The global pandemic gave us many new insights regarding work organization and hybrid work settings. Recent research into virtual work gives us astounding insights.
Expertise
VR solutions
The latest big thing discussed in the world of virtual work is Virtual Reality (VR). We have seen the technology outside of gaming implemented in a much wider range. Not only museums and exhibitions moved into VR, but we’ve seen events, expos and conferences moving into the VR too. With the announcement of Metaverse, more people started talking “is this the next big thing in remote work?”.
BUas investigates VR
We at BUas are very excited to look into the future of our industries. One of those futures relates to VR too, and so we collaborated with the Hotel of Tomorrow (HoT) project. Some of you might know the project as it has been around for over a decade. HoT is a think-tank, connecting most innovative hotel industry companies aiming to shape the future of hospitality industry. At the start of 2022 the project took a new format – a months-long collaboration went fully online, using a handful of different platforms, from online tools for non-synchronous collaboration to a series of VR events with expo, presentations, discussions, and lots of fun activities. A team of researchers not only had the chance to listen to many creative discussions, but also investigated the usage of different tools and people’s experiences in different virtual settings. Thus, we ran a small-scale research project with the aim of understanding people’s experiences and usage of virtual platforms for better remote work practices.
At the moment, we do not yet have all the results available as the amount of collected data is astounding. However, first insights are coming out. We can tell that these new formats of collaboration create new challenges, require more management and assistance to participants to make them as efficient as possible. Nonetheless, especially in VR environments, people experience interactions similarly to real-life settings. People feel distance, create eye contact, and can read others better due to the added level of expressions and gestures.
A new work setting is on its way
But this is the beginning only. We hope to be able to create more insights and share with all of you, so that we altogether can move towards the future well-prepared. We believe that VR will find its place in all organizations and these settings will require new types of facilitation. So, our task here is to help you define what those situations are and identify the potential for new – virtual - FM world.
Want to know more? Feel free to reach out to the team: Vitalija Danivska, Wouter van Tankeren, Geoff Maree.
Dr. Sc. Vitalija Danivska – Lecturer & Researcher at Academy of Hotel & Facility. Background in real estate economics, special interest in corporate real estate management, real estate business and digitalization
Wouter van Tankeren – Information Management | Learning Analytics | Higher Education | Facilitating student learning at the BUas Academy for Hotel & Facility Management
