XR has sat for a long time between novelty and necessity. It has been called ‘the future of work’ for years, without really being treated as part of the present. What surprised me was how quietly that started to change.
I use VR most days now. Not for gaming, but for things like learning, working, and getting my head straight between sessions. What once felt experimental has just become part of my routine. That same shift is starting to show up inside organisations too.
XR is still framed publicly as emerging, but many teams have already moved past curiosity. They are using it because it works. The challenge in 2026 is not proving that XR is viable, it is explaining its value in terms decision-makers actually care about.
Speaking in ROI Terms
When XR projects stall, it is rarely because the technology did not work. More often, the problem is how the value was explained.
Most executives are not looking for better experiences, they are looking for measurable outcomes. Things like presence and engagement are interesting, but they do not survive a budget review on their own. XR tends to land better when it is framed as a way to solve real business problems, reduce risk, or save time.
Training Outcomes: Time to Competency
Training is one of the clearest places XR shows its value.
In most organisations, training takes time and it does not land the same way for everyone. Getting new starters comfortable enough to work on their own often takes more effort than expected. XR helps close that gap by letting people practise the work itself, rather than just hearing it described.
‘Walmart reduced training time for pickup tower operations by 96 percent, cutting training from eight hours down to fifteen minutes using VR.’
Source: Strivr/Walmart Case Study
That kind of reduction changes how training fits into everyday work. People get onboarded faster and teams settle in with less disruption.
Speed alone is not the point. What matters is whether people actually retain what they learn.
‘VR learners completed training up to four times faster than classroom learners and were up 275% more confident to act on what they learned after training.’
Source: PwC 2022 US Metaverse Survey
When training sticks the first time, the knock-on effects are hard to ignore. Teams spend less time fixing problems that should not have happened in the first place.
Time Saved: Operational Efficiency
XR also delivers value when it removes friction from work that happens over and over again.
‘Boeing reported a 25 percent increase in wire harness assembly speed after introducing augmented reality guidance.’
Source: Boeing/ARtillery Intelligence Case Study
Changes like this cut down on rework and mistakes, and they shorten the time it takes to get a job finished properly.
In environments where time really matters, even small improvements start to add up.
Business Value: The Cost of Not Acting
Some of the strongest cases for XR are not really about the technology at all. They are about what keeps happening when nothing changes. Downtime drags on while issues are diagnosed, experts keep getting flown out to fix the same problems, and small mistakes turn into bigger ones over time. Safety and compliance sit in the background until something goes wrong.
Framed this way, XR stops being a nice-to-have and starts looking like risk reduction. The question shifts from ‘Can we afford XR?’ to ‘What is it already costing us to keep working this way?‘
Metrics That Actually Matter
One of the quickest ways to undermine an XR proposal is by leaning on metrics that sound interesting but do not mean much to the business.
Things like headset usage or time spent in VR can be useful internally, but they rarely hold up once the conversation turns to outcomes. What tends to land better is tying XR directly into the numbers organisations already track. In 2026, XR metrics should sit alongside existing reporting, not off to the side.
| Category | Primary KPIs | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Training | Time to competency, error rates, retention | Direct impact on labour cost and safety |
| Field Service | First-time fix rate, downtime, travel costs | Reduces operational expense |
| Design and R&D | Prototype cycles, time to market | Accelerates innovation and reduces physical waste |
| Customer Experience | Conversion rate, returns | Improves confidence and reduces returns |
‘AR try-on experiences can increase purchase confidence by up to 80 percent and significantly reduce product return rates.’
Source: 2022 Global IPSOS UK Study
In practice, a metric only matters if it makes sense to the business. If it does not connect back to something tangible, it usually does not hold much weight.
Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
Despite the growing maturity of XR, many initiatives still fail for familiar reasons.
The Demo Problem
It is easy to lead with scenarios that look impressive. They make for good demos, but they are often built around edge cases rather than the work that happens every day.
XR tends to hold up better when it is applied to routine tasks that carry a real cost. The value shows up quietly in work that runs more smoothly, not in moments designed to impress.
Hasty Device Procurement
Buying hardware before the problem is clear is a mistake I still see often. Headsets on their own do not fix much, and they can lock teams into decisions too early.
Things tend to go better when the use case comes first. A small proof of value is usually enough to see what actually works, and what does not, before committing further.
Hidden Recurring Costs
Costs tend to creep in around the edges with XR. Over time, software changes, content needs attention, and devices start to require ongoing care. It is easy to underestimate this in the early stages.
XR works better when it is treated as something that will stick around. Looking a few years ahead makes those trade-offs easier to see before they turn into problems.
IT and Business Misalignment
XR projects often run into trouble when practical constraints show up late. What looks fine in a demo can fall apart once deployment starts, and by then the options are limited.
Things tend to go better when those realities are part of the conversation from the start. XR only really works if it can be rolled out and supported in the real environment it is meant to live in.
From Personal Habits to Enterprise Value
We often talk about XR adoption as if it is still on the way. In practice, for many people, it has already arrived, just without much noise around it.
It is following a familiar pattern. Smartphones did not enter workplaces through policy first, they arrived through personal habit. XR is starting to move the same way.
It is already being used in practical, low-key ways, helping people work more comfortably, focus for longer, and perform better under pressure. In some fields, that kind of support is already part of the job rather than something experimental.
‘XR-based training leads to retention rates up to 75 percent higher than traditional classroom learning.’
Source: Virtual Reality Learning report by Masie.com
Executives do not need to be convinced by immersion. They care about whether people perform better and more reliably.
The 2026 Reality
By 2026, XR is no longer something that sits off in the future. It is already shaping how people work day to day.
‘Around 70% of XR revenue now comes from the enterprise market.’
Source: Industrial IMMERSIVE 2025
The strongest business cases do not try to sell disruption. They point to advantages that are already taking hold in teams who have folded spatial tools into their normal workflows.
When talking about XR, it is usually better to avoid promises about what comes next. The more convincing story is what others are already doing better right now.
Thanks for reading. If you’re interested in collaborating on digital delivery, XR, or AI-enabled platforms, I’m always open to a conversation.
You can find me on LinkedIn, browse more writing on the blog, or explore my recent work.
