On October 18th we were joined by guest speaker Lina Srebrova, from Digitalnauts, who explored the best practices for implementing Enterprise VR Training.

Lina is the Lead XR Strategy Consultant at Digitalnauts, is on a mission to bring immersive technology to businesses. She specializes in crafting sustainable and future-proof strategies for implementing XR (Extended Reality) on a large scale.

Lina is your go-to expert for translating the benefits of XR into tangible business value, even if you're not well-versed in tech jargon.

Key takeaways:

• Unlocking VR's Educational Potential: Dive deep into the limitless possibilities of VR technology as it revolutionizes the way we train employees within the enterprise setting.
• Creating Immersive Learning Environments: Explore how VR can transport your workforce into realistic and interactive training scenarios, enhancing engagement and retention.
• Practical Implementation Strategies: Gain insights into the best practices for seamlessly integrating VR training into your organization, ensuring a smooth and effective transition.
• Maximizing ROI: Discover strategies for measuring the return on investment (ROI) of your VR training initiatives, helping you make informed decisions for the future.
• Real-World Success Stories: Hear about tangible, VR-driven success stories from leading enterprises, offering inspiration and actionable takeaways for your organization.

Webinar summary

The adoption of Virtual Reality (VR) training in enterprise settings faces its fair share of challenges. One of the main obstacles is the knowledge gap and misconceptions that surround VR technology. While VR is often associated with gaming, there is a lack of awareness about its diverse applications and capabilities. To foster widespread adoption, it's essential to demystify VR and open minds to its vast potential.

Another significant challenge arises from the early stage of the VR industry's development. Companies are pursuing individual projects with little common ground, leading to inconsistencies.

"Different companies have their own project but there is no common ground. For example in terms of pricing. Some companies charge per hour, some companies charge per session, and some charge per user. There is no industry standard yet which makes it confusing for enterprises looking into investing in this."

VR Headsets

The choice of VR headsets plays a pivotal role in the success of VR training initiatives. There is a trend toward consumer-oriented headsets like Meta Quest, despite these not being designed for enterprise use. However, there are limitations associated with these consumer devices, such as scalability and security. In contrast, enterprise-specific headsets, like those offered by Pico, cater to the unique needs of businesses. Nevertheless, having different companies competing in the space is positive as it drives innovation.

Audience question: With meta quest for business coming out soon, what are the ideal shopping list items that businesses need to consider for their headset choices?

The main advice we offer to companies is to explore a diverse range of VR applications. Many enterprises provide free trials encompassing productivity tools, collaboration platforms, and skill training programs. This exploration opportunity allows businesses to gain a deeper understanding of the applications and potential benefits of VR for their specific needs.

By embracing these trials, businesses can educate themselves about the VR landscape, uncovering the possibilities it offers their organization. The ideal shopping list for VR headset choices should emphasize aligning VR technology's features and capabilities with the unique requirements and goals of the company. Customization is key to extracting the full value of VR in the enterprise, ensuring it aligns perfectly with the organization's needs and objectives.

Implementing VR in your organization

For organizations venturing into VR or immersive learning, there are key pitfalls that must be avoided from the outset. Companies need to make sure they have a very strong business case. It's essential to identify specific needs and goals for VR training and, most importantly, to establish a clear alignment with your business objectives.

Besides, distinguishing between learning objectives and business goals is crucial, as it determines how success will be measured. Without a well-defined roadmap and message, VR training efforts risk gathering dust on the shelf, failing to deliver on their potential.

Success metrics and ROI

"One of the benefits of VR is that wealth of data that you can collect, especially behavioral data"

Success metrics for VR training vary significantly based on the specific use case. Tracking metrics can include measuring the number of mistakes over time, improvements in eye contact, or other relevant key performance indicators.

To effectively measure the return on investment (ROI) of VR training, the first thing that needs doing is to actually identify what things you want to track as a company. It is recommended to have a cross-departmental discussion to ensure that various needs and perspectives are considered and facilitate an informed decision-making process.

VR's ability to collect a wealth of behavioral data presents a unique opportunity to gather insights into user interactions and optimize training programs.

Overcoming resistance to VR usage

Resistance to VR usage often manifests in different stages. Initial resistance usually appears from individuals who have never experienced VR. However, this resistance often fades away once they don a headset and immerse themselves in the technology.

There are also individuals who've had negative past experiences with VR, such as motion sickness, which discourages them from giving it another try.

"If you know there is a little barrier to overcome it might be easier to start with a passive experience where the user is relaxed and sitting down and then move to something else. Have like a beginner, level one experience type of thing."

"We got someone who told us he had recently tried VR as part of a service to fit his new kitchen and visualize how it would look. He felt very sick and didn’t enjoy the experience at all so he was very hesitant to try it again.

After watching all his colleagues play around with the headset he decided to give it another try. In VR he was transported to the Scottish Highlands and had this incredible view. The guy was completely relaxed, looking around. Afterward, he said this time it felt different, more natural, and smooth."

The quality of the VR experience is often influenced by hardware quality and content design. It's crucial for individuals to approach VR with an open mind, understanding that past negative experiences do not necessarily dictate future ones.

Scalability in enterprise

Scalability presents one of the most significant challenges when implementing VR in enterprise settings. The first step to address this issue is recognizing its existence. Several strategies can be employed to enhance scalability.

At VirtualSpeech, for example, we offer a browser-based version of the VR app. This can be beneficial, even though it may not provide the same level of immersion. This approach enables employees to access both VR and online versions, thus increasing accessibility and scalability.