The computer vision company Resonai has released a report titled “The State of Augmented Reality in Facilities Management,” which shows how augmented reality has broken beyond gaming, entertainment and consumer applications to provide numerous use cases for property management professionals.
Based on a survey of senior facilities managers and building owners (and operators), the report shows that 20 percent of facilities are currently using augmented reality, and that nearly three-quarters of those who are not using the technology yet expect to do so in the next two years.
The report finds a 30 percent adoption of the technology in hospitals and medical facilities. These types of properties appear to have embraced augmented reality, far more than other types of facilities. These areas of industry are followed by manufacturing facilities (26 percent adoption rate), educational facilities (at 25 percent) and corporate offices (coming in at 23 percent).
The most common uses of augmented reality, among facilities managers are marketing applications such as tours and virtual demonstrations (utilized at a rate of 20 percent). This is followed by industrial manufacturing applications (18 percent), smart maintenance and repairs (12 percent), tenant and visitor services (10 percent), and training/tutorials (10 percent).
While there are different reasons for adoption, facilities managers cited the automation of maintenance processes as the most common reason, at 49 percent of respondents. This is followed by the prevention of maintenance issues (45 percent of those polled), reduction of physical contact during the COVID-19 pandemic (27 percent), creation of new revenue opportunities (27 percent), and insights derived from augmented reality based analytics (22 percent).
Among the reasons for non-adoption, cost comes top. This was cited by 40 percent of facilities managers. To move from this position, the primary decision rested on being able to demonstrate augmented reality’s ability to bring in new revenue opportunities. This was cited as the technology’s greatest potential benefit by 30 percent of those facilities managers already using AR or expecting to do so within 24 months.
Facilities managers are also embracing other digital transformation concepts. For example, 75 percent of facilities managers currently have Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled devices in their buildings, such as environment sensors (44 percent), HVAC systems (42 percent), security systems (33 percent), doors (25 percent), lights (25 percent), among other applications.
These various examples demonstrate how augmented reality can help with the management of the complexities that come with running complex properties.
