Today’s largest and most successful retailers are locked in an escalating battle for consumer attention and dollars, competing not only against each other, but against Amazon and the Amazon Effect. The result is an arms race of sorts, focused squarely on customer experience practices and technologies. From souped-up e-commerce platforms to click lists, retailers of all shapes and sizes are investing heavily to make interactions with their customers seamless and satisfying.
It would be unfair and inaccurate to suggest business-to-business (B2B) companies ignore the customer experience, but it’s certainly true that their efforts have lagged the business-to-consumer (B2C) sector. B2B customers are different, having a more complex, often multi-step decision-making process, but the decision-makers are people. And, like all of us, they have been conditioned through their consumer experiences to expect meaningful, informative interactions and smooth, fast transactions.
Those expectations exist whether they’re buying a gallon of ice cream, a new golf club, or more relevantly for this discussion, a new uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system. The B2B companies that recognize that these consumer trends are behavioral trends and adapt accordingly will own a significant advantage in their market. Vertiv is committed to being such a company.
The latest example of that commitment is the recent introduction of the Vertiv™ XR app, a first-of-its-kind tool for Vertiv that brings a consumer-grade interactive experience to our B2B customers.
Customer Convenience Is a Catalyst for Augmented Reality App Creation
The Vertiv XR App allows IT managers, data center operators, and channel partners to visualize Vertiv data center solutions in the location they would occupy in any given facility, the same way a homeowner might use a virtual reality app to place versions of a new couch or kitchen cabinets in their space to see how they look. It guides users through product selection and placement, visualizing data center infrastructure equipment in their location of choice, whether that’s in the row or in their living room. This virtual representation helps those data center decision-makers plan more effectively and maintain a better understanding of their facility’s physical footprint.
The app lets users see and explore various Vertiv solutions when and where they choose, and it encourages users to stay engaged beyond purchase and installation by recommending complementary solutions. The app even streamlines social sharing of the entire experience, because if you can’t post about it, did it really happen?
This tool is new to the data center space, and we believe it stacks up against the best consumer augmented reality apps. We’re not alone in that assessment. The Vertiv XR App was named “Best Digital Transformation Product or Service – Enterprise” at the 2022 Technology Product Awards and received a five-star rating from IT Channel, which called it “the best augmented reality app tested in 2022.” The app is available through this link:https://vertivxr.page.link/MC-blog
Of course, the app is part of our larger digitization initiative, which is focused on enhancing the experience of working with Vertiv for our customers and channel partners. It is all part of our ongoing strategic priority to be customer focused and to create superior customer value, in part, by providing best-in-class tools.
