It’s perhaps pretentious to imagine predicting the key points for the coming year in the field of immersive collaboration. However, as the new year gets underway, we’ve decided to play along and offer a selection of the major trends that should drive our ecosystem.
The end of teleworking in 2025? What are the implications for immersive collaboration?
In 2024, emblematic companies such as Amazon have decided to draw a line under remote working, with a return to 100% face-to-face working. Under attack, working from home is accused of impoverishing corporate culture, reducing responsiveness and creativity, and even impacting productivity. It is also accused of being unequal, since many professions cannot be dematerialized. To give a figure, in France, almost 60% of employees do not telework. However, remote working is widely acclaimed as a way of improving quality of life and the balance between personal and professional life. It also contributes to reducing commuting times, and therefore has a direct effect on the environment, by reducing the production of greenhouse gases.
It’s therefore hard to imagine a total halt to working from home, which has become a given in just a few years and a decisive criterion for employees looking for a new position. In France, in particular, it seems impossible to imagine such a categorical step backwards. Yet this fundamental trend should mark a turning point in the regulation of remote working.
The impact of this evolution on the organization and its tools should therefore be relatively low. However, we can easily envisage a slight decline in the use of hybrid collaboration tools. This will be all the more the case given that these tools are firmly anchored in our daily practices, and are used even when participants are in the classroom. On the other hand, the return to face-to-face working should accelerate the reorganization of workspaces. This is not a new trend, but it is more essential than ever to rethink collaboration and make people want to come back to the office, whether they have to or not. And in this context, immersive collaboration solutions are more than ever an asset.
And what about technology?
The panorama of immersive technologies is set to evolve further in the coming year. If 2024 saw the arrival of Apple on the market, which some are calling a failure (but that’s another subject) and which, according to some rumors, could soon put an end to production of the Apple Vision Pro (let’s remain cautious, however), 2025 should see Google’s re-engagement in the field, with the Android XR platform.
On the hardware side, Samsung, accompanied by Google, is likely to return to the forefront after a few unsuccessful and premature attempts (Samsung Odissey, Samsung Gear). The offering will include a mixed reality headset, joining versions of the Meta, Pico, HTC Vive, and presumably Ray-Ban Meta-style connected glasses.
While the latter have been slow to take off, they seem to have been successful in recent months. And in their wake, 2025 should see the appearance of numerous clones adopting this form factor, with the addition of display screens to imagine real augmented reality uses.
This craze clearly demonstrates the vitality of the market and of an industry that continues to grow.
What are the other key trends for 2025?
It’s impossible not to mention the impact of artificial intelligence in an article like this. Numerous proofs of concept have demonstrated the possibilities of generative AI over the past two years for creating video games, virtual environments, XR experiences and so on. AI integrated into immersive collaboration platforms should therefore become widespread, to improve human-machine interactions, foster creativity or facilitate decision-making around complex data.
While training is still the most popular application, AI-boosted digital twins are set to take manufacturing and urban planning to new heights, thanks to their ability to process large volumes of data and provide the right information, to the right person, at the right time, to make the right decision.
Another major trend will undoubtedly be the development of more responsible immersive solutions. While technology is far from being the key to combating global warming, the development of more environmentally-friendly uses will emerge as a response to climate change. How can we decarbonize industry and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from human activities? How can we invent the city of tomorrow, reconciling the needs of citizens while respecting our environment and minimizing our impact? The examples are numerous and encouraging.
Let’s also hope that manufacturers will offer more eco-responsible and sustainable hardware, like HTC Vive or Fairphone in the smartphone sector.
Finally, we can imagine a real democratization of the uses of immersive collaboration for mid-sized companies and SMEs. Although the cost of acquiring hardware is no longer a real barrier to entry, the adoption of immersive solutions is still held back by tools deemed too complex, sometimes designed for large industrial groups, developed for specific uses and requiring far-reaching reorganization. More affordable solutions should therefore be able to play their part in encouraging this adoption.
A certain continuity…
Nothing very disruptive. It’s true that we’re not taking any great risks in presenting these trends. They are the fruit of lengthy developments and processes, which began well before the year 2025. However, the convergence of a certain number of signals seems to indicate an acceleration in their emergence over the coming months.
See you at the end of the year for a debriefing?
