WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

Why are companies so intent on using technology to track our behavior? Our actions reveal what we desire, how we shop, and why we buy. Retailers can now learn so much more about shopper behavior than ever before, and while these “big data” applications create concerns about privacy, the detailed data can be used to design stores, product offerings and promotions that connect with our interests, speed up the shopping process, and help us find items we will buy. 

The demo uses photorealistic augmented reality, enabling the shopper to look at clothing on the racks and view digital details, such as the price. While looking at a physical item, you can view digital details on the display of your glasses. Developed the prototype as a proof of concept to help retailers find new ways of enhancing the in-store shopping experience and generating incremental sales by sharing relevant content and information to the shopper while they are shopping. With this system, shoppers can visualize a full outfit, access additional clothing in the online inventory, and pay for the items.

2016 was a critical year for augmented reality with new device announcements, major acquisitions and massive adoption by consumers and enterprises alike. There is no doubt that AR is the next wave of computing with all of the major players, from Microsoft and Google, to Facebook and Apple, confirming their commitment to this tech.

At an event in San Francisco we unveiled our vision for Windows Mixed Reality, announced SteamVR and AltSpaceVR are coming to Windows Mixed Reality, introduced the new Samsung Odyssey HMD, and kicked off the holiday shopping season by announcing the availability of pre-orders for Windows Mixed Reality headsets at the Microsoft Store.

The Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies provides insights gained from evaluating more than 2,000 technologies. The eight added in 2017 include 5G, Artificial General Intelligence, Deep Learning, Deep Reinforcement Learning, Digital Twin, Edge Computing, Serverless PaaS and Cognitive Computing.

Forrester says that CIOs must act as VCs and recommends they support early-stage tech companies and have their own technology scouts. As CIO Angela Yochem told me in 2015, she has set up a process to find “capabilities that are not yet commercially available” and “quickly absorb, test, and utilize emerging technologies, and discard them if they are not appropriate and don’t give us a leg up on our competition.”

Just some cool things made in Apples's iOS 11 AR Kit

First impressions of new augmented reality apps coming to the iPhone and iPad. And Apple seems confident that AR will be the next big thing. In fact, Greg Joswiak, Apple's VP of Marketing, calls it a "gigantic deal."

"This is this dream of things you wanted to do as far as mixing the digital world into the real world," he told CNN Tech. "It has so many applications -- from shopping and entertainment to things we haven't even thought about -- but it's been unattainable."

In Apple's implementation, augmented reality requires you to hold up your phone or tablet to see virtual objects implanted into the real world. For example, the new IKEA Place app -- which will become available with the launch of iOS 11 -- allows you to select furniture from its website and place it virtually within a room. So you can try before you buy.