Easing the Employee Training: Augmented Reality

Technology has made many invaluable contributions in our society. Augmented Reality (AR) is one of those useful technologies that provides interactive experience to the users. This immersion is the result of visual elements, audio, graphics and other effects which are superimposed to provide an enhanced version of the real world to us. This article will emphasize on the benefits of Augmented Reality (AR) and how it helps in employee training. So, continue reading.

The Benefits

In the business environment, Augmented Reality (AR) improves the comprehension and learning of the employees. Companies have witnessed an increase in their employee engagement and the safety awareness among them has also increased. This has led to a reduction in their training cost and better performance due to a lower learning curve. There is no pressure from the manager or customer side since new workers have physical devices through which they can practice, learn and perform new job activities in real time. 

One major advantage of Augmented Reality (AR) is that employees can even practice the risky tasks without any harm or injury. Though the initial cost of purchasing AR training equipment might be exorbitant, they can be used over and over again such as the AR headset. Above that, most of the employees have their own smartphones which can be used for AR training. They can simply install the apps, freeing businesses from the need of holding costly workshops or seminars. They can take time to see how things can be done and handled.

How different sectors are using Augmented Reality (AR) for Employee Training?

In medicine, hands-on learning and conducting experiments is very challenging and risky. AR allows medical students to comprehensively understand anatomy and perform surgeries to enhance their learning. Anatomy apps and many AR technologies help them in training. They can also use mirroring holograms to learn about body structures. Similarly, in the aerospace industry, trainers can prepare the future pilots or engineers for real situations. AR makes prototyping easier and helps them in maintenance operations. AR glasses help the crew to quickly get acquainted with parts of a new aircraft and enhance safety. 

In the manufacturing sector, AR headsets allow instructors to give feedback during the employees practice sessions and provide them detailed instructions. This is really useful for welders to learn new skills quickly through voice features, videos and images. AR has also assisted the retail sector in onboarding. Your employees can see and get familiarized with all the products without them being there in the store or on the shelves.

Final thought

AR technology has immense potential as it allows companies to polish the skills of their employees without the risk of real-life dangers. The technology improves employee efficiency, makes the training phase more exciting, transforming the way they learn and work.

 

Soft Skills that Tech Professionals must have

A successful tech career requires hard skills. Many technical positions require specialized technical knowledge and skills to carry out essential job duties. We cannot undervalue the influence of soft skills, though. You can navigate many aspects of life with the aid of soft skills, including careers in any sector. Particularly in the tech sector, soft skills can distinguish a qualified job candidate who can grow into a leader or an important team member. These "people skills" are the ethereal traits that distinguish professionals as effective communicators and team players in the workplace. Now let’s head towards the soft skills.

1.      Communication & collaboration skills

Technology cannot exist in a vacuum, and it is more enjoyable to develop technology in collaboration with others or as a team. If you are working to create something on your own, scaling it will be a difficult task. You can work remotely as part of a larger team that is all working to create something, rather than always having to do so in an office or hub. There are two major keys to communication, one is to explain how and why and the other is to know your audience. It is important to be able to explain how something works, but you also need to be able to explain why, translate a person’s needs and explain why they need a certain result.  The proficiency to adjust your tone and understanding based on who you are talking to is an outstanding soft skill, especially when explaining something technical to people unfamiliar with specific technology.

2.      Time management Skills

Time management capabilities can have an impact on the rest of the team. When a team is working on a project, if one person misses a deadline, the project could quickly become unmanageable. Because one person couldn't effectively manage their time, the entire team might be subject to consequences from upper management. Given that IT is responsible for a number of interconnected systems with many moving parts that require maintenance, time management is crucial. It's crucial to establish a maintenance schedule and then determine the downtime for tasks that don't fall under the regular schedule.

3.      Networking skills

On many points, networking is necessary. According to business coach and consultant Connelly Hayward, one advantage of having a strong professional network is that it serves as a resource for overcoming obstacles and finding solutions to issues. Insights and solutions become more likely when we have people to talk to, according to Hayward. "We don't just improve our own thinking; we also get the best ideas from others. When ideas, thoughts, challenges, problems, and solutions are openly and freely discussed, great thinking occurs. A strong social network of people we feel at ease with lowers the barriers to natural conversation.

4.      Empathy

Building technology is all about finding explanations to problems, but you can't find a solution unless you understand the user's suffering. The worst products, according to Christopher McCann, CEO of AI-enabled healthcare provider Current Health, are those where it's obvious that designers and engineers don't really understand users or their daily lives. To solve a problem, you must be able to relate to your user and comprehend their issue.

5.      Critical Thinking skills

Employers seek candidates who can think quickly on their feet. They want to know that you can make decisions regardless of the circumstances. You can evaluate a problem and then propose a workable solution when you have critical thinking abilities. In all types of industries and job titles, critical thinking is essential. Additionally, critical thinkers are very flexible. You don't have a fixed mindset; rather, you're open to accepting solutions that might be unconventional.

6.      Being Proactive

The technology sector undergoes rapid change, with modifications to tools and best practices appearing to take place overnight. Tech professionals can find the best ways to incorporate new products and solutions by using critical thinking skills, but being proactive can help you identify business tech trends. Proactive critical thinking enables tech professionals to identify market trends, propose workflow modifications, and carry out changes as required.

7.      Self-Awareness

All other soft skills are supported by a general sense of self-awareness. Not everyone could be a master networker, time manager, or communicator. However, developing self-awareness will enable you to recognize the crucial abilities you lack and work on developing them. The key to a better career is knowing where to focus your time. Additionally, it aids in proving to management during review cycles that you are genuinely committed to your own development.

By adhering to the above-mentioned soft skills, a healthy workplace can be created which will benefit both the employees and the company.

 

SharePoint Techies User Group- OCT 2011 event(Via Shakir Majeed)

Extracted from the original post

“Last week i was quite busy with the User Group event preparation.Couldn’t get any time to update my blog. Any way the yesterday event went great. We have 3 session in it. ”

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