Tech Talk: VR is the Next Frontier for Channel Partner Education

Much has been written about the power of virtual reality technology to create interactive experiences, but one area that is just beginning to gain traction is the potential to use VR to simplify big data. And in the channel, VR presents a promising opportunity for explaining large swaths of information to customers through visualization.

When it comes to using VR in a business sense, the options for how and where the technology can be used are vast. For starters, VR can be used to create virtual simulations of data centers and other product layouts, essentially allowing potential buyers to virtually tour a facility or area before purchasing. This concept has been oft discussed in real estate in the form of virtual home tours, and the same concept can easily be applied to a customer looking to build a data center or see the physical footprint of new appliances in the workplace.

While this is a fairly standard way to use VR, thinking creatively yields more exciting possibilities. For example, imagine yourself as a channel partner who wants to show potential customers how the cloud works. By creating an interactive VR experience, those partners can take the normally boring task of explaining cloud computing and turn it into an interactive learning experience. The same methods can be applied to channel partners offering more esoteric services like Partner Relationship Management (PRM) or Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM), topics that can leave less technically savvy customers scratching their heads in confusion.

Speaking of confusion, let’s talk about big data. As the name implies, big data often encompasses huge chunks of information ranging from personally identifiable information to financial figures and everything in between. Naturally, looking through that much information on a traditional spreadsheet or through a 2D visualization can be headache-inducing at the very least, so why not spice things up a bit?

Imagine a board meeting where everyone has access to an interactive database of big data – now that’s a way to make your audience sit up and pay attention. Take this concept to a classroom setting, and you have the potential for self-guided learning experiences for channel partners and customers of all levels of sophistication.

And VR isn’t just useful for illustrating difficult ideas – it can also allow users to perceive and absorb more information than they could by looking figures on a 2D plane. SAS, a company specializing in software analytics, found that interactive experiences such as video games allow the brain to engage with a topic on a level that is impossible by reading a static list of information.

Of course, there are limitations to virtual reality, with the most pressing problem being cost. While VR technology is becoming cheaper and more widely available thanks to solutions like Google Cardboard or the Oculus Rift, creating software capable of placing 2D information in a 3D interactive space is bound to be both difficult and time consuming for channel partners, who will have to develop the software themselves. Additionally, security is also an issue – creating virtual representations of big data is a great concept in theory, but how can users be sure that the data is safe from prying eyes? Channel partners working in the healthcare and education verticals in particular will need to take compliance regulations into consideration when and if they are able to make this data available to their clients.

We may not have all the answers as to how to use virtual reality in the enterprise space, but the possibilities are certainly exciting. Now all that’s left is to figure out how to relay data safely and affordably – and if it’s possible to make big data seem interesting, you can bet there’s a way to figure out these problems as well.

What’s new and exciting in the world of channel IT? Tune in each week as The VAR Guy’s Michael Cusanelli chases down the industry’s mosts innovative companies, cutting-edge tech and creative thinkers.