56 | Q1 2022 Jan22280 Front Runners in Immersive, Integrated AR and VR Technology Paracosma, the ‘Most Innovative Immersive Technology Company’ for 2022, has made a name for itself with its consistent dedication to its industry. Delivering expert implementation of augmented reality and virtual reality solutions at every turn, it has made itself an integral part of many clients’ technological infrastructure, able to train up their IT teams, give expert advice, and keep their organisation at the head of the pack when it comes to new developments. We caught up with its Founder & CEO, Ken Ehrhart, to find out what it is they do and where they’ll be taking it next. Firstly - please give us an overview of your company, the work that you do, your clients and the services you offer. ‘Paracosma is an Augmented and Virtual Reality Solutions Provider, meaning we offer AR/VR development and 3D content creation services to other businesses. Those services range from one-time project-based services to ongoing partnerships to provide fulltime development and art services over the course of many months or years-long engagements. Critically, supplying AR/VR expertise to companies who lacked appropriately trained internal teams has been our focus since 2016 when surveys showed over 88% of companies planned AR/VR projects, but 55% were likely or extremely likely to outsource AR/VR development because they lacked internal developers with the right skills. That demand has only grown over time.’ What kind of clients do you serve and how do you approach them? How do you differentiate yourself from potential competitors? ‘With the burst of investment and activity in the AR/VR space, we have seen more and more start-up companies funded in significant rounds. Their investors demand fast and sustained growth. But, because of market demand, it is difficult for them to recruit and hire experienced developers to execute the business plan they ‘sold’ to their investors, ensuring we are finding increased demand for our services. This is especially true since the shift to remote workers has blurred the lines between in-house, direct employees and insourced Paracosma experts, allowing the integration of our experienced developers and artists directly in our clients’ teams to accelerate their growth.’ What role do your staff play in the success of your firm and how would you describe your internal culture? ‘Services businesses succeed or fail based on the quality of their staff-delivered services, so having the best employees is central to our value proposition. As we recruit employees, we are always focused on hiring those looking for a long-term career with Paracosma, because we want them to grow in experience and capability as Paracosma grows. Therefore, experienced team members help onboard and train new employees. Over time, experts elevate to the roll of manager, able to oversee the onboarding of other experts and build their team; in this way growing in a manner that increases their long-term understanding of the business and what works best for clients.’ Can you detail any specific industry-based challenges you are facing now or may face soon? ‘The shift to remote work, as mentioned above, has increased opportunities for partnering with Paracosma to grow clients’ development teams. We are also experiencing unprecedented demand for 3D modelling services. Existing modelling clients continually push for more capacity, while new modelling clients want to ramp production quickly to meet their own client demand, something that is not just a function of AR/VR expansion but is driven by adoption of 3D models in ecommerce. This goes for both 3D product display on websites and in AR, as well as for replacement of studio photography with photorealistic renders of 3D models.’ Do you have any plans for 2022 and beyond that you would like to share with our readers? ‘Our biggest challenge and greatest opportunity is keeping up with client demand. Every day, we face increased demand from existing clients competing with requests from new clients, but we are committed to only scaling at a pace that maintains and extends excellent customer service. Thus, we are currently innovating new tools to extend the productivity of current engineers and artists, hoping to bring these to our client base soon.’ Company: Paracosma Contact: Ken Ehrhart Website: paracosma.com
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