What lessons can enterprises learn from augmented reality games?

• A succsesful AR game's success should extend beyond download figures
• Building quality apps and ensuring user satisfaction is the key

If you have noticed a sudden spike in the number of people running around outdoors, eyes glued to their smartphones, and stopping randomly to chat with strangers – blame it not on magic but augmented reality (AR).
 
Location-based AR mobile games successfully alter the behavior of its players. It forces them to collaborate and exchange information on whereabouts of rare finds with each other, even teaching youths about landmarks that double up as specific spots in the game!
 
A successful AR game’s success should extend beyond download figures. It needs to have a relatively smooth application delivery, despite staggering demands placed on its servers.
 
So what does the success of AR games really depend on?  Building quality apps and ensuring user satisfaction is the key. But easier said than done. Providing a seamless application delivery is not easy. And this is where DevOps (the development and operations teams) needs to be better prepared.
 
Here are 3 DevOps lessons we learnt from AR-centric games:

AR blends real and virtual worlds to attain superior quality
As is the case of the most popular AR game at the moment, which motivates us to interact with our surroundings differently, by creating an environment that has the outside-in view (operation) transact with the inside-out view (development) with real-time updates. This is similar to the concept of DevOps, where development and operations teams work together to achieve continuous integration and agile delivery.
 
Collaboration is difficult but it is the only way to achieve business agility
To take over a gym in AR, trainers in the same team need to work together to overthrow or defeat trainers from the opposing team. This is similar to how development and operations teams need to collaborate to become efficient and maximize their success.
 
Developers and operations face discomfort at the start of their DevOps journey too, having to overcome ingrained silos that prevent them from working well together.
 
The main reason for this is differing goals: developers tend to want to generate as much change as possible, but operations value stability and reliability. These conflicting agendas make it difficult to function as a whole. The two teams will need to set aside their differences to increase organizational productivity and make it more market-oriented to deliver value to customers.
 
Execution of DevOps should be platform-agnostic
The rollout of AR gaming has been relatively slow, and usually requires purchasing of accessories such as Oculus Rift and HoloLens. However, AR gaming has shown the value in thinking mobile-first, and the handset is where DevOps needs to head.
 
To enable the mobility of DevOps, mobile apps that interact directly with enterprise applications and services need to have a well-defined software development lifecycle. As new features are added, the Dev and Ops teams have to seamlessly integrate them into the mobile app.
 
Other challenges to bear in mind include providing multi-platform support in view of the fragmenting Android and iOS markets, and ensuring continuous delivery despite punishing timelines where inception-to-delivery has to happen in a matter of weeks.

Richard Gerdis is CA Technologies', vice president, DevOps, Asia Pacific & Japan