XR has gone from experimental to effective work tool. Immersive technology solutions are available, affordable, maturing, and making an impact in organizations today. This session takes a big picture look at the enterprise AR/VR/MR (XR) space, including the current status of immersive and related metaverse technologies, and how we can expect XR to evolve in the next five to ten years.

• How has XR progressed over the past year?
• What are the current capabilities and shortcomings of XR in enterprise environments?
• Which use cases and applications are showing the greatest ROI?
• What are key factors and challenges preventing wider deployment of XR in business and industry?
•  Should XR be a top priority for your company?
• How will the use of XR at work evolve in the next 5-10 years?

(Moderator) Andrew Chrostowski, Chairman and CEO, RealWear
James Del Rossi, Manufacturing Mobility Architect, Dow
James Barrett, Vice President, Chief Innovation Officer, Turner Construction Company
William Harding, Distinguished Technical Fellow, Medtronic

“How do I start the XR conversation in my organization?” “What are the requirements for enterprise XR?” In this session, enterprise adopters discuss how to effectively evaluate the XR market, influence stakeholders, pilot, and more.

• Identifying a use case: What problem are you trying to solve?
• Identifying a use case: What problem are you trying to solve?
• Hardware and platform selection: Best practices for working with vendors
• Getting executive buy-in and collaborating with internal stakeholders (IT, legal, etc.)
• Steps for setting up a pilot: Timeline, budget, KPIs, etc.
• Top project killers (avoiding “pilot purgatory”)
• Strategies for addressing and working around organizational, cultural, and technical challenges

(Moderator) Doug Stephen, President, Learning Division, CGS
Murali Nathan, Director – Digital Innovation and Employee Experience, Avery Dennison
John Rygg, Technology Strategist-Innovation Group & Hololens R&D Product Owner, Kiewit
Susan Spark, Learning Technology Manager, Schlumberger
Amanda Clarida, Manager, Learning Design and Development, Volvo
Matthew Leshko, Global Training and Competence Manager, Transocean

Businesses adapted to the logistical challenges of the pandemic using technology to facilitate collaboration and knowledge transfer over distances. Those technologies have stuck around– employees continue to lean into remote work, as do many employers looking to cut costs and improve productivity. In this session, enterprise practitioners discuss how they are leveraging AR/VR/MR to:

• Access real-time machine data and information from ERPs hands-free
• Overlay digital work instructions, 3D models, equipment diagrams, etc. on the work environment
• Record and verify workflows
• Facilitate remote expert support (see-what-I-see)
• Reduce errors, downtime, and other costs
• Address the skills gap
• MORE: Challenges and costs of XR remote support solutions, developing augmented work instructions, comparison to traditional telepresence, introducing XR to partners/customers, importance of 5G, and more

Andreas Oeder, Head of Augmented Worker product, IM eXpert – Operator Augmentation, Airbus
Vince Herrera, Digital Value Delivery Leader for Sales & Marketing, DuPont
Gary Binstock, Director of Technology – Strategic Innovation and Alliances, Colgate-Palmolive
Austin Coglianese, Video Producer, Fastenal Company
Arafat Mahabub, Project Engineer – Automation, Kohler
Juergen Pietsch, Department Manager, Field-Technical Services, Mercedes-Benz

XR is reinventing how we design, visualize, and interact with products, environments, and information. In this new era of visualization, companies are streamlining the design process, getting products to market faster, and making more informed decisions. In this session, enterprise end users share how they are using AR/VR/MR to:

• Collaborate remotely on design projects
• Iterate faster and speed up the product design process
• Improve communication with stakeholders
• Avoid rework
• Plan layouts and simulate assembly processes
• Gain insight with 3D asset visualization
• MORE: Challenges and costs of adopting immersive visualization solutions, advantages of XR over traditional visualization tools, converting CAD and other 3D data, visualizing Big Data, Digital Twins, etc.

Jean-Baptiste Farge, Global XR Manager, Subsea 7
Adam Hintzman, Advance Design Engineer and XR Technology Leader, 3M
Max Sikorski, Virtual Reality Coordinator, General Motors
Andy Warren, Sr. Manager, Engineering Service Support, Bridgestone

Alone, immersive technologies like Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality are changing the way we work and do business, but XR is not the only technology that’s shaping the future workplace. In this session, enterprise innovators discuss how XR relates to other emerging technologies.

• Role of XR in the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 (predictive maintenance, digital twins)
• Applications and use cases combining XR with other emerging tech
• Connected worker/connected workplaceIntegration and other challenges
• Technologies covered: Artificial intelligence (AI) (including ChatGPT), computer vision (CV), machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), object and voice recognition, digital twins, cloud and edge computing, big data/analytics, automation and robotics, drones, 3D printing, blockchain, 5G and IoT, wearables and biometrics, exoskeletons, etc.
• On the horizon: Brain-computer interface (BCI), quantum computing, etc.

Jordan Pernikoff, Digitalization Lead, Engineering & Technology Americas, Bayer
Ed Moore, Chevron Distinguished Engineer – OT, Chevron
Jeffrey Berthiaume, Senior Innovator, Southwest Airlines
Stephen McClure, Director – Environmental, Health and Safety, Dawn Foods
Kim Fenrich, Process Automation Global Services Product Manager, ABB

While there are dozens of examples of companies successfully using XR today, justifying investment in new technology right now can still be challenging. In this session, enterprises share real metrics and best practices for defining, measuring, and demonstrating XR’s business value.

• What does success look like? Assessing and measuring different types of ROI, including quantitative and qualitative (ex. wellbeing, satisfaction, etc.) ROI
• Choosing the right POC to minimize upfront costs and produce compelling data
• Costs (hardware, software, content, system integration, etc.) vs. total economic impact on the business (projected time and money savings)
• Strategies for proving the business case to senior management
• Managing expectations: When can you expect to see results?
• Importance of internal champions

Miranda Palmisano, XR Immersive Technologies & Connected Worker Product Manager, Chevron

You’ve successfully completed a pilot, presented your business case, and received a budget to continue. Now, it’s time to deploy. How do you implement on a larger scale, manage more devices, and scale XR across the organization? In this session, panelists discuss post-pilot strategies for deploying, scaling, and maintaining XR in enterprise.

• Challenges of scaling and lessons learned by early adopters
• Hardware maturity and effective budgeting
• Scalability factors: Existing infrastructure, legacy systems, outside integrations, 5G, security, etc.
• Device management and ongoing maintenance (charging, hygiene, etc.)
• Content development, distribution, and management
• Ease of updates and technical support
• Employee training and approaches to change management

Zohair Mehkri, Director Of Engineering, Flex
Rich Beaudrie, Principal Lead, Digital Learning, Chick-fil-A Corporate
Michael Hinckley, Senior Systems Engineering Manager, Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Northrop Grumman
Ankoor Amin, Innovation Leader – IOT & Central Region, DPR Construction 

Enterprise IT and security professionals discuss security risks and other technical challenges of implementing XR and related metaverse technologies in the workplace, sharing lessons learned, best practices for protecting both enterprise and user data, and common workarounds.

• Common security challenges presented by XR and other connected devices
• New kinds of data: What personal and company data is XR collecting?
• How is the data being used and where is it stored? Who owns the data?
• Digital threading and data linking
• Cloud and edge computing needs
• Cyberdefense strategies
• Addressing privacy concerns (user permissions, data anonymization, data wiping, etc.)
• More: Analytics, authentication, connectivity, integration with legacy systems, multi-platform support, device management, sustainability, requirements by industry, etc.

Michael Zurat, Sr. Solution Architect, General Dynamics Information Technology
Elissa Hoehn, Consultant: Learning Strategist GXP for Cell Therapy Capability Center, Bristol Myers Squibb
Kurt Scheuringer, Principal Spatial Computing Solutions Architect, Emerging Technologies, Amazon AWS

Where virtual offices were once seen as futuristic, COVID brought the concept to the fore and Big Tech took notice. Tech companies are working to advance virtual collaboration solutions in the effort to replicate the productivity and socialization of in-person meetings in the metaverse. In this session, enterprise practitioners discuss how they are leveraging AR/VR/MR to:

• Mimic real-world interactions in remote communications
• Collaborate in virtual workspaces (multi-user collaboration)
• Improve the remote work (WFH) experience
• Reduce travel costs and carbon footprint
• Enable hybrid work models
• MORE: Current market for VR meeting solutions, benefits of shared virtual spaces over standard video conferencing, pros and cons of working in a virtual office, social VR (avatars and more), user acceptance, etc.

Dane Laughlin, Operations Transformation Product Leader, Invista

Though training was a popular XR application before 2020, the pandemic spurred a rapid increase in use cases, with companies turning to immersive tech to teach both hard and soft skills to employees wherever they are. In this session, enterprise leaders discuss how they are leveraging AR/VR/MR to:

• Remotely train and onboard new staff
• Safely train for hazardous work environments
• Train for undesirable and emergency scenarios
• Train on the job
• Replicate hands-on equipment training
• Deliver continuous and soft skills training
• Capture and transfer institutional knowledge
• MORE: Costs and challenges of adopting XR for training, advantages over traditional learning methods, content development, XR training at scale, recruitment, etc.

Stephen Veale, Continuous Improvement Engineer, Mars
Adam Berg, Manager of Learning Solutions, TechnipFMC
Jenny Taylor, Lead, Digital Transformation, Innovation – XR/VR, Duke Energy
Pablo Ortega, Instructional Designer, H-E-B
Angelica Garcia, Simulation Software and Virtual Reality Engineer, NASA

The next generation of marketing and sales involves immersing clients and customers in your brand and delivering product experiences and education directly to the consumer. In this session, enterprises discuss how they are leveraging AR/VR/MR to:

• Engage customers through branded immersive experiences
• Pitch products and services both internally and externally
• Create new shopping experiences
• Personalize customer service
• Boost sales, reduce returns, and increase customer satisfaction
• MORE: Challenges and costs of XR marketing campaigns, benefits over traditional digital marketing, virtual try-on, branded lenses and filters, product visualization, web-based, mobile and location-based XR, virtual showrooms, gamified customer experiences, impact of upcoming consumer AR glasses, etc.

Angela Carnrite, Sr. Manager, e-Business Marketing, Thermo Fisher Scientific
Lorna Jean Marcuzzo, Senior Digital Product Manager – 3D Visualization, MillerKnoll
Michael Hammond, Manager – Digital Visual Communications, Trek Bicycle
Ada Restrepo, Digital Business Manager, Global, Mary Kay Global

Maturing technologies, metaverse hype, and an unstable market where companies may fold or get acquired pose a challenge to enterprise XR adoption. What hardware should you invest in? Do you need to hire developers? What should you look for in a partner? In this interactive session, leading solution providers answer your most burning questions.

Let’s be clear: The Metaverse as envisioned by big tech doesn’t exist (yet). So, how can companies get value today and prepare for future opportunities in the Metaverse? In this session, enterprise technology experts discuss what the enterprise metaverse will look like, how companies are preparing to work and engage with consumers in the metaverse, and the infrastructure and social challenges that must be overcome.

• Beyond the hype: What do enterprises need to know about the metaverse? Why should CIOs, CMOs, and other executives add it to their roadmaps?
• Use cases: Collaboration, meetings, marketing, sales, simulations (business models, processes), training, etc.
• Potential benefits: Efficiency, engagement, sustainability, new revenue streams, etc.
• Challenges: Interoperability, large-scale data capture, processing power, lack of standards, security, privacy, authenticity, consumer adoption, etc.
• Digital twins and other foundations of the industrial metaverse
• Replicating assets, processes, and people virtually
• More: AI, avatars, holograms, virtual/hybrid office, branded metaverses, metaverse economy (NFTs, crypto), virtual products, digital ownership, etc.

Kate Brady, Head of Next Gen DTC Connections & Innovation, PepsiCo
Eric Ackerman, Vice President of Commercial Technology, Perry Ellis International
Gene Feldman, Training Manager, Center for Functional Excellence, Nestlé Purina Petcare Company
Eric Bursch, Design & Innovation Consultant – Immersive Experiences, Toyota
Bruce Skillin, Immersive Learning Leader, Georgia-Pacific