Virtual reality and augmented reality continue to make inroads into business systems, providing support for everything from training to construction. These technologies will also be central to Facebook’s Metaverse project.
To understand the developments of these technologies and to understand the current focus of companies in these innovative technology fields, Digital Journal spoke with Lyron Bentovim, President & CEO of The Glimpse Group.
Digital Journal: Can you provide a brief background on The Glimpse Group?
Lyron Bentovim: The Glimpse Group is a Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) platform company comprised of multiple enterprise B2B-focused software and services subsidiary companies. Each one of our subsidiaries targets different end markets (Education, Corporate Training, Healthcare, Retail/Branding, Finance, Architecture/Engineering/Construction, Corporate Events/Marketing, etc.) and different ROI-driven use cases of these immersive technologies.
In an early-stage industry that largely lacks infrastructure and support, we believe that our collaborative ecosystem is a key competitive advantage, allowing our companies to develop better products, with shorter time-to-market, less redundancies and costs, and significant go-to-market synergies.
To our knowledge, we are the first pure-play, Nasdaq-listed, diversified, VR and AR software and services company (Nasdaq: VRAR).
We have an informative video about our company, which can be viewed at the following link: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/667486472.
DJ: What are some of the latest developments with VR and AR?
Bentovim: Accelerated convergence of hardware capabilities, processing power, form factor, 5G and lower costs are creating the base “hardware tool set” that will enable wider adoption on both the B2B and B2C levels.
Better hardware tools propel the development of far more compelling software and services (enter Glimpse!), which are critical for industry growth and adoption. The recognition by major industry players (Facebook/Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and many others) of the Metaverse as an important element in tomorrow’s technological ecosystem has put a spotlight on the industry, showcasing what the future could bring.
Also, the emergence of blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to facilitate more realistic immersive experiences, worlds, and commerce potential.
DJ: How are VR and AR used across a multitude of industries, i.e. financial services,
education, healthcare and food & hospitality?
Bentovim: We believe that over time VR/AR will be prevalent throughout industries with many use cases in each industry, driven by a clear ROI. These immersive technologies will enable businesses to solve problems in ways that are far superior to what is possible utilizing today’s technologies.
Although every industry can benefit from incorporating VR/AR technologies, each industry’s application of VR/AR tech is unique. A few examples:
- Finance: financial analysts traditionally use spreadsheets and data analysis programs to sort through mountains of financial data. VR enhances and complements conventional methods, as analysts can now easily arrange, manipulate, view and analyze data in a medium more intuitive than the usual data analysis programs and present the data or finding more effectively.
- Education: AR can transform traditional learning materials like books and worksheets into immersive learning materials which are more dynamic and engaging than their traditional counterparts. Utilizing VR, educators can bring the students into the world and create teaching scenarios that are based on “real world” experiences.
- Corporate Training: VR can allow companies and organizations to simulate real life scenarios by creating cost-effective immersive training simulations that enhance employee skills development, provide objective analytics while generating strong ROI. VR training can enable training in scenarios that are otherwise dangerous, difficult and/or expensive to recreate and applies to both hard skills and soft skills.
DJ: How would you describe the Metaverse?
Bentovim: The Metaverse is a collection of virtual 3D environments using VR, AR, AI and Blockchain technologies. It’s essentially a 3D Internet made up of various connected digital worlds. While still in nascent stages of development, in time the Metaverse will fundamentally transform the way we engage with people, interact with businesses, transact and conduct our daily lives.
DJ: The Glimpse Group sees itself helping to create the Metaverse. Can you discuss what you are doing currently to help build it?
Bentovim: Glimpse’s subsidiary companies provide VR and AR software and service solutions that are enabling companies and organizations make initial forays into the immersive world. As the Metaverse develops, Glimpse’s subsidiaries will be supplying the underlying immersive technologies and solutions (“picks and shovels”) that will facilitate our customers’ ability to build their presence and commerce footprint in the Metaverse.
DJ: You recently announced the creation of a limited edition 3D collectible Glimpse
Medal Non-Fungible Token – the “Glimpse Medal NFT.” What is the importance of
this NFT?
Bentovim: The Glimpse Medal is one of the first fully “Metaverse-ready” NFTs which can seamlessly be used across all augmented and virtual reality platforms – from AR on a mobile phone to a 2D website on a computer – and brought into all existing (and future) NFT based virtual worlds such as Decentraland, CryptoVoxels, and The Sandbox. Circling back to our conversation about the Metaverse, NFTs function as unique asset identifiers in digital worlds, which will be an essential tool for the Metaverse. NFTs can be used to uniquely identify not only assets but individuals in the Metaverse, serving the role of an independent verification system as well. Minting our own NFT is an important demonstration of Glimpse’s advanced capabilities, commitment to NFTs, and our long-term plan to play an active role in the development of the Metaverse.
