Real uses of Virtual Reality in corporate training

In corporate sector, training the new employees or training already working employees to adapt newer ways and means both are very important aspects. Effective training gives definite results. If training sessions are boring, then employees will never take interest in it and will be attending all of them for just a formality. How to make the training sessions interesting has become a subject of research nowadays. Being an essential part of the corporate life, training builds the employees for performing the desired and allotted work efficiently. But when there is a lack of interest, then how an employee would be an asset for the corporate industry?

Different experiments are carried out by different corporate giants to fully engage their employees in training. Those who have got success in this task, somewhere used VR in their training sessions. In this revolutionary era, while VR is helping in almost all the sectors of the industry, why should corporate stay out of it?

Usage of virtual reality in training and development is steadily increasing its share. A number of companies are exploring supplementary tool like virtual reality for training employees and you could find yourself being trained in VR sooner than you think.

For those who don’t know what VR is, then let you all just be briefed that VR is an acronym of Virtual reality which immerse a user into a simulated environment so that they feel like they are actually there. Virtual reality can further be classified into three core parts: Mobile (with mobile phones), Standalone (With cables and devices) and Desktop (with high end computer devices).

The argument for VR in corporate training is simple – it can increase engagement and knowledge retention levels, and employees can be trained in a safer, more cost efficient way.

Statistics About Virtual Reality in Companies & Corporate Settings

• By 2030, approximately 23 million jobs worldwide are projected to incorporate virtual reality training to some extent, as stated by PwC.
• Stanford University and the Technical University of Denmark (Danmarks Tekniske Universitet) conducted research revealing that virtual reality in corporate training is 76% more effective than traditional methods.
• According to Chaos Theory, around 39% of large enterprises are utilizing VR/AR to provide training in simulated environments.
• In a report by the Capgemini Research Institute, it was found that 82% of companies currently implementing virtual and/or augmented reality are satisfied with the benefits, which either meet or exceed their expectations.
• Capgemini reports that Virtual reality in corporate training can help reduce injuries by up to 43% in high-consequence workplaces.
• A report by Pixo indicates that VR corporate training typically takes four times less time to complete compared to traditional training methods.
• The same research conducted by Stanford University concluded that participants in VR training demonstrated an average of 12% higher accuracy and completed tasks 17% faster than participants who received instruction through videos.

How Companies Are Using Virtual Reality?

Virtual reality (VR) is being increasingly adopted by companies across various industries to revolutionize training and enhance business operations. Here’s an overview of how companies are leveraging virtual reality:

• Enhancing Workforce Competence: Virtual reality in corporate training has revolutionized the industry by providing immersive experiences for onboarding new employees and facilitating skill development. Companies are leveraging Virtual reality in corporate training to offer realistic simulations, enabling virtual reality employee training to learn technical skills and complex processes while minimizing disruptions to daily operations. This approach ensures a more engaging and effective training experience, particularly in high-consequence workplaces where safety is paramount.
• Cultivating Soft Skills: Beyond technical proficiency, companies recognize the importance of nurturing soft skills such as public speaking, negotiation, and relationship management. Virtual reality employee training offers a unique platform to practice and refine these crucial abilities. Through interactive simulations and realistic scenarios, employees can gain confidence in addressing large audiences or engaging in networking opportunities. Virtual reality in corporate training empowers individuals to develop these skills in a risk-free environment, boosting their overall performance and customer service acumen.
• Crisis Preparedness and Response: Virtual reality in corporate training is instrumental in training employees to handle emergency situations, equipping them with the necessary skills to respond effectively. By immersing employees in simulated environments, companies simulate real-life emergencies like robberies, allowing them to practice decision-making, conflict resolution, and crisis management. VR training in emergency preparedness helps customer-facing businesses, such as retail, ensure their staff can confidently and calmly handle potentially life-threatening situations, minimizing harm and improving overall safety.
• Fostering Diversity and Inclusion: Many companies are leveraging virtual reality to address diversity and inclusion challenges sensitively. By creating realistic VR scenarios, organizations can provide employees with firsthand experiences of diverse workplaces, promoting empathy, understanding, and cultural sensitivity. VR simulations enable employees to navigate and address diversity-related issues, such as unconscious biases and microaggressions, fostering a more inclusive and harmonious work environment.
• Enhancing Remote Collaboration: Virtual reality offers new avenues for remote collaboration and teamwork. Companies are exploring VR platforms that allow geographically dispersed teams to come together in a shared virtual environment, facilitating collaboration, brainstorming sessions, and interactive meetings. This innovative use of VR enhances communication and productivity, transcending physical boundaries and enabling employees to work seamlessly across distances.
• Customer Experience Transformation: Companies are harnessing virtual reality to revolutionize the customer experience. VR allows customers to engage with products and services in immersive, interactive ways, leading to enhanced product understanding, increased brand loyalty, and improved purchasing decisions. From virtual showrooms to interactive product demonstrations, VR is shaping the future of customer engagement and revolutionizing the way companies connect with their audience.

How VR is helpful in corporate training?

Image Source: Google

The above image shows an approximate idea of VR aided training.

From print media to the internet, we can see information becoming richer and easier to access. Virtual Reality, a sophisticated technology that uses realistic images, audios, and other senses to simulate a real environment, is an elite technology which has contributed towards a vast change in the learning system. The environment experienced when using Virtual Reality is simulated, but the learning impact is real.

Let’s take an example of nuclear reactor operator’s training. It is too difficult to train the new operators for operating the nuclear reactor on reality bases. A small mistake of a learning operator, which is quite predictable. Rather training with the help of Virtual reality creates completely an imaginary nuclear reactor and training of an operator is done with that imaginary environment only. All the consequences of a mistake are visually programmed and an imaginary anarchy is created so that the trainee gets an exact idea of it! This reduces the money involved in training as well as makes the trainee understand the consequences very clearly. The operator, before getting deputed at his place, has real time knowledge of operating the reactor.

This is just one example of VR in training. There are many innovative ideas we can generate with the help of VR to make the corporate training more interactive and more interesting. This can be understood with the help of one other example as follows:

Image Source: rigzone.com

Take in account the above picture. Suppose, at the oil refinery, emergency sirens begin to wail. A shift supervisor races to the scene of the emergency and sees smoke already billowing from the roof of a distillation unit. He needs to get the fire under control, but when he opens the door to the control room, a wall of flame greets him. The situation is worse than anything in his training manual. How can he locate the shut-off button when he can’t see through the flames? He hesitates—and in that moment, the pressure built up in the distillation tower releases in a massive explosion, ripping apart the building and scattering debris across the whole refinery.

A red message flashes before the supervisor’s eyes: Simulation failed. A voice comes over the intercom and says, “All right—let’s take two minutes, and then we’ll reset from the beginning.” He is covered in sweat as he takes off the headset. It had been a virtual reality (VR) simulation, but the stress was real; more importantly, the lessons on how to respond to a crisis had been real.

Why VR should be used for training?

Virtual Reality allows to replicate any possible real-life situation without the risks, damages or consequences possible in everyday life. Thus VR is the perfect medium for industrial training as it allows us to create an immersive solution that save you money and that benefits your employees.

Benefits of incorporating VR in Corporate training

• Higher understanding and higher retention: VR enables employees to learn through practical experience. Experiential learning has long been argued as the most effective way to learn and studies have shown that learning through experience increases the quality of learning, and retention by 75-90%.
• Training is safer without any physical hazard: Virtual Reality for workplace training is important particularly where employees need to handle physically challenged tasks or work in dangerous environment. In addition to flight simulation training, even pharmaceutical industry avails the benefits of VR where doctors can practice using simulators to prevent medical accidents.
• It’s cost effective: There are many training courses that involve actual use of learning resources. But, sometimes it happens that resources are limited or expensive to buy in huge amounts. In such scenarios, the use of VR comes into place when modelling resources in a virtual environment enables learners to improve their skills without having to use them in real.
• Convenience: Virtual Reality makes learning environment more convenient by saving organizations’ time as well as budget. Employees don’t need to travel to attend training programs and can take up courses at the point of need. For instance, architects across the world can assess their designs using VR and collaborate further without any hassle.

Use cases of VR in corporate training

1. Safety Training in High-Risk Environments: BP partnered with Igloo Vision to train employees at their oil refinery. VR simulations allowed employees to learn start-up and emergency procedures, reducing the risk of mistakes that could lead to life-threatening situations. This use case demonstrates how VR enables realistic training without exposing employees to actual dangers.Let’s take one more example that we discussed above,Operating a nuclear reactor in real-life can be challenging and dangerous for new operators. However, using virtual reality, a completely simulated environment can be created, allowing operators to train in a safe and controlled setting. Mistakes and their consequences can be visually programmed, providing trainees with a clear understanding of the potential risks. VR training reduces costs and equips operators with real-time knowledge before they are deployed to their actual positions.
2. Specialized Medical Training: Surgeons at the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles collaborated with VR developers to create simulations for treating emergencies involving infants. VR training helps doctors learn how to handle critical situations like seizures or anaphylactic shock in a controlled environment, improving their skills and preparedness.
3. Military Training and Combat Simulation: The Virtual Squad Training System (VSTS) at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii utilizes wireless VR environments for military training. Soldiers experience combat scenarios with realistic weapons, allowing them to gain practical experience without the risks associated with real-life situations. VR-based military training enhances preparedness and decision-making skills.
4. Military Training and Combat Simulation: The Virtual Squad Training System (VSTS) at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii utilizes wireless VR environments for military training. Soldiers experience combat scenarios with realistic weapons, allowing them to gain practical experience without the risks associated with real-life situations. VR-based military training enhances preparedness and decision-making skills.
5. Onboarding and Operational Training: Companies like Wal-Mart use VR training in their retail Academies to onboard new employees and provide operational training. VR simulations cover various topics such as staffing, hiring, and operational processes, enabling associates to gain hands-on experience and a realistic understanding of their roles.

Barriers in adopting VR as a training tool

• The short term cost of implementing of VR in training is higher than that of conventional training methods.
• Also, after purchasing VR tools, it is mandatory to program our desired training methodology and related environment in it. This task again needs the help of expert programmers. And in case of system crash, service persons must there in standby mode. All these engagements need further investment. However, ROI (return on investment) is higher than conventional methods.
• Of course, the main reason for introducing VR training is to benefit employees but there is a risk of employee backlash, especially from older generations who tend to be more reluctant to adopt new technologies.

Future of VR in corporate training

Companies all over the world are using VR as a tool for training at their respective places as VR provides a realistic and safe training environment for employees. As the VR industry develops and more becomes possible in a virtual setting, it’s likely that more training will be done in VR.

Corporate training will be an important step into mass consumer adoption of virtual reality, as more people realise it is beneficial to so much more than gaming.

How Plutomen can help with VR in corporate training?

Plutomen Assist can significantly contribute to corporate training by leveraging Augmented Reality (AR) technology. Its dynamic AR training software allows industry experts to develop their own training models, creating a customizable and tailored learning experience. The highly detailed 3D models provided by Plutomen Assist enhance knowledge transfer and comprehension, making the training more effective.

One of the key features of Plutomen Assist is the ability to quickly access training materials and guides by scanning barcodes or QR codes on machines. This feature enables businesses to provide instant access to specific training resources linked to machines or parts. Such accessibility empowers frontline workers, allowing them to easily retrieve critical training materials, even in complex or emergency situations.

By combining AR technology with corporate training, Plutomen Assist enhances the learning process, improves engagement, and enables workers to have immediate access to the necessary information. This innovative solution can enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of corporate training programs, enabling companies to provide comprehensive training experiences to their employees.

Conclusion

While only selective Learning and Development professionals integrate Virtual Reality in eLearning, technology is yet to redefine how we learn and train. We discussed the niceties of Virtual Reality in potential learning environments. Integrating VR with online learning applications can be taken to the next level of workplace training. The actual use of the web needs to be embraced when providing custom eLearning solutions and leveraging advantages of this dynamic virtual environment. Virtual Reality imparts a sensory-driven interactive environment which increases learners’ interest and understanding by providing a certain degree of reality which cannot be achieved through 2D interface.

Virtual training environments allows the trainees for trial and error as many time they want to. Whereas with conventional training methods, more amount of trial and error costs more amount of money. In this context, VR corporate training will be proved as a revolutionary change.

Platforms like Plutomen Assist, with its highly detailed 3D models and accessible training materials, enhances the trial and error process in VR corporate training environments, revolutionizing corporate training and offering a cost-effective and immersive learning experience.