For those who think that augmented reality and virtual reality is just for fun and games, they need to talk to Dexter Lilley, Executive Vice President of Index AR Solutions. In the above interview, Lilley explains how Index AR Solutions helps companies improve productivity by providing just-in-time and localized information to skilled workers. Index AR Solutions are helping businesses involved in construction, manufacturing, training, maintenance, inspection and, even, marketing.

By providing information where and when needed and on familiar devices (e.g. tablets), workers can spend more time at the task at hand and less time searching for information. Lilley reports that this can result in a significant jump in productivity, which is especially important to industries where the number of skilled workers is diminishing due to retirements.

Lilley suggests that it may be awhile before we see workers dawning virtual reality headsets, as, at least at the time of this June 2015 interview, OSHA hasn’t approved any headsets for industrial use. Regardless, as Lilley points out, there are many use-cases today where augmented reality is speeding up and improving the quality of production.