Enterprises Turn to VR Training to Train Employees During and Post COVID-19

Working from home is the “new normal” for many employees around the world. Before COVID-19, only around 7 percent of U.S. employees regularly worked from home. By April 2020, 64 percent of U.S. employees were working from home.

Many companies are now turning to virtual reality to train employees and work collaboratively in this socially-distanced environment. VR training solutions offer a way to provide an immersive e-learning experience without having to visit an on-site location.

For virtual reality beginners, it might seem difficult to create VR training programs without professional help. That’s why VRtuoso, a virtual reality presentation software company, has designed a turn-key solution with a near-zero learning curve. Using an Insta360 ONE R camera, enterprises can film their own content and make virtual reality training and presentations themselves using VRtuoso’s software.

The solution has already been deployed by more than 30 global companies and has raised over $1 million in seed funding. Lucas Fabbrin, global learning and development partner at fashion retailer Yoox Net-A-Porter, says, “Thanks to VRtuoso, our new colleagues can experience everything that happens in our global offices and distribution centers the day they arrive, immediately creating a holistic understanding of our business in a way that was not possible before.”

We sat down with Frank Furnari, CEO and founder of VRtuoso, to learn how the solution works and to get his insights on the benefits of VR training.

1. Could you please briefly introduce yourself and VRtuoso?

I have 20+ years of experience in the B2B space, designing and managing more than 900 innovation and transformation programs for international corporate clients. VRtuoso is the third company I have founded. At the age of 22, I founded my first company, raising $10 million from Softbank Ventures.

VRtuoso is a virtual reality presentation software company. It enables any in-house team to easily create and deliver real-time, guided, on and offline, immersive VR presentations and interactive VR training experiences. During any meeting or training session with VRtuoso, you can interact with the audience and moderate and control what the audience views on their VR headsets in real time.

VRtuoso is designed for people who aren’t VR experts, with a near-zero learning curve. There’s no need to partner with an expensive VR development agency. VRtuoso is the true cost-effective turnkey VR training product for enterprise rollouts at scale.

Since our market launch in 2018 and a significant R&D investment and incubation period, VRtuoso has been deployed by more than 30 global companies. We’ve exceeded over 1 million immersive VR learning users and have delivered over 500,000 hours of virtual training. Major companies like American Express, PwC, Pfizer, BP and Yoox Net-a-Porter have all used VRtuoso for their training programs.

2. How can companies create virtual reality presentations with VRtuoso and Insta360 ONE R?

VRtuoso is a VR content creation and content consumption platform for enterprises. We provide all our clients with complete consultancy services and a full VR kit, including accessories and software. Once you purchase a VRtuoso software license, you’ll also receive an Insta360 ONE R free of charge with a series of onboarding training sessions and a half-day workshop tailored for your business.

We picked Insta360 ONE R for its hardware and software quality, portability, affordability, user friendliness and Insta360’s great customer support.

There were many factors we considered when selecting the right camera partner for VRtuoso. We picked Insta360 ONE R for its hardware and software quality, portability, affordability, user friendliness and Insta360’s great customer support.

After receiving an Insta360 ONE R, the customer can capture and create their own virtual reality presentation or training course. Our clients can also use our rich content libraries with 500,000+ stock VR images and videos and 5,000+ stock 2D vector icons and shapes to build or enhance their virtual experiences. Corporates can now create compelling virtual experiences by themselves through the use of high quality 360° photos and videos from the VRtuoso collection.

3. How can VR training solutions help companies adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic?

COVID-19 has unfortunately altered the way learning must take place. The need for more effective e-learning courses, driven by immersive virtual reality, are sadly becoming a reality much faster.

The conditions are ripe for dramatic impact on several industries that will take a long time to recover from the pandemic. Rapid learning is mission critical. COVID-19 has validated the growing need for remote training, education and collaboration solutions in the commercial sector.

VR demand is growing on the enterprise side, as companies look for ways to train employees and work collaboratively in a socially-distanced environment. VRtuoso has seen amazing engagement and substantial revenue growth over the past quarter.

The enterprise VR applications for VRtuoso are endless, with the two key areas being enterprise training and marketing & sales. Our clients’ main 10 use cases in VR training are:

Recruitment
On-boarding and induction
Health and safety training
Soft skills training
Technical skills training
Emergency skills training
Empathy training
Environmental high-risk scenarios
Customer service
Live VR streaming for remote employees to visit a physical location in real time

4. What is the value of VR training over traditional training methods?

Even before COVID-19, there were lots of challenges in corporate training. VR training provides a number of hard and soft benefits. Here are the top 10 benefits our clients have seen from using VRtuoso:

Increases retention rates by 75–90%
Reduce training time by 40% (53% more than classrooms and 33% more than e-learning training)
Improves engagement rates by up to 95%
Mirrors real-life situations without the risks, with mistakes reduced by 40%
Reduce operational and travel costs by 69%
Delivers data-rich feedback in real time and improves employee performance by 70%
Increases employee training satisfaction rates by 30%
Compatible with all existing VR headsets and with mobile devices
Cost-effective and highly secure for enterprise rollout at scale
Minimal cost of ownership and evergreen IT

We’ve heard from enterprises across different industries about how they’ve enhanced their employee training programs with VRtuoso’s virtual reality presentations.

VRtuoso has transformed the way we’re thinking about knowledge transfer within our business.Robert Craighill, Product Manager, Leonardo

One enterprise that’s implemented a VR training solution with VRtuoso is Leonardo, a multinational company specializing in aerospace, defense and security. Robert Craighill, Product Manager at the company, says “VRtuoso has made it realistic to move beyond written process instructions and realize immersive, interactive, effective learning experiences. VRtuoso has transformed the way we’re thinking about knowledge transfer within our business.”

VR training will continue to grow post-COVID-19 because the technology adds value to business that will evolve into a significant competitive advantage. It also enables far stronger learning experiences, with a proven ROI and benefits thanks to VRtuoso’s great accessibility, affordability and ease of use.

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