Last year Facebook announced Oculus for Business, an all-in-one enterprise platform to support companies deploying VR in the workplace.
The service has been in beta testing since, and today Facebook announced that Oculus for Business platform is officially out of closed beta and generally available.
The platform is taking on Windows Mixed Reality’s last remaining niche by offering a feature-rich platform which can be used to expand training programs, boost productivity, and empower distributed workforces.
The Johnson & Johnson Institute, an early Oculus collaborator, is using the platform to train surgeons.
“We are now able to provide VR surgical training at a scale that we could previously only dream about,” says Tim Mauri, Director, WW Professional Education Technology & Innovation. “Our goal is to train more surgeons in 2020 than we did in the prior three years combined.”
Nestlé Purina Petcare is also using VR to enhance remote collaboration and improve retail planning. The company estimates it saved over $100K on travel and lost productivity by training staff using VR and is planning to expand its VR program further. The team is using VR in conjunction with 3D sales data to visualize retail displays, enabling them to react to visitor behavior faster than ever before. The sales team at Nestlé Purina Petcare also meets in VR to collaborate on projects and train associates using a suite of new tools.
The platform features the Oculus Quest and enterprise-ready software and cloud-based management tools. Program admins are aided by the Device Setup app which provisions large numbers of headsets simultaneously, and the Device Manager acts as a control centre for headsets, so administrators can update settings and deploy apps remotely to multiple locations.
The Oculus for Business platform is built on Workplace, Facebook’s enterprise collaboration platform.
Alongside Workplace, Facebook is working to make Oculus for Business work better with existing IT setups. Oculus for Business already support leading MDMs, like MobileIron and VMware Workspace ONE and there’s a roadmap of upcoming features and updates on the horizon.
The platform also features a sleek and comfortable user interface which places approved content front-and-centre, making VR more approachable and less intimidating, while a new app launcher sends employees directly to the apps and experiences that matter most to the task at hand.
Facebook is also in introducing an Independent Software Vendor program to create bespoke solutions for companies and the platform has over 400 ISV solution providers working on custom enterprise solutions.
Oculus for Business platform is now available for everyone. Companies interested can learn more at oculus.com/business.