Customers of Sansiri's housing projects can have a virtual experience of their prospective residence and customise it before buying, thanks to mixed reality (MR) technology that merges the real and virtual worlds.
Developer Sansiri collaborated with Advanced Info Service (AIS) and Microsoft to yesterday launch the country's first MR technology, helping clients virtually customise their ideal home.
This is the first cross-industry collaboration to create an even more compelling experience for customers and help them make buying decisions faster, said Tawicha Trakulyingyong, chief technology officer of Sansiri Plc.
The first phase of the MR sales gallery is expected to be ready for Sansiri condominium projects in July of this year.
MR technology combines the best of both immersive virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), creating an enhanced level of interactions and simulation in the combined real and virtual worlds at the same time, Mr Tawicha said, adding that the MR experience is in line with Sansiri's vision of Siri LifeTech.
"Today, some property developers are adopting VR or AR to facilitate their customers' experience, but we are the first one adopting both together," he said.
With MR technology solutions, customers can interact with the virtual view using their hands, without the need to control a device, and can visualise the design and function of the house to meet their needs by moving and resizing furniture and decoration items, changing paint colours and material choices, or even choosing the view from the window and re-creating the ambience at any time of the day.
Mr Tawicha declined to disclose the budget for MR solution development, saying only that the project is part of the 50-million-baht R&D budget for 2018.
Under the collaboration of the three parties, AIS developed a new advanced digital platform customised for MR by a team of digital technology experts.
Microsoft's Azure cloud platform lets AIS design and customise digital solutions and services that meet specific requirements, including providing holographic devices for the collaboration.
Sansiri supports all related information and required specifications.
Mr Tawicha said Sansiri plans to build two new sales galleries in the country to provide MR technology this year to prospective buyers of Sansiri housing.
The company also plans to build new sales galleries abroad to serve Asean buyers in 2019.
MR technology is expected to revolutionise the way property buyers view units by providing a more genuine experience and letting them select a property that matches their lifestyle.
Sansiri also has sales galleries in Hong Kong and mainland China.
To experience the digital sales gallery, customers wear a specially designed holographic computing device to view holograms and experience how it feels to walk around the finished property.
Sansiri aims for 80% of prospective buyers to make buying decision after interacting with MR at sales galleries.
Pratthana Leelapanang, AIS's chief commercial officer, said the company believes MR technology is a way for property businesses to create differentiation.
AIS has been a strategic partner of Sansiri for years, providing network infrastructure and smart home solutions for Sansiri projects.
SIRI shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 1.90 baht, up four satang, in trade worth 62.2 million baht.
