VR has its place, and its place is not Everywhere

I was just checking out the following Survey conducted by Forbes Magazine. How frustrating.


http://www.linkedin.com/news?viewArticle=&articleID=65560894&gid=1391417&srchCat=WOTC&articleURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2E3dtlc%2Enet%2F2009%2F09%2Fforbes-survey-concludes-against-virtual-meetings%2Ehtml&urlhash=drEr

I really don't think that Forbes needed an elaborate study to demonstrate that executives prefer face-face meetings. I'm not sure that anyone with a solid understanding of business operations would even consider challeging this truism. I believe that Forbe's could have provided significantly more value to the tech industry by asking more informed questions, such as:1. when a face-face meeting is not possible due to time, money, etc. what do you feel would be the next best alternative?2. Of the face-face alternatives currently in your "Toolbox", which do prefer, and why> How could these tools be improved?3. We all understand that many people don't fully engage themselves on conference calls, webex's, etc. Assuming that face-face is not always viable, how could current state technologies be improved to increase participant engagement?
In my daily work, I have to handle "results" and objections that are consistent with the Forbes conclusion. I have been lecturing for the past year about a "Toolbox" approcah to business. In your Toolbox for example, would be: Telephone, Email, IM, Webex/Live Meeting, Video Conference, Virtual Reality, and Face-Face. Given all the variables in play when a task needs to be completed, the business user should select the most appropriate technology. "Appropriate" considers: time, money, priority, logistics, etc. We cannot/should not try to force a round peg into a square hole. Instead, we need users to understand the pros/cons of each tool in their Toolbox, and select the appropriate tool for the task. Its really a waste of everyone's time to talk about how "VR will replace Face-Face". The RIGHT word to use instead of replace, is "Augment". VR can Augment the business toolbox. A business user will likely select the tool that can best accomplish the task, assuming it is easy to use and stable. And just like we saw 10 years ago with the flight to the internet: the good ideas that have survived a decade are those that can accomplish a task better(faster, better, cheaper) than an exsiting tool, or can provide a service that is simply not possible in the real world. The same is tru of VR: it is a massive blunder to target uses of VR that are better accomplished using another means. The correct strategy is to focus on scenarios in which there is no "better alternative". leverage VR for its unique abilities: accomplish this task and you have become an essential tool, not just a nice to have tool