The future of augmented reality is crystal clear in one regard: It’s a huge market. Recent analyses by the likes of Goldman Sachs and Digi-Capital have pegged the combined augmented reality and virtual markets in the coming years in the tens and even hundreds of billions of dollars.

Recently, our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Dexter Lilley, had a Q & A style interview with an editor from manufacturing.net, an online publication and newsletter, that underscored our belief at Index AR Solutions that augmented reality could be a game-changer for manufacturers.

Dexter pointed out that one of the biggest misconceptions of augmented reality is that it’s not ready today to solve industrial challenges. As a result, manufacturers and others are waiting for the development and perfection of glasses or heads-up displays. The reality is that with a smartphone or tablet and an Index augmented reality solution, that up to 80 percent of the value of augmented reality can be realized now.

One of the important messages Dexter conveyed is that the companies that are innovative and become early adopters of augmented reality will benefit the most and gain an advantage in the market. Dexter compared augmented reality to the advent of the steam engine in the 1800s, which radically altered industry and massively elevated everything in the various industrial sectors from manufacturing and production to transportation and shipping.

Among the industries that can benefit the most from the introduction of augmented reality to augment skilled workers include heavy manufacturing and fabrication, building and facility construction and oil and gas construction and operations.

Dexter also predicts that augmented reality will be everywhere in industrial environments within 10 years. Here’s the real question though: How far along will your company be in capturing the potential efficiencies, improvements and profits available with the implementation of augmented reality?

To read the full article, go here: http://www.manufacturing.net/blog/2016/01/2016-predictions-augmented-reality-ready-tackle-industrial-challenges