Virtual Reality as a Sales Tool for Industrial Companies

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Virtual Reality as a Sales Tool for Industrial Companies

Elin Sj¨ ostr¨ om

June 4, 2015

Master’s Thesis in Interacton Technology and Design, 30 credits Supervisor at UmU: Ulrik S¨ oderstr¨ om

Supervisor at byBrick Interface: Erik Stridell Examiner: Thomas Mejtoft

Ume˚ a University

Department of Applied Physics and Electronics SE-901 87 UME˚ A

SWEDEN

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Abstract

To display large and complex products at sales meetings or fairs can be a challenge for industrial companies. Customers want to experience the product before purchase, yet this is not always possible due to high shipping costs and logistic problems. Virtual Reality (VR) achieved by Head-mounted Displays (HMD) is growing bigger by every day and is becoming accessible to more people. With this technology, there must be a new way to facilitate the sales process in the industry. The first goal with this master thesis was to investigate what challenges and opportunities there are in today’s sales process and develop a concept for a sales tool that uses the VR technology. The second goal was to explore how today’s technology could evolve and how the future sales process could work. To achieve these goals the Research Learning Spiral was used together with interviews and a workshop.

By investigating how the sales process works in today’s industry, through interviews with people that are active in the field and a workshop, a number of challenges were identified.

Three of these challenges were: to display large and complex products to the customers, to know what arguments that triggers a specific customer and to explain advantages with the product to the customer. Based on data from the interviews a prototype of a sales tool using VR was designed. The goal with the prototype was to counteract the challenges found in today’s sales process. The prototype uses a tablet where the salesman can control a 3D visualization of the product through a menu with different choices. This tablet is connected to the Samsung Gear VR, which is a VR device that uses a HMD to achieve VR, where the customer can experience the product in a virtual environment controlled by the salesman. With data from the interviews together with a conducted workshop, suggestions for the future sales process were obtained. The future sales process is very likely to use VR as a tool to both display products and to reduce traveling. The technology will possibly be smarter and be able to facilitate the sales process, for instance through artificial intelligence, smart materials and 3D printing. VR as a sales tool for large and complex products has the potential to be a great aid for the salesman during the sales process. Companies will not be required to ship large and complex products to fairs or meetings which will save money for the company and also contribute to less impact on the environment. This area of research is fairly new and there are a lot of opportunities still to be investigated.

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List of Figures

4.1 To find the objectives for the research is the first step in the Research Learning Spiral. This was conducted through writing questions on post-it notes, that began with when, where, what, why, who and how. . . 10 4.2 A scenario the workshop attendees briefly drew on the whiteboard together

with possible future technology trends. . . 12

5.1 An image of how the screen inside a HMD is divided. The two images is displayed to respectively eye with a divider in between them. . . 17 5.2 A generalised illustration of how a HMD works. The two circles represent

the users eyes that are looking at a screen through two lenses. This result in an imaginary field of view that represents the virtual world. Adapted from Oliver Kreylos [43]. . . 18

6.1 An example of the company Kalmar’s showcase at the Cemat fair in Han- nover, 2014. . . 23 6.2 An example of a sales brochure for an underground loader from Atlas Copco. 25 6.3 A storyboard displaying a scenario where VR is used in the sales process. . . 27 6.4 A flow diagram showing possible interactions in the prototype. . . 28 6.5 During the prototyping phase, sketches were the first step to obtain a number

of design possibilities. . . 29 6.6 Lo-fi prototype: The first view that appears when the salesman starts the

application on the tablet. . . 30 6.7 Lo-fi prototype: When the tablet connects to the Samsung Gear VR, this

page is shown to the salesman indicating that the devices are connecting to each other. . . 30

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LIST OF FIGURES v

6.8 Lo-fi prototype: When the connection is done the salesman comes to the dashboard view, where the left part with the product also is visible to the customer through the Samsung Gear VR. The menu on the right is only visible to the salesman on the tablet. . . 31 6.9 Lo-fi prototype: When the ”Change product” button is pressed a modal win-

dow is shown where the salesman can chose between different available products. 31 6.10 Lo-fi prototype: With a long-press on the product the salesman can highlight

a specific part to the customer during the session, the position of the press by the salesman is indicated in the Samsung Gear VR. . . 31 6.11 Hi-fi prototype: The start screen of where the salesman makes three choices,

which customer type suits the current customer, if a Samsung Gear VR is going to be used and what product to display. . . 33 6.12 Hi-fi prototype: The page visible to the users while the devices connect to

each other. The tablet view to the left and Sumsung Gear VR to the right. . 33 6.13 Hi-fi prototype: The two figures display how the main interface is perceived

to the salesman on the tablet (left) and the customer of the Samsung Gear VR (right). . . 33 6.14 Hi-fi prototype: When the salesman does a long-press on the product, a green

circle appears on both the tablet and the Samsung Gear VR. This feature is used to highlight specific parts during the session. . . 34 6.15 Hi-fi prototype: When the ”Hotspot” mode is activated, orange dots denotes

clickable buttons on the tablet for the salesman, and for the customer the orange dots are also visible. . . 34 6.16 Hi-fi prototype: When an orange dot is clicked by the salesman, information

appears as a text box. The textbox is shown on the tablet and in the HMD. . 34 6.17 Hi-fi prototype: If the salesman clicks on the change product button, a modal

window appears where another product can be chosen. This modal window is not visible to the customer using the Samsung Gear VR. . . 35

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List of Tables

5.1 VR devices that are available on the market in February 2015. Devices that require an external cellphone are labeled with (phone). . . 19 5.2 VR devices that are going to be released during 2015 and 2016. Devices that

require an external cellphone are labeled with (phone). . . 19

6.1 Technical specifications for the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2, Samsung Gear VR and Durovis Dive 5. . . 21

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Chapter 1

Introduction

In today’s society, there is an increase in demand to be more efficient and one step ahead of competitors. This implies that companies are required to keep up with upcoming trends on the market [1]. Generally, industrial companies are seen as conservative and slow at adapting to upcoming technologies compared to other areas on the market. Even though the industrial area has started to adopt new technology more rapidly over the last couple of years, there is still room for improvement [2]. With the adaptation of new technology in the industrial area, combined with the rapid growth of the technology market, a lot of opportunities for industrial companies to really challenge their competitors arise [1, 3]. Strategies are required to be updated in order for the industry to be able to innovate and be more appealing to customers.

Sales and marketing processes for heavy machinery is challenging. It is difficult to show the customer a product in meetings and fairs, due to large size, complexity and high shipping costs. In these cases, companies are representing a three-dimensional (3D) object with a two-dimensional (2D) representation. Aids used to accomplish this conversion are product specification sheets or a computer based slideshow. This implies that one dimension, from a 3D object, is forced to be taken out which causes loss of information [4]. It can be crucial information that disappears together with the dimension loss, and it would be a great advantage if this problem could be solved in another way. With all new technology put on the market the last couple of years, there should be a new way to facilitate the sales process in the industry.

At the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Virtual Reality (VR), along with Aug- mented Reality (AR), was announced to be the next big thing in technology, by the Amer- ican media website CNET [5]. VR implies that the user immerse into another world that cannot be seen in the real world. A VR device enables the user to move in and interact with a virtual world as if it was reality. The concept of VR has been around since the mid-1950’s [6], primarily in the form of simulation, training and visualizations [7]. VR did not reach the consumer market throughout these earlier years partly due to expensive and immaturity of relevant technologies [8]. With the company Oculus VR’s release of Oculus Rift first Devel- oper Kit in 2012, VR obtained by Head-mounted Displays (HMD), has received attention from several markets. Developers are starting to find many areas that can benefit from using VR, where the industrial area is one key market [9].

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The objective of this master thesis is to investigate how the concept of VR, together with HMD systems, can be used by industrial companies to facilitate the sales process. Further- more, opportunities and limitations in using VR as a sales tool will be analyzed together with what problems this technology can solve. Different VR devices will be compared and evaluated with the aim to find the most suitable device for use in the sales process.

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Chapter 2

Problem Description

This master thesis has been conducted at the company byBrick Interface in V¨aster˚as, Swe- den, during spring 2015.

2.1 byBrick Interface

The company byBrick Interface was founded in 2004 as part of byBrick Group and has a clear focus on delivering creative services in industrial marketing and sales. Partly through traditional advertising agency services such as strategy, communication planning, graphic design and copywriting, and partly with digital expertise that produces interactive sales tools for presentation, selection, argumentation and offering of industrial products and services.

Since 2006, byBrick Interface has invested in 3D visualization as a natural part of the offer to the industry. The company has 28 employees divided between their offices in Stockholm, V¨aster˚as and Gothenburg.

2.2 Purpose of Research

byBrick Interface has already delivered 3D and VR solutions to customers operating in the industrial area in the form of simulations for both public relations and operator training, yet not for sales purposes. Sales and marketing in the industry is an area byBrick Interface want to investigate and see if VR could work as a sales tool.

Sales and marketing processes for heavy machinery is a challenge in today’s industry. It is difficult to show benefits with a certain product to the customer in meetings and fairs, due to large size and complexity. Another challenge is for the customer to be able to experience and get a feeling of the product before purchasing it. With all new technology that has been put on the market the last couple of years, there must be a new way to facilitate the sales process in the industry. This concept is fairly new to the market and for that reason it needs to be tested and evaluated.

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2.3. Goals With the Thesis 5

2.3 Goals With the Thesis

byBrick Interface wanted to know how VR can be used in the sales process in industrial companies. Based on this, four subgoals were predetermined.

• Investigate what challenges and opportunities there are in today’s sales process.

• Make a user scenario of how VR can be used to display large and complex products in sales meetings and fairs.

• Investigate how the sales process could work in the future and how today’s technology can evolve.

• Make a summarized version of the results, that byBrick Interface can use for marketing purposes.

2.4 Limitations

There are several different approaches that are called VR. This thesis focused on VR achieved by HMD:s. VR and HMD:s are further explained in section 5.2 and section 5.3. Another limitation is that of the 29 HMD:s currently on the market, only three were evaluated due to availability at byBrick’s office in V¨aster˚as.

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Chapter 3

Related Work

During the last couple of years, companies have started to experiment with different ways of using VR and the entertainment area is a big part of the VR community today. Within the entertainment area the gaming industry plays a big role. The company Oculus VR, who was recently bought by Facebook and develops their HMD Oculus Rift, markets the Oculus Rift as a VR headset for immersive gaming [10]. The Oculus Rift is not commercially available (May 2015), yet developers worldwide are already developing applications for the two developer kits Oculus VR has released (2015). Together with Oculus VR, Samsung and Sony are in front of the VR hardware development and Nintendo is not far behind [9].

All these companies have gaming and entertainment as their primary target. Besides the entertainment area there are several other fields that use VR. A selection of examples are presented below.

3.1 Industrial Environments

The number of VR applications in industrial environments have increased after the release of Oculus VR’s first HMD, together with many other areas on the market. Companies start to see the advantages of being able to experience different situations in a virtual world instead of the real world. There are not many applications used in real-life situations at the moment, yet a number of concepts and test environments have been developed. One area that has been explored with VR possibilities is operator and safety training in industrial environments [11]. The goal is to train employees in a non-dangerous environment before they are put out on the field. Through this type of training, they can gain experience from both unexpected and emergency situations without there being any real danger. This knowledge can be applied later on in real situations through memory retention. If the person has encountered the situation before they are more likely to focus the attention on variables that affect performance [11, 12]. Another example is the German company Inreal Tech, who have virtual tours of 3D environments where the customer can walk around in the structure before it is built [13].

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3.2. Automobile Industry 7

3.2 Automobile Industry

The automobile industry is starting to see the advantages in using VR both in the form of marketing, yet also during the design and manufacturing stage. Lexus and Volvo have both developed VR simulators where the user can experience their new cars. Lexus uses its simulator at fairs during 2015 where a real steering wheel and pedals from their Lexus RC F model is used together with an Oculus Rift HMD [14]. They call the simulator RC F Rift and lets the user drive the car in VR. Volvo chooses another approach with their VR experience [15]. They developed a mobile phone application for use together with the VR aid Google Cardboard during the launch of their new model XC90. With Google Cardboard the user inserts its own mobile device into a customized cardboard HMD, to experience the VR world. With the application and a Google Cardboard, the user could experience the XC90 without going to a Volvo reseller. Another example of VR use for marketing purpose in the automobile industry is one that Chrysler showcased at the Los Angeles Auto Show in 2014 [16]. Chrysler launched their interactive experience Beneath the Surface, which is a four-minute immersive experience developed for the Oculus Rift headset. The goal with Chrysler’s VR experience was to highlight how a vehicle is made from start to a finished car.

Two other companies that use VR, not just in advertising purpose, is Audi and Ford. Audi has combined the selling process and user modification requirements to create a visualisation tool in VR [17]. They developed a VR application, for Samsung Gear VR, where customers can design their own personalized car and get a visual experience of both the outside and inside before purchase. Ford uses VR with the help of Oculus Rift internally during their designing and development phase [18]. The reason for this is to be able to perceive the product before it is built. This is an advantage because the product does not require to be completely built to spot imperfections and modifications.

3.3 Sports

VR is starting to be used during training for different sports as well. One example of this is the American company Eon Sport VR [19]. They started to use VR in 2013 with the goal for sports teams to get more meaningful repetitions, maximize practice time, and develop better players. Eon Sport VR uses curved screens, immersive rooms and applications to HMD:s to achieve their goal. Through VR, coaches can better understand what the athletes are being exposed to and help guide the athletes throughout the training. The advantage of experience different scenarios together and provide real-time feedback can be an advantage in later situations [20].

3.4 Advertising

There are a number of examples of companies that has tried VR in their marketing strategy to connect with their customers. Four examples of such companies are Coca-Cola, Merrell, Thomas Cook and Inition. Coca-Cola used VR as an advertising aid during the World Championships in Brazil 2014 [21]. In their strategy, people could experience soccer games from the playing field through a VR HMD device. The travel agency Thomas Cook did

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3.4. Advertising 8

something similar to Coca-Cola, where the customers could experience selected destinations before they purchased their vacation [22]. The experience included a virtual helicopter ride where the customer could look out over the chosen destination. Merell, an outdoor apparel brand, used VR at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah 2015 [23]. The motivation was to refresh their brand and reconnect with their core customers. Merell did a walk-around experience they called ”TrailScape” where the user walked and experienced an adventurous hiking trail. The last advertising example is the British company Inition that has developed a VR experience application for the apparel company TopShop [24]. The user got seated at the front row at London Fashion Show and had the opportunity to see live footage from backstage during the session.

All of these examples of advertising, designed their experiences using Oculus Rift HMD as the VR device.

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Chapter 4

Methods

To reach the overall goal with presenting an enhanced scenario of today’s sales process, based on detected challenges, and how the technology could evolve in the future, different methods were used to accomplish the goals. These methods were:

• Literature study

• The Research Learning Spiral

• Interviews

• Workshop

• Analyse of data

4.1 Literature Study

The literature study included a closer look at VR, its history, how it works and what has already been done. Another part of the literature study was to do a market research on which HMD:s that are currently on the market. From the devices found, three was chosen and evaluated based on specifications and the author’s experience of use. The evaluation focused on how useful the HMD was for use in the sales process for industrial companies.

The focus was the easiness to use it in sales meetings and at fairs, for that reason portability, resolution and overall experience was the features evaluated.

4.2 The Research Learning Spiral

The Research Learning Spiral was used to map what information about the field of study that was unknown. This was necessary to create a proper sales tool for the industry that would suit the end users. The Research Learning Spiral works as follows [25].

1. Objectives – Find the questions that are required to be answered to succeed with the research. This is easy conducted through writing questions that begin with when, where, what, why, who and how.

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4.3. Interviews 10

2. Hypotheses – Write down what is believed to be known already based on the objectives.

3. Methods – Find out what method is the best to fill the gaps detected during the objectives and hypotheses step with information.

4. Conduct – Gather data with the method selected in the previous step.

5. Synthesis – In this last step the hypotheses are proved and disproved and all data are analysed to discover opportunities and implications.

Figure 4.1: To find the objectives for the research is the first step in the Research Learning Spiral. This was conducted through writing questions on post-it notes, that began with when, where, what, why, who and how.

After the first two activities, objectives and hypotheses, two different methods were decided to be used to fill the information gaps, see Figure 4.1 for visualization of the objectives step. These methods were interviews with potential customers and a workshop that focused on the future and what lies ahead in the technology area. The interviews will be further explained in section 4.3 and the workshop in section 4.4.

4.3 Interviews

One part of the ”Conduct” activity in the Research Learning Spiral was interviewing potential users in the industrial area. Interviews as a method were chosen for the reason that it is based on an attitudinal and qualitative methodology where, what people say and how it can be fixed is the main focus [26]. For interviews, a flexible and in-depth interviewing

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4.4. Workshop 11

method was used. A flexible interview is less formal than a structured interview. In this way the subject and interviewer can explore the topic more openly [27]. An in-depth interview explores the subjects perspectives on certain ideas or situations. It is useful when detailed information about thoughts and behaviors are desired, yet also to explore new objectives [28].

In total, there were 14 subjects. All subjects were working in the industrial area at different positions. The interviews were conducted in February, March and April 2015. The subjects were chosen with the criteria that they currently worked at a company operative in the industrial area. Of all interviews, two were conducted in English and the rest in Swedish.

Seven of the subjects were interviewed over conference telephone while the other half were interviewed in person. All interviews except two were audio recorded. Of the 14 subjects, two were women and 12 were men. Companies represented among the subjects are: ABB, Atlas Copco, Bombardier, CGM, Kalmar, Seco and Ume˚a University.

The subjects were equally divided into two different groups where the interviews had two different focus points.

Group 1 focused on the sales process in the industry today. In this group the subjects were required to have experience and knowledge about the sales process on the company they worked at. The goal with these interviews was to, first of all, get an overview of how the sales process is carried out today. Second, to detect problems and opportunities within the sales processes at industrial companies.

Group 2 focused on attitudes towards new technology in the industry. The goal was to investigate the attitude industrial companies have towards new technology and adapting to upcoming trends. There was also a future perspective involved, where the subjects shared their thoughts regarding what changes that could expected during the forthcoming years.

The foundation of the interviews was based on the method Three Boxes which implies that the interview should have three different parts, introduction, body and conclusion [29].

The introduction covered basic information about the project and the subjects background.

Small talk was also a part of the introduction to build up the mood for the session and break the possible ice. The body of the interviews covered the areas presented for the two different groups, mainly sales processes and attitudes towards new technology. The questions were decided on the forehand and was used as a help to keep the discussion going forward. These questions were used as an aid and was not followed strictly. More details about questions covered in the interviews can be seen in appendix A and B, where appendix A is the questions for group 1 and appendix B for group 2.

4.4 Workshop

A workshop was executed with the goal of thinking ahead and out of the box for how technology could evolve in the next coming years, and how it can be used in the industry’s sales process. The workshop was planned after the method Creative Problem Solving (CPS) which in total includes seven steps [30].

1. Clarify and identify the problem 2. Research the problem

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4.5. Data Analysis 12

3. Formulate creative challenges 4. Generate ideas

5. Combine and evaluate the ideas 6. Draw up an action plan

7. Do it! (implement the ideas)

The three first steps were executed before the workshop to prepare and formulate the question that was going to be investigated during the workshop. Seven persons participated in the workshop, which spanned from number 4 to 6 of the CPS method. All participants were employees at byBrick Interface. The workshop was executed the 29th of April, 2015, at byBrick Interface’s office in V¨aster˚as, Sweden. The whiteboard and post-it notes from the workshop can be seen in figure 4.2. The schedule of the workshop looked like this:

• 10 minutes of introduction to the subject and a historical view of predicted technologies in the future.

• 7 minutes post-it brainstorming one on one around future technologies.

• Short review of generated ideas and general information about problems in the sales process today.

• 10 minutes post-it brainstorming in two groups answering the question: How could large and complex products be displayed to a customer in 10 years?

• Review of the two different sessions and together building a brief concept.

Figure 4.2: A scenario the workshop attendees briefly drew on the whiteboard together with possible future technology trends.

4.5 Data Analysis

All data retrieved from the interviews and the workshop were analyzed. The current sales process was described with data from the interviews with group 1 and the user scenario

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4.5. Data Analysis 13

together with a prototype for the enhanced sales process used data from both groups interviewed. The future sales process used data from interviews with group 2 together with the data obtained from the workshop.

4.5.1 Prototype and User Scenario of the Enhanced Sales Pro- cess

With a closer look of how to counteract the problems in today’s sales process, a user scenario together with a high-fidelity prototype of a VR sales tool was created.

The prototype was developed in three different steps:

• Sketches

• Low-fidelity (lo-fi) prototype

• High-fidelity (hi-fi) prototype

The sketching part allowed several fast iterations to create possible designs that later were created into a lo-fi prototype. This prototype acted as a foundation for the hi-fi prototype and in this stage the design was refined one step further. The lo-fi and hi-fi prototype were developed in the program Axure RP Pro 7.0, which is a wireframing, prototyping and documentation tool.

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Chapter 5

Theoretical Framework

In this chapter Virtual Reality (VR) will be presented to give the reader a brief understand- ing of how the technology has evolved during the last 60 years, and how it is achieved with HMD:s.

5.1 Virtual Reality

VR implies that the user immerses into another world that cannot be seen in the real world [31]. With a VR device, the user can interact and move in a virtual world as if it is the reality. For a VR system to be successful, some kind of user interaction is necessary. A user has to be able to interact and affect the virtual world in some way, and not just to feel a certain experience. When creating a VR environment there are three main elements that are required to be present.

• A 3D environment

• Real-time interaction with the environment

• Self projection

The 3D environment is required to maintain the distances and the size of a real space [32].

In this 3D environment, the user should be able to interact in real time with the virtual world. The last element, self-projection, implies that the fictional avatar in the virtual world coincides spatially with the user’s real body motions.

There are three different levels of immersion regarding VR systems, where the first one is least immersive and the third is completely immersive. Here is a brief explanation of the levels, yet the last one, immersive virtual reality, is the focus in this project.

• Non-Immersive Virtual Reality: Non-immersive systems can easily be employed into desktop applications due to no need for other special devices [33]. One or several computer screens build up a virtual environment where the user can interact with the screens. Since the user only is interacting with the system through screens positioned in the real world the user is not immersed. The non-immersive system can be seen as a lower level of immersive VR and are the simplest type of VR applications.

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5.2. History of Virtual Reality 15

• Semi-Immersive Virtual Reality: Semi-immersive systems are an improved version of non-immersive systems [33]. These systems present the feeling of immersion to the user through monitors together with LCD shutter glasses for stereoscopic viewing [33, 34]. The opportunity of collaboration while using a semi-immersive system is an advantage over completely immersive systems [34].

• Immersive Virtual Reality: Immersive VR implies that the user experience the feeling of being completely a part of the virtual environment [34]. The user is also able to interact with the environment in meaningful ways. This is achieved with the help of a head mounted display that renders the environment accordingly to the user’s orientation and position [33].

5.2 History of Virtual Reality

VR seems to be a new technology, yet the reality is that it has been around since the mid- 1950’s [6]. This section will include brief information about three different eras of VR which are dated to the 1960’s, 1990’s and post-2010 [32].

5.2.1 The Beginning, 1960

The first VR device produced was the Sensorama, patented in 1962 by Morton Heilig.

Sensorama let the user experience short video clips in a new way through stereoscopic 3D images in combination with body tilting, stereo sound, wind and scent. The Sensorama had all features of a virtual environment except user interactivity [7, 33]. The Sensorama can not be counted as a complete VR system since the user was only observing the environment, yet could not interact with it.

In 1965, the American computer scientist Ivan Sutherland proposed a concept he called The Ultimate Display [35]. Sutherland, described The Ultimate Display as:

“The ultimate display would, of course, be a room within which the computer can control the existence of matter. A chair displayed in such a room would be good enough to sit in.

Handcuffs displayed in such a room would be confining, and a bullet displayed in such a room would be fatal. With appropriate programming such a display could literally be the Wonderland into which Alice walked.”

The Ultimate Display was only a concept and not a physical device. Sutherland continued to work on his concept and in 1968 he announced The Sword of Damocles, which is considered to be the first HMD realized in hardware [36, 7]. The HMD was attached to the roof, and let the user move its head up to three feet off axis in which the user could look around in the virtual environment. Tilting of the users head was also possible up and down in the range of 40 degrees [36]. The forthcoming years early adopters started to experiment with VR, yet VR was not attracting the public market.

5.2.2 Revival, 1990

A few years before the 1990’s two other early adopters started to experiment with VR. Two examples of these early adopters are the US Air Force and NASA Ames [37]. In 1982 at the

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5.3. Head-mounted Displays 16

US Air Force Medical Research laboratories, Tom Furness together with his team developed an advanced fighter cockpit. This project was called Visually Coupled Airborne Systems Simulator (VCASS), and the fighter pilot wore a HMD that augmented the out-the-window view with graphics. NASA Ames developed a contemporary VR setup, called Virtual Visual Environment Display (VIVED), in 1984. The goal with the VIVED project was to evaluate the potential of the monochrome HMD system for future astronauts [37, 38]. Already at this stage different needs were identified to make the VR experience possible. These needs included rapid update rates, short lag times, secondary visual clues and motion feedback [37].

The first major international conference regarding VR was held in Montpellier, France, in 1992 [39]. This conference was named Interfaces for Real and Virtual Worlds, and led later on to the start of more conferences around the world. VR had now become a part of the mainstream scientific and engineering community. VR continued to be developed by enthusiasts during the 1990’s but did not reach the consumer market. The reasons for this was mainly expensive and immaturity of relevant technologies [8].

5.2.3 Current Wave, Post-2010

The current wave of VR started in 2012 with a crowd funded project, through the crowd- funding site Kickstarter, called Oculus Rift: Step Into the Game [40]. This project resulted in a developer kit that was delivered to the backers at the beginning of 2013. Through the Oculus Rift, VR got known to the consumers as something new and trendy, even tough it is not a new technology. Yet, Oculus Rift managed to produce a HMD that was available to the consumers with a decent pricing. The Oculus Rift started a new wave of VR and a great number of other companies started to get involved in the VR market as well.

In 2014 VR devices started to be sold at the consumer market, see tables 5.1 and 5.2, mainly in the form of mobile supportive devices. With these devices, the user can download applications to their phone and place it in a HMD to experience a virtual world. Companies are starting to see the benefits of using VR and different areas of use are continuing to appear.

5.3 Head-mounted Displays

When humans see in the real world they rely on binocular vision. The binocular vision describes the way humans see two views of the world at the same time, coming from each eye. These two views are slightly different from each other and the brain combines them into a single 3D stereoscopic image. Figure 5.1 shows how the screen inside a HMD is divided for each eye respectively. The user’s experience of a stereoscopic image is called stereopsis [41, 42]. For the brain, it does not make a difference if the two viewpoints comes from the real world or two different flat 2D images with the appropriate disparity between them. This phenomenon of stereopsis is used by HMD devices to achieve the immersive 3D world presented to the user, see Figure 5.2 for a graphical explanation. Humans are depending on different depth clues to be able to navigate in a spatial space, where stereopsis is just one of many depth cues the brain processes. Stereopsis is achieved by displaying two slightly different images to the eyes while other cues, like relative scale, occlusion and texture gradients, are achieved through the object design. All these different depth cues

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5.4. How to Interact in the Virtual World 17

Figure 5.1: An image of how the screen inside a HMD is divided. The two images is displayed to respectively eye with a divider in between them.

are important while designing a virtual environment so the user understands the space in a proper way [42].

Today there are two different types of VR devices. In the first type, the HMD itself has sensors that are registering the head movements of the user which are then calculated and transferred to the image seen by the user. Another solution is that the display in enclosed inside the HMD. In this solution, the user uses its own mobile device. and all calculations are done inside this external device. This is done through the built-in gyroscope and the accelerometer sensors.

None of the devices currently available on the consumer market in March 2015, not including developer kits, have positional tracking. This implies that the HMD will not register motions like leaning forward or backward, yet looking around in different directions work. Of the developer kits available, Oculus Rift DK2 supports position tracking with the help of an external camera. A number of companies have announced that their next version of the HMD will include the positional tracking feature in the HMD itself. This feature will make it possible for the user to move more freely in the virtual space. Two examples of HMD:s to come are Oculus Rift Crescent Bay and HTC Vive.

An expression often seen together with VR devices is the field of vision (FOV) [8]. The FOV of both human eyes, without moving the eyes is around 180° and if eye movement is added, yet not head movement, the total FOV is 270°. This total FOV of 270° is not necessary for a user to feel completely immersed in a virtual environment, yet it is required to be at least 90°.

5.4 How to Interact in the Virtual World

One major challenge when immersed in the virtual world is how to interact with it in a natural way. Since users fully immersed can not see their own limbs, at least in the devices known today, extra sensors that read body movements are required. The solution mostly

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5.5. Market Analysis of Head-mounted Displays 18

Figure 5.2: A generalised illustration of how a HMD works. The two circles represent the users eyes that are looking at a screen through two lenses. This result in an imaginary field of view that represents the virtual world. Adapted from Oliver Kreylos [43].

used at the moment is a hand controller to move around and make decisions. However, the same problem arises again, the user can not see what buttons they click which implies that the controller must be intuitive to use even without eyesight.

One major challenge with interactions in the virtual world is that there is no common user interface since there is no standard set of input devices [44]. Compared to the 2D desktop computers which use the WIMP metaphor (windows, icons, mouse and pointer), users are not yet familiar with interaction in VR and there is no standard input device.

5.5 Market Analysis of Head-mounted Displays

In February 2015 there were around 30 different VR devices, either on the market or have a release date during 2015 and 2016, where 29 are presented in Table 5.1 and 5.2. As mentioned in section 5.2, there are two types of HMD:s on the market at the moment, one where the user are required to use an extra device that is inserted into the HMD, for example, a cellphone. The other one instead requires a computer to which the HMD is connected. Of the 29 devices presented in Table 5.1 and 5.2, 19 of them requires a cellphone and the other ten does not.

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5.5. Market Analysis of Head-mounted Displays 19

Table 5.1: VR devices that are available on the market in February 2015. Devices that require an external cellphone are labeled with (phone).

Available to the consumer market Available as developer kits

Samsung Gear VR (phone) Oculus Rift DK2

Durovis Dive 5 (phone) VRTX 1 (phone)

3dHEAD GCS3 Zeiss Cinemizer OLED Google Cardboard (phone) Homido (phone)

Arhos VR (phone) ANTVR Headset VRIZZMO (phone)

DODOcase VR cardboard Toolkit (phone)

Table 5.2: VR devices that are going to be released during 2015 and 2016. Devices that require an external cellphone are labeled with (phone).

To come

Sony Project Morpheus Immersion Vrelia GO (phone) Razer OSVR

Moggles (phone) Vrvana Totem Altergaze (phone) XG VR Headset (phone) Evomade Viewbox (phone) Pinc VR (phone)

FOVE

Light & Shadows Neo HTC Vive

GameFace Sulon Cortex

Merge Goggles (phone) vrAse (phone)

Cmoar (phone)

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Chapter 6

Results

In this section, the results will be presented. First, a comparison is presented between three different HMD:s. The data gathered from the interviews with group 1 are summarized into how the sales process works today. With the data obtained from the interviews with group 1 and 2, a prototype and a use case are presented together with an enhanced sales process.

Last in this chapter, ideas regarding the sales process in the future will be presented.

6.1 Comparison Between Head-mounted Displays

From the 29 devices presented in table 5.1 and 5.2, three were chosen and evaluated. They were chosen based on availability and predicted usefulness to this project. They were evaluated based on their technical specifications and experience from use by the author. The focus was portability, resolution and overall experience.

The chosen devices were:

• Oculus Rift Development Kit 2

• Samsung Gear VR

• Durovis Dive 5

6.1.1 Technical Specifications

This section includes technical specifications of the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2, Samsung Gear VR and Durovis Dive 5. See Table 6.1 for detailed information.

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6.1. Comparison Between Head-mounted Displays 21

Table 6.1: Technical specifications for the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2, Samsung Gear VR and Durovis Dive 5.

Oculus Rift Developer Kit 2

Samsung Gear VR

Durovis Dive 5

Field of view 110° 96° 90°

Weight 437g 556g (including

phone)

320g (phone not included) Resolution

per eye

960 x 1080 1280 x 1440 Not applicable

Available to consumer

No Yes Yes

Price Not applicable $199.99 $59.98

Adjustable Lenses

Yes Yes Yes

Wireless No Yes Yes

Controller on HMD

No Yes No

Phone dependent

No Yes Yes

6.1.2 Experience Analysis

Below is the result regarding the experience of the three different HMD:s are displayed. The result is based on the author’s personal experience of use.

Oculus Rift DK 2 Because of the high Field of View (FOV) the user get a more immersed feeling with the Oculus Rift DK2 compared to both Samsung Gear VR and Durovis Dive 5. It would not be noticeable while using only one of them, however when looking at the similarity between the devices it is visible. The Oculus Rift DK2 is the only one of these three devices that requires a cable connection to an external computer where the application runs. This implies that the user is required to be positioned in the radius of the cables, and that can be a problem depending on how much movement the application requires. As the external computer used is the core of the system the performance, this implies that the Oculus Rift DK2 is able to handle heavier rendering than both Samsung Gear VR and Durovis Dive 5, since they rely on the capacity of the specific smartphone used. Yet, it is vital that the computational power is high in the computer used together with the Oculus Rift DK2, if that is not the case, delay and flickering can occur.

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6.1. Comparison Between Head-mounted Displays 22

Samsung Gear VR A setback with the Samsung Gear VR is the requirement of the Sam- sung Galaxy Note 4, which is the only mobile device that is compatible with this HMD.

Samsung Gear VR is the only device of these three that has touch navigation on the HMD. The touchpad is an advantage because it can be used to execute basic user interaction without additional devices. The Samsung Gear VR has higher resolution than Oculus Rift DK2, yet it has lower computational power due to the limitations in Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

Durovis Dive 5 When it comes to resolution, the Durovis Dive 5 is completely dependent on the phone which is used together with the device since the Durovis Dive 5 is compatible with most smartphone models on the market. The Durovis Dive 5 does not give a solid impression in terms of material, compared to Oculus Rift DK2 which feels more robustious and reliable. The Durovis Dive 5 is wireless which gives it one advantage compared to the Oculus Rift DK2.

6.1.3 Summary of Comparison

Based on the specifications and observations of the three different HMD devices, the Oculus Rift DK2 will work excellent in places where it can be stationary during a longer period of time and where the graphical fidelity is required to be high. The reason for this is the amount of different parts that are necessary to be setup before use. As an example, the Oculus Rift DK2 could work on fairs for easy interaction with the customer. When it comes to sales meetings or situations where time is an issue, the Samsung Gear VR will work in greater extend, compared to the Oculus Rift DK2, due to portability together with high resolution and low latency. The Durovis Dive 5 does not meet the same standard as Samsung Gear VR, in terms of the comfort, lenses and overall experience, yet it works perfectly for an everyday home user to experience the virtual world. As mentioned in the theoretical framework, the FOV is required to be at least 90°for the user to feel completely immersed in a virtual environment. All these three HMD:s fulfills this requirement, yet the Durovis Dive 5 has the lowest FOV.

Based on these observations, the device that is going to be used for the prototype in this project is the Samsung Gear VR.

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6.2. The Sales Process Today 23

Figure 6.1: An example of the company Kalmar’s showcase at the Cemat fair in Hannover, 2014.

6.2 The Sales Process Today

According to the conducted interviews, the sales process works slightly different at all companies present among the subjects. Still there are many parts of the process that are similar.

This section will include summarized data obtained from the interviews with group 1.

Today, industrial companies are selling a product through many different channels. Partly through meeting a customer face to face, yet also through different digital channels. The meetings in person often occur either at a scheduled sales meeting or at a fair. At a sales meeting, different types of material are used by the salesman to connect with the customer in the most appropriate way. This material consist of digital presentations, product videos, simulations and product sheets. The material used at fairs is almost the same except the use of physical products at the showcase. See Figure 6.1 for an example of the company Kalmar’s showcase at the Cemat fair in Hannover, 2014. One company also uses printed holograms to show products to the customers. All companies used other channels as well to market their products rest of the time. These channels consist of social media, product websites and printed information. The printed information includes, in most cases, images and specifications about the specific product. An example of a product sheet from Atlas Copco can be seen in Figure 6.2.

All subjects identified different challenges that are present in the sales process today. These challenges were:

• In large companies operating in different areas around the world, the sales process works differently in almost all continents and/or countries. This implies that it is difficult to have the same sales strategy in each country.

• The industry is still conservative, consequently, new methods and changes are not appreciated by everyone.

• The sales process today is too slow and complex in many cases.

• It is difficult to show a real product in all situations and specific details may not be visible even though the product can be displayed.

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• It is difficult to explain advantages with different components to the customer.

• Each customer is different and requires different information. It is difficult to know what the specific customer want to know in advance, and this implies that it is hard to know which material to bring to a meeting.

• Large and complex companies comprise of many different cultures, personalities and people. This implies that it is hard to find a sales tool that suits everyone.

• It is not always possible to show a product to a customer, due to size, complexity and shipping costs.

• The end product does not always meet the customers expectations.

• It is expensive to ship products to fairs or showcases.

• A product sheet with specifications are not always easy to understand for the customer or to put into a real scenario. See Figure 6.2 for an example of a product sheet from Atlas Copco.

• Hard to motivate why the product is more expensive than at competing companies, yet better in the long term.

• Intangible products, such as services and insurances, are difficult to illustrate and has to be conveyed in a different way and with a value based approach.

Apart from the identified challenges, the subjects mentioned a number of general thoughts and visions about the sales process. These were:

• The better information about customer advantages, the easier a product is to sell.

• To be able to experience the product in its natural environment leads to a bigger acceptance from the stakeholders.

• The size and complexity of most industrial products is a big trigger to develop towards more digitalised solutions.

• The sales process should be easy for the customer, meaning it should not be demanding to buy a product.

• Sales material that makes the customer satisfied and positive towards the product is good material.

• To maintain a good customer relation is very important for future business.

• Customers are often very educated in their special area and have the interest to be able to know technical details of the product.

• Since the customers also are developing their strategies and way of working, there is a need to keep up with them. A number of subjects mentioned that there customers

“Are not there yet”. That is a bad excuse because, it is the company’s job to inspire their customers to move forward.

• In older industrial areas, where mining is one example, which used to be a fairly rough area is starting to develop into a real high tech industry where new technology is helping them forward.

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Figure 6.2: An example of a sales brochure for an underground loader from Atlas Copco.

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All 14 subjects were asked about 3D simulations and VR. A number of pros and cons were identified with this technology.

Pros

• It is easy to show advantages with the products

• The information can easily be used in many different contexts. For example in the sales process, for internal training for employees and at fairs or courses.

• Complex parts that are not visible from the outside can be shown to the customer.

• The customer have the possibility to be more involved during the planning and development phase.

• 3D and VR can help to attract more people to the industry.

• The customers are impressed with the new technology and have a tendency to get drawn towards it on showcases.

• It is possible to move a person to a remote location or show environments that do not yet exist.

• It can give a sense of security for the customer to be able to visualize the product before it is completely built to assure a correct agreement.

Cons

• Complex digital solutions can imply that small changes are difficult and time-consuming to change.

• VR with a HMD is very enclosing, and collaboration can be hard to achieve.

• Some users may experience nausea and motion sickness which leads to a negative experience.

• It can be expensive to get started with VR.

• The VR solution becomes the main focus and the customer forgets about the product that is really being sold.

• People will, in the long-term, lose their ability to do a good old fashioned presentation and will rely too much on devices to help them.

Overall, the trend is going towards selling a customer value or experience rather than a product. This can be compared with buying a chair. Today companies do not sell chairs, they are selling a seating. This helps the customer to feel the value they are getting from the product rather than to buy just a product. The industry is starting to adopt this way of thinking around their products. Because of this, the subjects identified a requirement to find a sales tool that supports this rather new way of selling. The customer wants to know what the product can do for them, and often how the complete system will work and not every part by itself.

Almost all subjects said that VR possibly has a future in the industry, yet it will take time before it is fully accepted. If a new tool gives extra value to the customer it is worth a try.

Two subjects compared VR to both the smartphone and tablets. When these devices first arrived on the market, people were a bit skeptical and did not see the full potential. However, both those technologies are devices today’s society take for granted. Eight subjects said that

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VR today creates a certain ”wow” factor by the users and people are drawn towards new technology. The feeling of being impressed will possibly decrease as more companies try the VR technology and VR gets more common. Half of the subjects pointed out that using new technologies, such as VR, shows the customers that the company is in the forefront of the market. This idea of being ahead of competing companies is a driving force to continue to innovate and explore new possibilities. Since the industry is a rather slow adapting area, the introduction of new concepts are required to be taken step by step. If the gap between reality and the new concept is too big, it is not going to be accepted.

The interviews also focused on what the subject wanted in a future sales tool. This is what they asked for:

• The same sales material in several countries.

• Easy to update the material.

• Easy to retrieve material wirelessly.

• Fun and easy to use for both salesman and customer.

• Easy to point out advantages with each product.

• Get a tool to figure out who the customer is and what information that triggers the specific customer.

• Be able to communicate information in a way all people understands.

• Be able to show large and complex products in an easy way.

• A tool that convinces conservative salesman that change is a good thing.

• Be able to use the sales material in a number of situations and purposes.

• Easy for the customers to assimilate information.

• Easy to share material with the customer.

Figure 6.3: A storyboard displaying a scenario where VR is used in the sales process.

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6.3. A Sales Tool Facilitated by VR 28

Figure 6.4: A flow diagram showing possible interactions in the prototype.

6.3 A Sales Tool Facilitated by VR

The design of the user scenarios and the prototype are based on the data obtained in the interviews, where the goal with the design is to counteract the problems in today’s sales process. Since one major challenge was to display large and complex products to the customer this will be the focus in the concept for a new sales tool that is facilitated by VR.

Since the application is going to be used a short amount of time, e.g. at sales meeting and fairs, the most effective way, based on the interviews and the theoretical framework, is to develop a guided walk through. This means that the user can look around and experience the product in the VR world while the salesman can guide and choose what the user will see.

6.3.1 Prototype

Based on the obtained data, a storyboard with a scenario of a sales meeting and a flow diagram over possible interactions were created, see Figure 6.3 and 6.4. The storyboard and flow diagram led to a number of User Stories, which is a way of defining what functionality should be present in the prototype. Below is the User Stories for this prototype with focus on what functionality the salesman want to have.

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As a salesman I want to:

• Choose if Samsung Gear VR is going to be used in the session or not.

• Connect to several different Samsung Gear VR devices.

• Control what the user sees in the Samsung Gear VR on a tablet.

• Choose a general customer type to show specific details of the product that suits certain customers.

• Choose a product.

• Abstract different layers on the product to be able to show hidden parts under the chassis.

• See how many devices that are connected.

• Get a notification when a new connection occurs.

• Show different hot spots to the customer based on customer type.

• Zoom in and out.

• Turn the view perspective.

• With a long-press on the tablet add a dot on the view to point out specific parts.

• Change customer type during the session.

• Change product during the session.

• Toggle between a showcase view, where the product is displayed, and a demonstration view that shows the product in action.

Figure 6.5: During the prototyping phase, sketches were the first step to obtain a number of design possibilities.

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6.3.1.1 Low-fidelity Prototype

With focus on the user stories, a first draft of the prototype was created. By sketching several designs of the interface, many possible designs were developed fast. A selection of sketches can be seen in 6.5. The sketches acted as a foundation for building the low-fidelity (lo-fi) prototype in Axure RP Pro 7.0. During the progress with the lo-fi prototype, a number of changes were made from the original sketches to make it work on screen. Figure 6.6 displays the first page that is visible to the user. When all choices are made, the tablet and Samsung Gear VR are required to connect, which is shown in figure 6.7. Figure 6.8 displays the main interface where the session with the customer is conducted. In the menu to the right, all possible choices are displayed to the salesman. This menu is not visible to the customer using the HMD. Figure 6.9 displays the view shown to the salesman when another product is about to be selected. One interaction possible by the salesman is to perform a long-press on the tablet, see Figure 6.10. On the area pressed, a dot appear on both the tablet and in the HMD. This feature can help to highlight specific parts during the session.

The prototype and a user scenario will be further explored in the next section, High-fidelity Prototype.

Figure 6.6: Lo-fi prototype: The first view that appears when the salesman starts the application on the tablet.

Figure 6.7: Lo-fi prototype: When the tablet connects to the Samsung Gear VR, this page is shown to the salesman indicating that the devices are connecting to each other.

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Figure 6.8: Lo-fi prototype: When the connection is done the salesman comes to the dashboard view, where the left part with the product also is visible to the customer through the Samsung Gear VR. The menu on the right is only visible to the salesman on the tablet.

Figure 6.9: Lo-fi prototype: When the ”Change product” button is pressed a modal window is shown where the salesman can chose between different available products.

Figure 6.10: Lo-fi prototype: With a long-press on the product the salesman can highlight a specific part to the customer during the session, the position of the press by the salesman is indicated in the Samsung Gear VR.

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6.3.1.2 High-fidelity Prototype

The lo-fi prototype was refined into a high-fidelity (hi-fi) prototype. The hi-fi prototype uses the BrickLoader as the product, which is a fictive fork truck byBrick created in an earlier project.

When using the sales tool in a sales meeting, the salesman often roughly know the customer type. Examples of customer types are CEO, operator and purchaser. These customer types have different triggers and interests in the product, and they may also vary in different companies. Specific customer types are not studied in this project, which implies that there are no concrete customer types in the prototype. When starting the sales tool on the tablet, the interface present three choices to the salesman, see Figure 6.11. The choices are: customer type, which devices that are going to be used and what product to be shown initially in the session. When the salesman presses the button ”Start” a connecting devices view is shown in both the tablet and the HMD, if the Samsung Gear VR is chosen as a device. This view can be seen in figure 6.12. When the devices are connected to each other the main interface for the sales tool is shown in both devices, see Figure 6.13. The customer, using the HMD, can only see the product while the salesman has a dashboard where different choices can be made. The product name and the number of HMD connections are also visible to the salesman in the upper left corner. In this view the salesman can:

• Toggle between an outside view of the product, the inside view where the chassis is abstracted out and an operator view from inside the product.

• Toggle hotspots in the product view specially customized to chosen customer type.

• Toggle between a showcase view, which is the basic view, and a demonstration view where the product is shown in action.

• Change the product.

• Change the customer type.

In the main view displaying the product and the dashboard, the salesman can zoom and turn the product to show specific parts. When performing a long-press touch on the product a green circle appears in the interface on both the tablet and the HMD, see Figure 6.14. This makes it possible for the salesman to highlight certain parts and features to the customer during the session. The highlighted dot is visible until the salesman clicks on another part of the product.

To show preprogrammed key features to the customer, the salesman can activate the ”Hotspot”

mode, see Figure 6.15. When this is activated orange dots are visible to both the salesman and the customer. The orange dots are clickable on the tablet and when activated they show key information about certain parts of the product in the form of a textbox, see Figure 6.16.

To change the product shown during a session the ”Change product” button is clicked. This action opens a modal window where all available products are shown. By clicking on another product and then pressing ”Ok” the product changes on both the tablet and in the Samsung Gear VR.

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Figure 6.11: Hi-fi prototype: The start screen of where the salesman makes three choices, which customer type suits the current customer, if a Samsung Gear VR is going to be used and what product to display.

Figure 6.12: Hi-fi prototype: The page visible to the users while the devices connect to each other. The tablet view to the left and Sumsung Gear VR to the right.

Figure 6.13: Hi-fi prototype: The two figures display how the main interface is perceived to the salesman on the tablet (left) and the customer of the Samsung Gear VR (right).

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Figure 6.14: Hi-fi prototype: When the salesman does a long-press on the product, a green circle appears on both the tablet and the Samsung Gear VR. This feature is used to highlight specific parts during the session.

Figure 6.15: Hi-fi prototype: When the ”Hotspot” mode is activated, orange dots denotes clickable buttons on the tablet for the salesman, and for the customer the orange dots are also visible.

Figure 6.16: Hi-fi prototype: When an orange dot is clicked by the salesman, information appears as a text box. The textbox is shown on the tablet and in the HMD.

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6.4. The Sales Process in the Future 35

Figure 6.17: Hi-fi prototype: If the salesman clicks on the change product button, a modal window appears where another product can be chosen. This modal window is not visible to the customer using the Samsung Gear VR.

6.4 The Sales Process in the Future

Both the interviewees and the workshop attendees thought that the sales process in the future is likely to involve less traveling and more remote meetings. One subject mentioned that with new technology it is not necessary to travel all around the world to attend a meeting. This technology exists already today, where VR is one solution, even though it is not mature enough. The interviewees said that, as the older generation is starting to retire, a new generation with a more natural way to use technology takes over. One of the subjects mentioned that VR could possibly be a technology companies are required to have in the sense of being a serious company. This can be compared with the computer in today’s society, if a company does not use computers in some kind of way they do not seem like a serious company to do business together with. VR have a possibility to be that kind of technology in the future. Nine of the interview subjects thought that virtual holograms might have the potential to hit the consumer market in a couple of years. One subject said that the release of the Microsoft Hololens during 2015 most likely going to be the start of a whole new area of AR/VR. Holograms have a better potential when it comes to collaboration since the user is still present in the real world.

In the conducted workshop, the first part focused on brainstorming around future technologies and how current technologies could evolve. This is what the workshop attendees came up with:

• Instant knowledge

• Payment through cell phones

• Customized entertainment

• Smart food

• Energy and resource sharing

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6.4. The Sales Process in the Future 36

• Nanotechnology

• Evolution of mobile devices

• Electrical cars work as good as gasoline cars

• The computer world will be integrated with the real world

• Robots and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be integrated with our everyday lives

• 3D-printing will be used in several areas

• Sustainable energy

• Everything will run on reusable energy

• Total connectivity

• Smart surfaces

• Smart materials

• Cyborg products

• A defined law for robots and AI

The second part of the workshop focused on the future sales process. The attendees discussed a number of scenarios that could be the reality in ten years. These scenarios were:

• Correct and relevant information that suits all customers.

• Not a traditional brochure, instead a new kind of paper that can transform into any brochure.

• 3D printed tokens that generate information onto a smart surface.

• The possibility to upgrade an already manufactured product easily with smart material without the requirement to change a physical part.

• Being able to 3D print physical simulations of products.

• The sales process requires a human and not only computers and robots since the human trust is important for a long-term relationship.

The workshop attendees thought that customer analysis could be a big thing. A scenario the workshop attendees came up with was: before a sales meeting an AI computer collects data connected to the specific customer the salesman are about to meet. This enables a direct feedback system that the salesman could use during the meeting to know exactly what triggers this specific customer. The AI system could also gather data during the meeting to be able to give real-time feedback as well. This collected information could also be used in meetings later on. This implies that each sales meeting could be personalized to suit every specific customer. One possibility is also that the AI computer could match the most suitable salesman with a customer.

Virtual Reality as a Sales Tool for Industrial Companies