples of VR apps that use 360 degree cameras to capture adventure activity and then project that into a VR headset. Flying over a jungle, climbing Mt Everest, and Formula 1 racing are some examples. In all of these apps you feel like you are right there fully engaged in whatever extreme adventure is being shown. But your body is not moving. VR gives a strong sensation of moving to your eyes in your headset but there is no accompanying feeling of movement in your body. This creates a very strong disconnect where it all comes together in your mind and can easily make you feel queasy. It does for me most times. A lot of the VR gaming apps and Adventure and Discovery apps fall into this category.

Surprisingly, quite a few of the Social Space apps are this way, too, at the moment. In these Social Spaces apps you move around by “teleporting” or jumping from one location to another location. The constant flash-cut of perspective caused by jumping is hard to adjust to, especially when your body is telling you that you haven’t moved. Combined with a number of people around you who are also teleporting, the constantly shifting perspective can be unpleasant for some people and make you feel nauseous. A tip is to make small movements with your head. That doesn’t fix it, it just makes it slightly less nauseating. My recommendation for these kind of apps: when you start to feel uneasy, take the headset off.

Queasy Rank 2. The application depicts a moderate level of motion, and you are physically moving in the VR space. These are kind of hybrid apps, where there is a moderate level of motion being depicted, but you are also physically interacting with objects in the app. A simple example is an app called “First Steps”. It gets you used to moving around and manipulating objects with controllers: picking things up, controlling moving objects, walking around (I once made a gigantic space that matched the VR space just so I could physically walk across the entire space). In apps like these, while there is a moderate level of motion being depicted, you are creating the motion by physically moving and manipulating things. It feels more natural to your senses and reduces the chances of feeling nauseated. I’ve not felt queasy in any of these type of apps so far but I can see where it might make someone slightly nauseated, especially if it’s one of your first VR experiences.

Queasy Rank 3. The application depicts little or no motion, and you are physically sitting down. I wish I had a less boring description for this category of apps because these apps have, in my view, the most potential to change how we all live and work. Broadly, these are the Productivity VR apps. Apps that represent an office space, a conference room space or some other work-related environment. In these apps, much like in a real office setting, there is no movement of the space you are in – the walls and floor aren’t constantly changing. You are generally sitting down, as you would be when you’re working on your computer. At times you may stand up and make a presentation to a room of people or draw on a whiteboard, just like you would in a conference room. But you don’t get a queasy feeling. The motions you see match the motions you feel. It’s completely natural.

If you’re still apprehensive about putting on the headset and entering one of these kind of VR spaces, ask yourself if you’ve ever gotten motion sickness or felt queasy sitting in a conference room. If the answer is “no” then you’re not likely to feel queasy sitting in a VR conference room or office space. One of my favorite examples of these kind of apps is Horizon Workrooms. It is quite amazing how realistic and effective and intuitive it is to work in these environments (I’m a big fan and I’ve written about some of the biggest benefits to these kind of apps here).

So there you have it. A simple way to know if you’re going to feel queasy before you even put on a VR headset. Just read the app description and ask yourself what level of motion is likely to be shown and what level of physical motion you are going to be doing, and do they match. If the motion is moderate and it matches what you are physically doing in the app, then chances are you won’t even think about being queasy when you’ve got the headset on.

As much as I wish it was, VR for Business is not all unicorns and rainbows. There are significant headwinds slowing down the adoption of VR for Business (btw, if you want unicorns and rainbows, go here: Pro’s of VR for Business). In this post I lay out the top challenges below but ultimately, I believe it’s going to be the big Tech companies who shape what VR looks like in the business world and will determine when it becomes mainstream.

The big Tech companies and world events, that is.

The global pandemic is a great example of how a world event can intervene and change everything about how and when a technology is adopted. In the case of VR, the pandemic has accelerated the case for effective ways of doing business from afar.

The main downside of VR for Business, if it can be called a downside, is that Virtual Reality will never be as effective as “Real Reality” for meetings. In other words, there is no substitute for meeting someone face-to-face. In my view this isn’t really a downside but rather a recognition that direct human contact is fundamental and irreplaceable. Once you acknowledge that fact, then you can build a sales campaign strategy which leverages all modes of meeting: face-to-face, VR, video conference, phone, text and email. As is often the case with new, industry-changing technologies, VR is saddled with the perception that it’s a panacea for all types of meetings. It simply isn’t. But it does have an important place and carries the potential to be a competitive advantage to those who know how to use it.

A big downside of VR right now is that the most comprehensive VR experiences require the clunkiest and heaviest gear. Fully immersive VR requires a heavy headset that is literally a computer strapped onto your face. Not only does it look odd, it gets uncomfortable after a while. Clearly, headsets will have to evolve dramatically for widespread VR for Business adoption.

Pricing and costs of VR for Business technology and software vary widely with unpredictable future changes. As an example, the cost of acquiring a headset today varies from $300USD to $1400USD for relatively similar levels of quality. VR for Business software is anywhere from $0USD to $400USD/year, again for similar levels of quality. The future cost of any given set of hardware or software is currently difficult to predict, making the adoption of VR for Business a risky proposition for core business processes.

Much of the technology is proprietary. Another way of saying it is there are not many standards defining how Virtual Reality hardware and software should share architecture, data and metadata across different manufacturer platforms. For there to be widespread adoption of VR for Business there must be agreed on standards for the underlying architectures. The current situation is similar to the the early Internet before TCP/IP became the standard networking protocol (anybody remember XNS, SNA, Appletalk, or Banyon and Vines? Nope.).

The standards work is ongoing in organizations such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), but there is a ways to go before common VR standards are agreed upon.

There is a perception that VR is primarily the domain of gamers, kids, and non-work activities. As a result, VR for Business doesn’t enter into the business calculus of most executives today. Strong marketing by companies with good VR for Business offerings and a focus on remote workers who stand to gain the most from effective use of VR for Business, will shift the “gamer” perception over time.

Another roadblock to widespread adoption is that many, if not most, VR for Business applications have a confusing set of configuration steps. While this isn’t a barrier to more technically minded people, it represents a significant roadblock for someone who is simply a user of the technology.

Lastly, all of the major technology companies have recognized the future VR will play in their businesses and are actively positioning themselves to be significant players in VR. Some are pushing for VR adoption as fast as they can, such as Meta, who has bet their entire future on VR. Others who are further behind on VR innovation, such as Microsoft, are working quickly to catch up, as evidenced by their recent massive $69B purchase of game maker Activision (the company’s statement referenced VR as a key element in the purchase), seem to be attempting to stake out their VR for Business territory by marketing their sub-par AltSpace VR application to businesses.

Apple and Google are of course in the mix to varying degrees with planned VR hardware and software releases in the near future. In my view, all of this jockeying for position is likely to slow down the adoption of VR for Business overall as these major players will do everything they can to slow each other down in favor of their own offerings.

So…….it’s not all unicorns and rainbows, but truthfully, it never is. VR for Business is moving ahead just like any other revolutionary technology: innovation followed by standardization, alongside the rough and tumble competition for corporate and consumer attention. And we get to watch it all happen.