Q: How did you move over into enterprise from football training?
Derek: For the first two years of Strivr we were exclusively focused on sports and using VR to train quarterbacks. In the summer of 2016, I got a random phone call from someone in Arkansas who was a donor to the University of Arkansas football program. He had seen our Strivr unit in use there. I met with them and walked out with a pilot project at Walmart. Today we have over 25,000 VR headsets with 3D content in the field at companies like Walmart, Bank of America, Verizon, Sprouts and MGM Resorts.
Q: Why should companies in retail, hospitality and financial services consider adopting VR for training?
Derek: At this point, the scientific and academic research is undeniable. VR works better than other ways of training people. When you put the headset on, attention engagement, and real-world performance improvement all become significantly higher. The metaphor I like to use [to describe this technology] is pilots in a flight simulator. Pilots are flying the plane without flying the plane. They practice until they have proven they can fly that plane in all different scenarios. This is a flight simulator for “insert job here” from janitor up to CEO. The main benefits our customers see fall into two buckets: reduced speed to job proficiency and measurable improvements in real-world job performance.
(Walmart) took an 8-hour training and compressed it down to 20 minutes in VR. They A/B tested both trainings and saw no difference in results in terms of proficiency and material mastery.
Q: Can you give me some specifics on those benefits?
Derek: I’ll use two compelling examples from Walmart. They took an 8-hour training and compressed it down to 20 minutes in VR. They A/B tested both trainings and saw no difference in results in terms of proficiency and material mastery. People were just as prepared but in literally one 24th the amount of time. For job performance, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon publicly stated that because his employees had trained in VR for “active shooter events”, employees performed better and lives were saved when the situation actually occurred in stores. They felt like they had done it before. Active shooter training in a non-virtual environment is not easy or safe, and can be very time-consuming. VR makes it easy.
Q: Say I am a CTO of a large convenience chain that is thinking about VR. What are the things you think we should be using this for?
Derek: The four use-case buckets that come up for all our customers are: training on operations, processes and procedures; training for safety and hazards; training for customer service; and development of soft skills, interpersonal skills and management capacity. It’s a very flexible technology that can cover everything from basic things like putting a box on a truck and pumping gas up to more complex things like irate customers or in-store decision making. But we always encourage customers to use an acronym — RIDE. That stands for rare, impossible, dangerous and expensive. So, what is rare in the real world that can be easily done in VR to give employees repetitions? What is impossible to simulate and train on in the real world? For example, Walmart used us to simulate Black Friday. What is dangerous to do in the real world? Training people to deal with hazardous materials, for example. And what is expensive to do in the real world, in hard or soft dollars? By using this lens, you can start to narrow down specific use cases to test out.
Q: Let’s talk about how hospitality companies are using VR.
Derek: They are using it in different but similar ways. For MGM and other hospitality providers in the hotel, resort, and food and beverage space, the workforce challenges are very real. These sectors saw massive unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now with travel and in-person dining returning, companies are facing the challenge of bringing their workforce back. How do you do that quickly and efficiently? VR can speed the process, both for new training and for training people in a post-pandemic environment. In addition, MGM is using VR for training workers on new properties, so it gives them a running start. An interesting way they are using VR is as a realistic job preview, during the hiring process. Convenience chain workers have real choices today. It is a loss to the company to bring someone on who leaves three weeks later. So how do you use VR to not only adequately train them but also as a screening tool and a preview tool? You can show them and ask “Hey, this is what you are going to be doing every day. This is the job. Are you OK with it?” I think we are going to see more of this and that it will be a competitive advantage in hiring.
9 times out of 10, VR gets among the highest NPS scores of any learning initiative.
Q: What do you mean by that?
Derek: People like training with VR more than traditional training. The expectations of the workforce of today have changed. They are used to electronic interaction and the digital world. And today’s 18-year olds are the workforce of tomorrow. If you are not ready to speak their language with these different toys and tools, you will be left behind and they will not work for you.
Q: How are companies measuring the impact of VR training?
Derek: First and foremost, they are always measuring learner sentiment and those people like using VR. We are obviously biased from what we have seen. Nine times out of 10, VR gets among the highest NPS scores of any learning initiative. More advanced companies are comparing customer satisfaction scores of employees who were trained with VR versus those who weren’t. There are also lots of industry specific metrics they are testing the impact of VR on that match to the job and the business. For example, Bank of America has publicly said they are using VR to train their tellers on fraud detection. Most fraud happens at the teller window when they are handed a fraudulent check. You can imagine how an organization like that would map better training and ideally better real world performance to an improvement in the number of dollars lost annually to fraudulent checks at the counter. Every customer is different and measures what they need. Walmart is operationally efficient but really wants to focus on customer service so they measure metrics against customer service impacted by VR training.
