With Guides, Microsoft's Mixed Reality tech for first line workers is crossing over to Dynamics 365

Mixed reality came to the Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform product lines thanks mostly to the availability of HoloLens and the emerging business cases around it that aim to bring the physical and digital worlds together.

Edo De Martin, general manager for mixed reality apps at Microsoft, explained in an interview with MSDW that his team was tasked with bringing Microsoft applications based on HoloLens (and, increasingly, mobile and tablet devices) to the world. He explained:

In mixed reality, we did a bunch of research on how this technology could solve business needs. Based on our research, we came up with four core areas: remote assistance, training, collaborative visualization, and contextual data access, also known as 'your data in your space'.

Guides, which De Martin manages, trains people on how to correctly work with assets in a real-world setting. Guides can display 3D visuals, training materials, and interactive tasks through HoloLens. It is intended to train workers and measure their performance, with the ability to capture and store data on their usage history via the Microsoft's Common Data Service for use in reporting on experience and performance – or in other apps that consume CDS data like Dynamics 365 Field Service or Finance and Operations.

De Martin described some of the needs his team aims to address through Guides: