Virtual reality provides a 3D, fully immersive experience, and has many applications that bring value to consumers, and industry.  In 2021, Price Waterhouse Cooper reported that Virtual Reality learners were four times more engaged and learned 4 times faster than in a traditional classroom setting.  Their study also found that learners were 275% more confident to apply their skills learned after training, and were more emotionally connected and focused than classroom or e-learners.  If Virtual Reality is so successful for learners, then it makes perfect sense that the business world have embraced it. 

Companies using a Virtual Reality component include:

NASA, IKEA, L-Oreal, Adidas, Wendy’s, Toms, Grunfos, Gucci, Gorrilaz, Lowes, Jaguar, New York Times Volvo, McDonalds, Walmart, Boeing, Timberland, Porche, Six Flags, Sonovo, BMW, Toyota and Ebay, to name a few!

Industries using a Virtual Reality component include:

Architecture, Art, Automotive, Charity, City Planning, Education, Entertainment, Fitness, Health, Journalism, Interior Design, Law Enforcement, Manufacturing, Marketing, Media, Real Estate, Recreation, Recruitment, Retail, Sports, Tourism, Welding, Well Being, to name a few!

Synergy XR recently conducted a webinar in which they shared how companies used virtual reality in 2022 to improve their operations in terms of safety, customer service and productivity, ultimately those companies financially!  Here are some key takeaways their webinar, which introduced how some companies used virtual reality:-

Remote Support

This is the ability to provide support to technicians remotely from HQ!  An example of this is reported by Synergy XR is Sonovo’s (egg production machinery manufacturer) use of VR for remote support, and it has cut their repairs of processing machinery from two to three days to a few hours.  This also has resulted in a larger number of customers being serviced in a faster time frame.

Technical Product Training

With a digital immersive training manual, employees can be trained at scale.  Grunfos, the world’s largest industrial pump manufacturer, trains employees, inside headsets, in a digital twin, reducing training time from six weeks to four days.  Another company is using VR to provide repeat training as necessary, reducing injury and the need to replace equipment.

Soft Skill Training

Typically, this kind of training embeds an element of simulations!  VR provides an affordable way to develop and manage simulations, allowing the opportunity to upskill employees.   An example provided by Synergy XR was how an immersion in VR provides opportunities for social training, leadership and mental health awareness.  Other companies are providing training in diversity, virtual speech, communications. 

Recruitment and Onboarding

Virtual Reality is being used to attract candidates from all over the world, people who would otherwise not travel for interview.  Companies are using the virtual reality recruitment process to gauge candidate competency and to demonstrate what the company can do for a candidate, sharing the working environment and culture. Companies such as Jaguar and Gorillaz are using VR for recruitment.  Grunfos use Virtual Reality to facilitate new employee onboarding, reducing travel and labor costs by thousands of dollars. 

The headsets we use today may seem somewhat cumbersome, but so did the first mobile phones!  I recall the first mobile phones were about the size of a toaster, and yet today our phones are worn literally on our wrists or in our back pockets!  The headset technology is evolving fast, and the wearables will only get better.  Since learners who ultimately service industry are doing so well with virtual reality, just like the internet, social media, and portable devices – virtual reality as a tool will be embedded also into our society.  It is because of what the research says, and what my own experiences in education technology, as well as my own experiences with learners in the virtual reality setting, that I have expanded my own skillset to include teaching as much as I can about how to utilize this valuable learning tool, and the potential it holds for us!