The Building Blocks Towards Certified XR Training
To ensure scalability success of an XR program, firms must address factors such as middleware, device management, and certifications
7 October 2024
The XR adoption journey in enterprise will remain a hot topic for many years to come.
Currently, the XR adoption curve is still early in its development. While many businesses and sectors champion AR/VR/MR solutions via a range of usages, there exist many emerging considerations for companies to understand every stage of XR deployment.
Integrating XR into a company is not as simple as placing a headset on a worker and calling it a day. An internal XR lead must address various building blocks to successfully deploy AR/VR/MR solutions to optimise workplace operations, such as immersive training.
When a workplace identifies a suitable use case for XR that provides value based on the technologies’ parallel time and financial investments, a range of building blocks that are key to successful integration emerge, such as establishing robust digital middleware layers and frameworks to ensure smooth deployment.
Additionally, certification and accreditation from leading standards organisations can help XR-ready businesses identify trustworthy XR solutions that will affect positive change.
The Starting Point
Once a business secures funding and support for an XR immersive training deployment, it must have a plan in place that builds a framework of tools to support the program.
A human-centric approach is key from the beginning. Every enterprise XR solution reaches a worker, and XR leads must ensure that the worker has a valuable experience from their first step to repeated usage of an immersive training service-or any other potential use case.
An enterprise XR service or device must come personalised for a worker, their environment, and their situation.
A user-tailored approach can include setting up a robust mobile device management system that helps IT teams set up and distribute an XR device and an accompanying training service at scale; this can also help with worker device-onboarding sessions by ensuring that logging into the device is kept simple and accessible.
Computing companies such as Lenovo are working to give businesses vital XR management and service ecosystems to support device rollouts in fields ranging from education to healthcare.
Regarding scalability for enterprise-grade XR solutions, establishing a micro services architecture can also help optimise the range of components within a software/hardware deployment such as haptics or AI.
Ensuring Smooth Onboarding
Currently, an issue facing XR headset adoption is the device’s form factor. VR and MR headsets are commonly heavy, and different people have different tolerances for having a device strapped to their heads.
Furthermore, firms can leverage cloud and RT3D streaming services to offload workflows and service processing requirements, perhaps inviting lighter headsets into businesses that require system-intense training applications or digital learning assets.
Adequate systems for logging into devices and launching software are also essential. This will improve worker-facing experiences and lead to better optics when communicating the value of immersive services to all levels of a business.
Therefore, for fully immersive experiences, it is key that the process is smooth for workers to avoid device fatigue. This ensures that workers can launch a service as soon as possible without navigating unnecessary boot-up screens.
Device management considerations can also include APIs, such as drivers, which establish communication and control of hardware. On the other hand, administration tools allow for configuring, monitoring, and updating devices.
Moreover, a personalised UI/UX can ensure a device or application is ready for a tailored training experience.
In the popular immersive training sphere that many companies are entering, influential groups help direct end-users to trusted immersive learning solutions.
One of these groups is the Learning and Performance Institute (LPI). This organisation accredits enterprise-grade digital learning solutions with various certifications to showcase providers that excel in capability and performance.
Immersive learning solutions provider ARuVR gained the LPI’s Accredited Learning Technologies Provider status in 2023, showcasing that ARuVR’s services reach unprecedented levels of business integrity, client value proposition, delivery capability, performance management, people development, and business stability-all of which are vital building blocks for establishing a robust immersive learning infrastructure.
Commenting on ARuVR’s historic May accreditation, Edmund Monk, CEO of the Learning and Performance Institute (LPI), praised ARuVR for becoming the first XR platform to receive Accredited Provider status:
We have extremely high standards for accreditation, and we are proud to commend ARuVR on their achievement. We work with our accredited organisations to ensure that they not only meet our standards, but that they continue to improve. This way, organisations can be confident that they are working with the best.There are many XR services that cover use cases outside of immersive learning. However, finding testimonials that highlight the effectiveness of a solution at various deployment stages, such as those from LPI, becomes critical in finding a suitable immersive solution.
Addressing Security Concerns
Businesses must also note existing security systems within an IT framework-another major building block for deploying XR in enterprise.
Many XR solutions leverage real-world spatial data, such as user biometric and environmental information, which means companies need to handle sensitive data when deploying immersive training, just like any other workplace digital service.
XR security measures require employers to establish guardrails on the flow of sensitive information. Moreover, creating and managing databases helps teams understand what data is available to a business and for what purpose.
Tools like authentication and authorisation avenues allow for secure access to data and functionalities; on top of this, data encryption helps to protect worker data during transmission and storage.
But how can a firm ensure that an XR software solution is ready to meet a company’s security expectations?
One way is to earn an ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) 27001 certification, a third-party confirmation that an enterprise solution meets specific security requirements.
The standard is well respected; however, few XR firms have gained such an honour. The aforementioned firm ARuVR became the first XR company to achieve the ISO’s ISO/IEC 27001:2022 accreditation.
Discussing ARuVR’s recent accomplishment, ARuVR’s CEO & Founder Frank Furnari highlighted the significance of securing ISO/IEC 27001 certification for the third consecutive year:
Achieving the ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification is a significant milestone for ARuVR. As the first XR company to receive this certification, we are leading the way in information security within our industry. This achievement reflects our unwavering commitment to protecting our clients’ data and our dedication to continuous improvement.ARuVR achieved this prestigious goal by successfully implementing new tools in its Information Security Management System. This allows IT teams to address enabling information security threats and challenges with its AI-ready immersive learning suite.
The building blocks behind a successful XR deployment are vast, and as the technology grows, more building blocks will emerge. At the same time, XR is a broad technology that integrates other tools like AI, all of which need a considered approach.
So, firms must stay up to date with today’s building blocks behind XR so they can leverage the growing market and not fall behind the increasing adoption curve.
This article first appeared on XRTODAY
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