Building a business case for XR in Telecoms and Media

The Telecoms and Media landscape could be perfectly poised to benefit from the advantages extended reality offers. XR has already proven itself as a powerful tool for communication and collaboration, capable of connecting people like never before. This gives Telecoms companies a new landscape to experiment with when it comes to offering communication services to brands.

At the same time, as the communications space grows increasingly complex, with endless new technology appearing on the market all the time, XR can empower employees too. The right solutions can improve training opportunities, enhance day-to-day processes, and support businesses in achieving better CX outcomes.

The question is, how do you build a business case for XR in telecoms and media your shareholders and business leaders can get behind?

Step 1: Consider the Evolving Industry

Companies in the media and telecoms landscape need to stay on the cutting edge if they want to survive in today’s competitive landscape. This means offering services and support relevant to the needs of their customers. Even if your company might not be using XR solutions in-house, it may be important to offer these tools to customers and clients.

For instance, telecoms companies could offer access to XR app-building environments, and other accompanying technologies for brands hoping to step into the XR world. Things like 5G connectivity will be particularly important for vendors building new XR landscapes.

As concepts like the metaverse grow more appealing, and companies look for more ways to interact with their client using immersive technology, media and telecoms companies will need to ensure they’re considering the part they can play in the XR environment. Whether this means offering marketing campaigns in XR, sales strategies enhanced by XR, or 5G connectivity for immersive experiences, don’t fall behind the competition.

Step 2: Find Opportunities to Improve Operations

In any industry, the hunt is always on for ways to improve the efficiency and productivity of teams. In the telecoms landscape, an evolving number of tools and services in the landscape is leading to significant complexity in the workplace. Inspecting, maintaining, and repairing devices at scale can require a lot of investment in talent and travel.

With XR, companies can improve their daily operations using a range of different tools. For instance, an AR or MR solution will allow experts to assess a piece of technology from a distance, allowing for quicker inspection processes with massive cost savings. Additionally, the telecom sector can also use extended reality environments to help with the repair and maintenance of undersea, and underground cables, as well as other advanced networking tools.

Identifying issues in a virtual environment can allow for the use of automated systems and extra guidance to technicians in the breakdown area. This means problems with the communication ecosystem can be solved more rapidly, leading to better customer experiences.

Step 3: Highlight Opportunities for Improved CX

Speaking of customer experiences, XR offers an excellent opportunity for all kinds of companies to take advantage of new interactions with customers. In the media landscape, experts can create engaging AR ads and VR experiences for customers on behalf of companies, taking full advantage of the evolving metaverse and virtual event space.

In the telecoms space, companies can use XR to sell to customers and support clients like never before. XR can enhance the entire customer journey, starting with immersive demonstrations of how products and services might work, and continuing to the use of VR manuals for users learning how to access a new system. Companies can even build entire immersive onboarding experiences, where customers are prepped for success with insights into how each tool or service works.

With XR, it’s even possible to improve long-term customer service, by ensuring engineers and technicians can walk customers through strategies on how to fix common problems in a more powerful digital or augmented environment. This also saves companies money when it comes to sending technicians to field locations.

Step 4: Explore The Benefits of Better Collaboration

XR is an incredible tool for collaboration, allowing teams to share a space where they can connect over ideas, see reports and analytics presented in a range of different formats, and interact with digital assets. With XR, telecoms companies can connect specialists and experts working from locations all over the world in a shared environment.

A telecoms or media brand could provide a user with a pair of AR or MR glasses connected to a specialist who can offer guidance and support in real-time when the user is working on a complex task. This allows for better teamwork without having to have multiple people present in the same environment. The same technology can even help with the support of field service technicians.

In XR, experts can learn about technologies in a collaborative environment, discuss trends using visual insights, and work together on solving complex problems like service outages in certain data centers. The XR environment powers a future of intelligent workplace experiences for professionals who might not always work in the same physical environment.

Step 5: Look at Potential Cost Savings

Initially, implementing a disruptive new technology like XR into your business might seem like an expensive process. However, the reality is that the investment can pay off significantly in the long-term. For instance, using innovative environments for VR collaboration to bring your teams together on complex challenges can reduce the need for expensive travel.

Making sure your agents can access VR environments to plan fixes for complex telecommunications technology, then send the information they collect to engineers on the front line can reduce the downtime of various essential tools. This can also reduce the amount of money telecoms companies lose in honouring SLA agreements with customers, while improving customer satisfaction.

XR can also give you a powerful way to stand out among the competition, meaning you don’t have to work as hard to capture new potential customers for your brand. XR doesn’t just save money, it can help brands make more money too.