How do you develop a business case with fresh and innovative solutions? My team and me asked ourselves this question, when chosen to represent Bentley University at the National Business case competition last September, 2017.
The answer: while exploring new things, outside your comfort zone.
I was working as a Graduate Assistant at the CIS sandbox at the time. This is a place where you will always find new technologies, and all students are free to explore and test them. The fact that the people who work here are passionate about what they do and are always happy to share their knowledge, made the difference and inspired me to dig deeper into new technology innovations.
Without any experience participating in this type of competition, I embraced the challenge with confidence that we were going to be successful. During the month that we had to develop this case, we felt challenged every minute. A case competition involves many hours of research, brainstorming sessions and collaborative work for value propositions.
The case given was focused on a critical business issue, to establish a new stand alone car dealership for the Alfa Romeo brand in Philadelphia. Requirements included preparing a vision for the new dealership, a twelve month marketing strategy and a high level financial forecast for total revenue.
My team developed a unique customer proposition, using virtual and augmented reality. To incorporate a 360 video of the Giulia Alfa Romeo into our marketing strategy, and have it available on the new dealership’s website. This would allow customers to vividly experience the car on their own time, allowing them to get a taste of the car without spending any money other than internet access. In this way, customers would be able to make informed purchase decisions.
I must confess I was not familiar with VR or AR before coming to Bentley University, but when introduced to the Oculus rift and the 360 camera available at the CIS sandbox, I couldn’t stop thinking about the incredible things one can create with these technologies.
So now, let me share this AR experience with you. I hope you like luxury cars and want to learn more about 360 videos and AR, enjoy!
Carwow (2017, March 19) Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio 2017 360 degree test drive | Passenger Rides. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/alfaromeo360
If you become even more interested in these technologies, we cordially invite you to come to CIS Sandbox at Bentley University. Come and ask for our cardboards or Oculus rift, you will get a better experience of 360 videos, more VR and AR. The sandbox has terrific technologists tutors, we are happy to help 🙂
Although my team did not won the competition, we definitely gain a lot. We made a solid business case in under 30 days, we learnt a lot about new technologies and enjoyed having all these invaluable resources available at Bentley University.
My key take aways:
- 360 video creation is one of the most vivid experiences in AR, at a low cost.
- A simple cardboard is a powerful tool, it should be considered when improving the customer experience.
- The CIS sandbox is 100% an incubator place for new business ideas.
I hope you come and visit us!
** Special thanks to Dr. Earl Avery, Roger Danchise, Lisa Curtin, Myrlene Bazile, Chip Wiggins, Mark Frydenberg, Mary Marcel, Joshua Nwozor, and all the Bentley Community, who supported us.