Senior business executives see greater opportunity in Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) than in Artificial Intelligence (AI), as UK businesses look to adopt next-generation connectivity in the next five years.

In fact, nearly 9 in 10 UK organisations (88%) believe AR and VR will have a significant business impact by 2022 – compared to 70% of those that said AI – according to new research commissioned by international legal practice Osborne Clarke.

The Next Generation Connectivity report and research, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, surveyed executives and managers from 11 countries and found the followings:

• Globally, 44% of digital businesses, 43% of respondents in real estate and 32% of respondents in the energy sector say VR and AR offer significant opportunity;
• 27% of digital businesses say an enhanced ability to deliver VR and AR will be the number one application driven by next-gen connectivity for the digital business sector in the next five years.

“There is a huge amount of opportunity on offer by introducing AR and VR into businesses – across all sectors. From real estate companies being able show tenants how a building that is still under construction will look when complete, to businesses arming employees with real time AR diagnostics or stock inventory, to a digital healthcare business using VR remote surgical operations, VR and AR are set to make a huge difference to the way businesses run in the next five years,” commented on the findings Tom Harding, partner at Osborne Clarke and expert in technology.

However, there are some key considerations businesses need to take before adopting these new technologies, specifically with regard to connectivity. Connectivity is a vital component that enables the virtual and actual to merge.

The report also found that there are a number of barriers that UK businesses face when it comes to adopting new levels of connectivity, such as High costs of required investment in infrastructure (46%); Their organisation’s lack of technical capabilities (40%) and Concerns over data protection and privacy (34%).

“AR/VR will be game changers for business process and efficiency, so overcoming these challenges will be crucial. There are also legal issues from intellectual property (IP) to privacy, and health and safety, that enterprises will need to consider. Businesses need to get all their ducks in a row now, so they can use new technologies effectively and gain a competitive advantage quickly,” concluded Handing.