If you’re like many managers in the industrial workplace, you may be considering mixed reality (MR) to help solve problems facing your frontline workers. You want to test a solution but are unsure how to proceed.

We’ve heard the tale before, and we’d like to share some tips we’ve picked up by working with companies in your position. We’d advise you to start by asking a few questions that should tell you if MR could be the right solution for you. If so, then trying a pilot program with an MR solution could be right for you. But like with all new technology, the key to making sure the pilot is effective is choosing the right use case that can be tied back to operational use.

Here are some helpful insights on how to identify the most impactful use cases for your mixed reality pilot/proof of value project.

Pause, and Assess your Situation

Your organization has to identify its operational problems and decide whether they can be solved or ameliorated with mixed reality. This is an important step as the entire project will fail if MR is the wrong technology for the problem you face.

So, take a bit of time and consider these questions:

What challenges are you facing that need to be solved in the next six months (or at least in the not-too-distant future)?
What factors are making these the top challenges that need to be solved?
What metrics are suffering as a result of these challenges, and who is being impacted the most?
How have you tried to solve these issues in the past and why did these attempts not work?
What happens if these are not solved within the identified period of time?
Are you and those impacted open to exploring emerging technology as a way to solve these challenges?

Your answers to these questions should identify pain points and assess whether MR can help you fix them. If so, now is your time to start to arrange a pilot program with a solution provider. The most important consideration revolves around the specific use cases that you will use in your pilot project. To nail down the use case, you must intentionally uncover the pain that you need to solve for. Without identifying the root cause of your pain, pilots become difficult to quantify to stakeholders, key performance indicators (KPIs) become harder to calculate, and the scope of the pilot becomes difficult to define and manage.

Identify Your Pain Points

If you and your team don’t already have an immediate problem in mind, take an inventory of specific pain points that impact your operations. Then, factoring in the root causes of these issues, identify the ones that could be solved using MR solutions. Look for process issues that impede the flow of operations.

Start by asking:

Where is the organization or department losing money?
What are some of the organization’s largest operational challenges?
What’s the organization’s largest operational expense?
What’s harming operational productivity?
What’s harming your workforce’s productivity?
What resource challenges are you facing?

After identifying the root cause of the pain, focus on two to five use cases in which MR could improve outcomes. Narrowing your use case focus increases your chances of a successful pilot because results will be easier to monitor, measure, and will be ultimately more accurate.

Why not just one use case then you might ask? By bringing a limited amount of use cases to the table it provides multiple points where the technology can be used to its fullest, some use cases are crucial for operations but may not be applicable within the defined testing period making the value zero without getting a chance to be put to the test properly.

Define a SMART Scope

When assessing the scope of the pilot, we advise using a SMART scope: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based. Defining the scope is pivotal to managing expectations and maintaining a set timeframe. It is the cornerstone of implementing mixed reality technology. As well as ensuring the MR use cases are measurable, having a clearly defined scope can help avoid the introduction of late additions that could complicate assessment.

First, decide how you’re going to use MR. The obvious answers would be “remote support” or “maintenance”. But you need to dig much deeper to truly optimize MR’s value. By identifying operational use cases early on, you can tie the uses to a measurable return on investment (ROI), such as savings in time, money, or reduced downtime.

Begin by outlining a specific goal for the pilot, detailing what is new about the initiative, its intended outcomes, and how it addresses the identified problems. We find the best success in this stage involves bringing in both end-users and management so both parties can agree on what that goal should be and where the technology will be able to provide a valuable real-world impact. Without this alignment, what may look like a guaranteed success on paper may not achieve the desired impact if your front-line staff aren’t able to leverage the technology to its full potential.

It's also crucial to delineate what the pilot will not cover, to prevent scope creep—the unintended expansion of project boundaries.

Quantifying the impact of the pilot involves setting measurable KPIs to track changes from the outset through to the conclusion. Ensure the goals are attainable, given your organization's resources. Avoid overly ambitious targets that can obscure the pilot's focus and add unnecessary pressure on project champions to deliver unrealistic goals.

The relevance of the pilot should align with your company’s broader objectives, reinforcing its strategic direction. If a pilot is too far out of the business objectives, regardless of its results you could face stiffer adoption barriers as it can be seen as a nice to-have or an item for next year’s budget rather than a must-have solution for operational success.

Finally, set a realistic timeline. We recommend: one month of preparation and on-boarding from the solution vendor, three months of active testing by end-users, and one month for evaluation and reporting. This structured timeframe not only facilitates effective data analysis but also sets clear expectations for all stakeholders.

Define Key Performance Indicators

Successful pilots have well-defined KPIs tied to their use cases. What’s more, the users have established a clear baseline. Depending on the use cases, multiple KPIs can be measured during a specific pilot. For example, equipment downtime and travel costs are two KPIs that can be tied to the same use case. It can be beneficial to measure KPIs that can be directly linked to dollar figures but is not exclusively required for success.

Make sure you choose KPIs that directly correlate with the pilot's goals so you can accurately measure its success. Failure to do this could result in scope creep.

Try to use KPIs that can be tied back to impactful outcomes. By this, we mean the impact on end-user experience and the benefits they would gain from operational usage. Rather than an indicator of reduced downtime, you could measure whether errors on a task or time spent on a task are reduced. Of course, the executive champions will rely on financial KPIs in order to prove out the success of the project, so don’t forget to include them if possible.

If the opportunity is present, include intangibles like knowledge retention and user satisfaction in your pilot study. These may be harder to measure but are of prime importance in assessing the benefits of new technology.

Finally, ensure you have the infrastructure to measure these impacts. This infrastructure is not exclusive to record-keeping and scoring. Organizations who want to ensure their pilot’s impact is meaningful will choose an accountability coach, this is someone who makes sure that the technology is given a proper shakedown in the pilot phase and the solution is not left to collect dust. By combining a coach and proper infrastructure, the pilot should be fully measurable, and nothing is left to guesswork at the end of your pilot.

Establish the Key Performance Indicator Baseline

Once the KPIs have been defined, establish the baseline data. This is utterly essential because you cannot assess the success (or failure) of your pilot if you have not clearly measured your performance before trying mixed reality.

How is your organization performing the use case now and what are the KPIs today? It’s likely that your organization is already gathering some of the required data, if not, you’ll need to put the tools in place to measure the KPI baseline.

Baseline data will be later used to compare against your specific SMART goals to determine the return on investment.

Remember to be critical of an MR solution’s strengths, weaknesses, and intended uses. Your use cases must fit within the capabilities of the MR solution that is being piloted.

For the best results, leverage existing data sources within your organization for baseline measurements, but be open to implementing new measurement tools if needed. This is a new technology after all, so certain processes may not be in place to be able to measure a direct impact on operations.

And remember, it’s important to establish a clear understanding of your current performance to effectively measure the effectiveness of a new solution.

Thorough Preparation Results in a Meaningful Pilot

Let’s not kid ourselves. A pilot project with unfamiliar technology isn’t easy. It can require budget, patience, and organizational change. In the first few weeks, it can be difficult for some organizations as they can get overly excited, resulting in early burnout of the pilot or if the pilot isn’t mapped properly with your solution vendor can produce zero interest and flat line immediately.

However, if you take the proper steps to identify the right use case and ensure you measure the results properly, it can result in a successful pilot. These first steps in your mixed reality adoption are crucial and will pave the way to greater productivity, less downtime, and positive outcomes for your workforce.

Selecting the Right Use Case For Your Mixed Reality Pilot