i3 | January 18, 2022

XR Enterprise Trends

CTA’s XR Enterprise Trends report (October 2021) reveals XR is emerging as an important tool for companies looking to enhance their business processes. Businesses are now investing in XR technologies — 85% of companies surveyed have implemented or are actively exploring XR. Those using augmented reality (AR) are relying on the technology to advance their sales and customer engagement goals, while also supporting remote collaboration. On the virtual reality (VR) front, businesses are using the technology for operational, sales, marketing and product development. Moreover, 84% say their companies will be accelerating spending on XR related projects over the next two years.

Enterprise XR Use

AR and VR applications remain at the forefront of enterprise XR use.

% Companies engaged in AR or VR or MR initiatives

Type of application deployed:

76% - Augmented Reality (AR)
80% - Virtual Reality (VR)
49% - Mixed Reality (MR)

Future XR Investment

Which sectors will see more XR investment?
% Respondents for 2021 and 2019, respectively are detailed below:

Gaming: 49% and 49%
Healthcare and medical applications: 41% and 38%
Real estate (e.g. virtual showings, construction): 37% and 33%
Education: 37% and 38%
Movies and television: 36% and 39%
Marketing and advertising: 35% and 34%
Live events (e.g. sports, concerts, etc): 34% and 33%
Manufacturing and automotive/aerospace: 33% and 29%
Training and/or teaching: 32% and 35%
Military and defense: 25% and 28%

Expectations for investment and impact

Businesses are accelerating their spend on XR related projects

84% expect their company will spend more on AR?VR initiatives over the next two years. (+20 pp, 2019: 64%)

59% believe AR/VR technologies will have a significant impact (i.e., rated 9 or 10 out of 10) on their organizations over the next fives years. (+26 pp, 2019: 33%)

TOP AR Use Cases
Businesses are leaning on AR to meet customer facing and internal workforce objectives.

% companies engaged in AR initiatives for 2021 and 2019, respectively are detailed below:

Virtual meetings: 56% and 48%
Sales: 56% and 44%
Design and visualization: 54% and 48%
Customer engagement: 53% and 47%
Training and/or teaching: 53% and 51%

Top VR Use Cases
VR technologies are helping support the remote-work trend.

% of companies engaged in VR initiatives for 2021 and 2019, respectively are detailed below:

Customer engagement: 54% and 45%
Remote collaboration/guidance: 53% and 44%
Sales: 52% and 48%
Design and visualization: 52% and 51%
View on-the-job contextual info: 50% and 43%

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