Imagine having an infinite personal workspace that’s dynamically right sized to help you quickly assemble and understand the information you need at any moment of the day. That’s the intent of spacial computing devices that are poised to cross over from consumer entertainment to serious workplace productivity dynamo.
Let’s face it, modern business is complicated and only getting worse. Look at how much time we spend sifting through the data and finding the experts that we need to accomplish our daily objectives. Now think about how much time we can save with a spacial computing device that provides the shortest distance between two points, meaning our questions and wherever the answers reside.
Bringing 3D capabilities into the daily lives of employees has untold ramifications for how people work as well as organizational structure.
getty“Physical tools like desks, computers, and mobile phones constrain workers by the size of the screen or workstation surface,” said Fred Samson, vice president and general manager of SAP-Apple Partnership at SAP. “Spacial computing gives people an infinite canvas to dynamically shape their workstation in a virtual environment that they can change in real-time as they go about their day, shifting between tasks and interacting with colleagues.”
Enterprise-grade immersive computing personalizes workspaces
Spacial computing is nothing like the clunky AR/VR headsets of the past. In this immersive world, workers have the flexibility to create the workspace they need in seconds using voice, eye, and hand movements. At the beginning of a project, someone might go more expansive as they discover large amounts of data and subject matter experts inside and beyond company walls. Once they’ve surfaced the information they need to move forward, they might create a super-focused workspace to concentrate on a specific task.
“You could perfectly configure your workspace to any role and responsibility from product design and procurement to factory floor, finance, and front office,” said Samson. “Instead of endless clicking to close, open, rearrange, and revisit screens and documents, you could pin items for faster, easier retrieval on your virtual workspace. Whether in the office or working remotely, immersive workspaces allow people to block out distractions for more efficiency and faster productivity.”
Spacial computing revolutionizes how people work
For employees, having a fully virtual representation of whatever they’re working on will be a game-changer. Some of the places where spacial computing could make a huge difference in productivity include anything to do with advanced analytics that map large-scale 3D data against 3D objects for instant visualized insights. Think planning and forecasting, supply chain management, and finance.
Immersive learning experiences are another area that has high potential for benefits to workers and organizations. Realistic simulations allow workers to learn new skills such as machine repair and maintenance or handling emergency procedures in a safe and controlled environment. With spacial computing, digital twins move beyond data to three dimensional objects, providing far more realistic experiences that help workers retain and apply knowledge with ease and speed.
Of course, virtual immersive experiences place the high technology industry itself on the cusp of a new era for developers, users, and partners.
“Enterprise application development will become a whole lot more like game development,” said Samson. “Company-wide, spacial computing will surface data from systems, resources, processes, and tools. Enterprise users will shift from information processing to orchestrating outcomes. SAP is exploring enterprise-grade spacial computing opportunities with customers and partners. For example, we’re collaborating with Apple to bring updated experiences for SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Mobile Start to the recently released Apple Vision Pro.”
Visionaries prepare for next workplace era
Bringing 3D capabilities into the daily lives of employees has untold ramifications for how people work as well as organizational structure. Companies could use immersive experiences to onboard new hires quickly. Warehouse workers could see where there’s room in a facility for a shipment of products. Looking at real-time product sales numbers overlayed with customer feedback, leaders could pinpoint exactly where and why problems were occurring and make precision adjustments to solve them without delay.
“Spacial computing won’t replace every physical device in the workspace,” said Samson. “Coupled with generative AI, it’s another technology advancement that will help people get the information they need from systems and colleagues in a much easier way. Short-term, workers will accomplish the same tasks with greater efficiency. At the same time, visionary leaders need to anticipate how spacial computing could transform everything from company culture and hiring and recruitment, to employee collaboration, IT, and operations management.”
