Augmented Reality Explained: What It Is, How It Differs from VR, and Why Enterprises Are Embracing It
In recent months, we've seen renewed investments from Google, Meta, and Apple that signal a clear message: augmented reality (AR) is the leading interface for advanced computing.
While Google and Meta’s AR glasses are capturing attention in the consumer market, enterprise adoption of AR is quietly gaining momentum.
In fact, the AR market is projected to be larger than the virtual reality (VR) market, thanks to AR’s easier integration into existing workflows. Unlike VR, AR doesn’t require a headset; smartphones and tablets can deliver compelling AR experiences. Even when dedicated hardware is used, AR glasses are typically more affordable and lightweight than standard VR headsets.
Plus, as enterprises double down on AI adoption, the race to deliver true AI-enabled hardware is converging on one clear winner: AR glasses.
As a result, companies are increasingly looking to AR to power new trainings and improve efficiency.
At ManageXR, we support AR devices and see the challenges of managing AR at scale firsthand. AR introduces a new layer of complexity for IT teams. AR is typically personalized, operates for longer durations, and functions across dynamic environments.
This article outlines what makes AR deployments unique and why enterprises are embracing AR technologies in the workplace.
What Is Augmented Reality?
Augmented reality overlays digital information such as images, instructions, or 3D models on top of the physical world. This enhancement of reality is typically delivered through smartphones, tablets, or wearable AR glasses, allowing users to interact with both their environment and digital content at the same time.
Unlike fully immersive virtual reality technology, AR doesn’t block out your surroundings. Instead, it adds contextually relevant data to help users make decisions, perform tasks, or visualize information in real time. This could mean showing a technician which part of a machine to inspect, guiding a warehouse worker to the right package location, or displaying architectural plans directly on a construction site.
From Shared to Personal: The AR Ownership Model
In enterprise VR deployments, shared devices are the norm. Imagine training centers with a handful of headsets, each used by dozens of learners each day. With AR, the dynamic flips. AR glasses, like the Vuzix M400 or Magic Leap 2, are most effective when assigned to a single user who carries them throughout their day. Continuous use allows the device to adapt to the user’s workflow, preferences, and environment. Its value compounds with personalized, persistent use.
This one-to-one model mirrors the management style of traditional IT assets like laptops and phones, and aligns AR with the expectations and frameworks that IT teams already use.
In manufacturing, AR glasses deliver hands-free, real-time guidance to workers who wear the glasses throughout their day. For example, at GE Aviation—an engine supplier for Boeing and Airbus—a pilot program introduced AR glasses that allowed workers to view instructions in real time as they tightened bolts. This technology enabled workers to complete tasks more accurately and efficiently, since they no longer had to pause and look back and forth between the instructions and their work.
Preserving Context: AR’s Collaborative Advantage
Where VR removes you from your environment, AR enhances your presence in it. This makes AR ideal for operations in high-stakes, spatially complex environments where users need to interact with guides and real-world objects simultaneously.
Content for AR therefore needs to be highly specialized to the environment. Whereas VR content is context-agnostic, AR content must integrate seamlessly with the users’ surroundings. We recommend working with custom AR content developers to create the ideal AR environment for your use case.
Novarad, a health tech company, uses AR to improve surgical precision with real-time guidance during procedures. AR lets the surgeon remain grounded in the operating room while receiving guidance through visual overlays and annotations. Novarad uses optical tracking to create a 3D GPS-like map of the patient’s body. Doctors can then see and interact with the model from any angle.
Why are enterprises embracing AR?
Augmented Reality is maturing into a mission-critical tool for enterprise operations. While VR excels at immersive training and simulation, AR thrives in environments where users must stay connected to the physical world. As a result, AR is becoming indispensable in industries like logistics, construction, and field services, where situational awareness is essential.
1. Operational Use Cases Where VR Falls Short
One of the most compelling advantages of AR is its ability to unlock operational use cases that VR simply cannot support due to its environmental occlusion. VR immerses users in a fully virtual world, effectively cutting them off from their surroundings. This is great for focused learning environments but impractical for hands-on tasks. AR’s transparent interface allows workers to receive digital guidance while staying fully engaged with their environment.
Take warehouse logistics for example. In this use case, AR enables delivery workers to navigate warehouses with digital overlays that guide them to precise pick-up and drop-off points. DHL found that AR improved packaging efficiency by 25%.
In the construction and architecture sectors, AR transforms how teams engage with design and infrastructure data. Using AR devices, workers can visualize BIM (Building Information Modeling) and architectural plans overlaid directly onto the job site. This capability helps construction crews verify alignments, spot inconsistencies, and make decisions in real time without needing to cross-reference paper blueprints or switch between screens and workspaces.
Field service and maintenance are also seeing transformative gains. With AR, technicians can receive instructions through their smart glasses or mobile devices while interacting with equipment. Instead of flipping through a manual or waiting for remote support, they can follow on-screen prompts as they diagnose issues or perform repairs. This not only reduces training time but also improves first-time fix rates and minimizes downtime.
2. Faster Deployment and Lower Costs
One of the key advantages of augmented reality is its accessibility across a wide range of hardware: smartphones, tablets, and wearable AR glasses. This flexibility significantly lowers the barrier to adoption and makes AR easier to integrate into existing enterprise workflows. AR can be deployed on devices that many organizations already use and support within their IT infrastructure.
For organizations that opt for dedicated AR wearables, the economics are still favorable. AR glasses are generally more affordable and lightweight than standard VR headsets, making them not only more practical for extended, daily use but also more cost-effective at scale.
As a result, the path to achieving a positive return on investment is often shorter with AR. Lower upfront hardware costs, reduced friction in deployment, and tighter alignment with existing workflows all contribute to making AR a compelling choice for enterprises looking to enhance productivity and accuracy.
3. AI brings enhanced value to AR
Perhaps the most transformative force accelerating enterprise AR adoption is the integration of Artificial Intelligence. On their own, AR interfaces can display static content and spatially anchored information, but when paired with AI, these experiences become dynamic and adaptive. AI gives AR context awareness and real-time responsiveness to truly enhance productivity in complex environments.
In field service, for example, AI-enhanced AR can automatically recognize machinery, diagnose issues based on visual cues, and surface the correct repair instructions. In manufacturing, computer vision models layered onto AR headsets can verify product quality in real time, flagging defects as they happen and minimizing waste. And in logistics, AR navigation can be informed by live data, such as changing inventory locations or shifting route priorities, without requiring manual input.
Combining AR and AI allows for natural and intuitive user interactions. For enterprises, this means smarter operations and faster decision-making.
ManageXR in the AR Tech Stack
As augmented reality gains traction in the enterprise, the scope of device management must evolve with it. AR spans a diverse ecosystem of hardware, including smartphones, tablets, and AR glasses. With AR deployments moving beyond controlled training rooms and into factories, warehouses, and field sites, the management challenges multiply.
This new reality demands a more sophisticated approach to device and user management, one that accounts for:
Cross-device policy enforcement
Enterprises need consistent security and experience standards that apply across headsets and mobile devices alike, regardless of operating system or form factor.
Custom device experiences
AR deployments require unique device experiences for each worker depending on their roles and responsibilities. Enterprises need to confidently provision each device with the right content and settings for its users.
Device usage analytics
In AR, knowing which app was used isn't enough. Enterprises need insights tied to when, where, and how devices are used so they can optimize performance, safety, and support.
Secure, seamless over-the-air updates
With AR devices scattered across locations, over-the-air updates must be reliable and frictionless to avoid disrupting operations.
ManageXR is already solving many of these challenges for both AR and VR deployments. With our foundation in XR fleet management, ManageXR is uniquely positioned to meet these new demands and help enterprises confidently deploy, manage, and scale AR experiences in the field.
Conclusion
With maturing hardware, proven enterprise use cases, and sustained investment from major tech players, AR is becoming a core part of how work gets done. But as organizations move from pilot programs to production-scale deployments, the challenge shifts from proving value to managing complexity.
Scaling AR demands a purpose-built mobile device management (MDM) solution that understands the unique challenges of XR. A specialized MDM must ensure these devices stay secure, up to date, and ready to perform without disrupting operations.
Whether you’re deploying 10 AR headsets for a field service team or managing 1,000 devices across a global logistics network, ManageXR is built to help you scale with confidence. We provide the tools to configure, monitor, update, and support your AR fleet remotely and reliably so your teams can focus on the work that matters. As AR becomes a fixture in enterprise workflows, ManageXR is here to make that transition seamless, secure, and scalable.
