Virtual reality is undoubtedly a powerful technology designed to change the way we experience and learn things. One of the most significant benefits of VR is that if rightly used, it can bring together people in different parts of the globe.
There is a popular notion that VR applications are only used for gaming. However, several companies have designed VR based training applications that are wonderfully suited to give training to their employees.
Thanks to apps like such as Spatial, Connec2, etc, it is possible to give effective training to those located in different parts of the world without compromising on quality.
Virtual reality applications in the present world
Let us take a closer look into some significant uses of virtual reality for learning and corporate training.
1. Job interviews and recruitments
Several companies have embraced the use of virtual reality for hiring purposes. This not just saves annual costs on recruitments but also helps organisations to get talent from a diverse global pool.
Companies like Lloyds Banking Group have famously used this technology to assess graduates for their 2017 recruitment.
Needless to mention, the future of job interviews definitely revolves around virtual reality.
2. Employee onboarding and talent development
Top companies are using VR to train their employees and to improve their operational efficiency.
With more people working remotely, VR techniques ensure that they have opportunities to constantly receive information from anywhere.
VR based talent development and employee onboarding training help in:
- Identifying talent
- Conducting virtual employee initiation training
- Developing talent to its maximum potential through personalised VR training
- Offering real-time insights and feedback
- Combining immersive interventions, digital learning, and academics
3. Virtual work meetings, events and conferences
The technology of virtual reality can be effectively used for holding global employee conferences.
Since VR empowers individuals to be present virtually, it offers an exciting opportunity for the organisers to welcome more individuals to in-person events.
4. Leadership development and training
Developing leadership skills in employees is one of the most important training need for corporate organisations. Virtual reality provides the opportunity to create training programmes that integrate machine learning and artificial intelligence.
These sessions include activities like:
- Online learning
- Virtual leadership games
- Team building exercises
- Using online toolkits
- Real-time feedback
Immersive VR courses specifically designed for leadership training help stimulate the neurons and activate them when needed during a critical decision-making situation in the real world.
They work better than traditional classroom-based learning by providing a more engaging environment, encouraging gamification based learning, and encouraging interactions and feedback.
Additionally, VR provides the opportunity to unify geographically dispersed teams to learn together.
5. Team building training
VR platforms help your team to analyse and build skills in order to drive better behaviours that encourage collaborative working.
VR training programmes can include multiple sessions that include:
- Workshops to build self-awareness, self-confidence and deepening relationships within the team,
- Teaching speech and perception skills,
- Strategies to draw support for your ideas within the team,
- Goal-oriented communication,
- Creating structured messages within a team,
- Trust building amongst team members,
- Using tools to motivate peers, etc.
6. Diversity and inclusion training
VR platforms can help create D&I training for your HR and management level professionals to help them create an inclusive workplace culture.
These VR based training for D&I help in:
- Preparing anti-discriminatory policies for the employees
- Accepting multicultural beliefs and practices
- Integrating D&I strategies within recruitment, training, and assessment
- Developing policies and behavioural standards
- Measuring organisational progress through real-time metrics
7. Tourism industry
You might have heard about companies offering sample products to try before purchasing. What if we could implement the same in the tourism industry? The tourism industry is taking its first step in the VR world by enabling its customers to go on virtual guided tours to restaurants, hotels and famous landmarks.
As early as 2015, the famous travel agency Thomas Cook launched their ‘Try Before You Fly‘, which allowed their customers to visit popular destinations in VR before booking the service.
8. Education and learning
With VR, students can interact with each other and with the instructor effectively in a three-dimensional environment.
9. Marketing
VR technology is widely being accepted as the latest trend in marketing. Brands are embracing the idea of promoting themselves by creating a virtual but realistic environment.
Virtual headsets offer a multi-sensory immersive experience to the users by letting them try products before they decide to buy.
Popular brands like Deloitte, IKEA, Gucci, L’Oreal, etc launched their VR and AR-based apps to market their products. Needless to say, it showed up a significant ROI boost for them.
10. Sports and entertainment
The sports industry has effectively used VR technology to train players and athletes in a range of sports. The players can watch and experience their moves multiple times to improve their performance. VR is also used to enhance the experience of a viewer during a sporting event.
11. Retail
With advanced body scanning technology under development, it will soon be possible to try out different clothes and see how they would look. Last year eBay launched its first VR based department store in collaboration with Australian retailer Myer.
12. Healthcare
In recent years we have seen tremendous improvement in VR technology for healthcare. It is successfully used to train surgeons and medical practitioners, treat mental health disorders, and for pain relief guidance.
13. Automotive industry
Virtual reality allows designers and automobile engineers to experiment with the look and design of a vehicle before finalising it. Brands such as Audi, Jaguar Land Rover, and BMW have already started verifying the visual design before building the prototype.
14. Architecture
VR provides exciting opportunities for designers and architects to experiment and check out their designs in terms of practicality and feasibility in the real world.
15. Military applications
The US and UK military and police forces have started using VR for giving intense training to their personnel for high-risk operations. These battlefield simulations include complete audio, video and physical stimuli (ranging from bullet firing to noises from the streets).
Best virtual reality apps in 2021
If you are planning to develop a VR application for your mobile training programmes, we have put together some of the best ones available right now.
VirtualSpeech
This is an excellent training app for soft skill training, public speaking, job interviews, sales and leadership. VirtualSpeech allows training in a realistic environment with avatars and slide presentations.
Connec2
It can be effectively used for giving corporate training. It comes with essential tools that you can find in any consultation room, such as markers, whiteboard etc. Connect2 is a great tool when it comes to boosting the productivity of your remote team.
Immersed
This platform enables the user to collaborate with people from different locations by immersing them in the same workspace. Immersed also helps in multi-screen sharing with multiple participants.
MeetinVR
This application allows you to hold powerful meetings in interactive spaces. MeetingVR enables you to do tasks that cannot be performed remotely, such as sketching, brainstorming, 3D models, prototypes and other team building activities.
MeetingRoom
As the name suggests, this platform is designed as a virtual meeting room to facilitate remote participation for business people. MeetingRoom also works wonders for giving training to employees as it is equipped with several presentations and collaboration tools.
Rumi
This is an excellent app for offering virtual training sessions or meetings. Rumi can run across a wide range of VR hardware equipment.
Spatial
The app has the power to transform the space around you into an augmented workplace that can be shared with remote participants. Spatial is helpful for the users to collaborate, search, brainstorm and share ideas in the same environment.
vSpatial
This platform makes it possible for all participants in a meeting room to share multiple applications simultaneously. vSpatial can work seamlessly while the voice conversation is going on with crystal clear audios and friendly controls.
Dimension10
This app is an excellent asset for viewing 3D designs rather than seeing them on a flat-screen monitor. For companies spending thousands of dollars on last-minute design changes, Dimension 10 comes as a great boon to view different design variations and proceed to make a prototype.
Stage
This application supports real-time communication, an immersive visualisation and awareness of the atmosphere. Stage helps to save costs involved in real-time meetings as well.
VisionXR
This app allows the users to upload their content and collaborate with their team on specific projects. With VisionXR, users can work together and review their ideas/designs without the barrier of location.
Vizible
Vizible allows the users to have meetings with others inside the secure VR environment. It also allows the users to interact with virtual objects creating an immersive experience.
Acadius
Acadius offers VR based training opportunities along with the use of multiple instructors, trainees while providing a perfect interactive environment
Engage
This is a virtual reality-based corporate training app. It allows features like hosting presentations, company meetings, etc. Engage comes with a good library of virtual objects and locations to choose from, thereby increasing its immersive experience.
AltspaceVR
AltspaceVR is a wonderful VR app to use if you need to host live shows, meetups or virtual events.
Allumette
Allumette helps you learn through storytelling by letting you take the role of the camera as you get transported into a virtual world and explore as you move.
Virtual desktop
This amazing app allows you to use a computer in a virtual world. You can browse the web or even play games on a virtual computer within a virtual environment. It also works well with multiple monitor setups.
Glue
Glue is a modern collaboration platform that uses a unique blend of virtual reality, cloud computing and immersive 3D technology. This app provides a wonderful opportunity for remote teams to effectively collaborate and bring tangible results.
To Wrap up
VR technology is undoubtedly a game-changer for several industries. If used correctly, it has the power to transform your business to the next level with minimal investment.
One of the most extraordinary things about this technology is that it is highly adaptive and can be used almost everywhere, from corporate training to rocket designing to interactive games for kindergarten kids.
In this article, we have mentioned some noteworthy applications of VR and some top-rated virtual reality apps that are used for various organisational purposes.
The article is a part of our comprehensive series on “Virtual Reality: How Does It Work?”
Co-founder and Managing Director
Stuart Harris, co-founder of Growth Academy Asia, has a vast background in corporate events and learning & development. As co-founder and managing director at Team Building Asia, Stuart has developed a large network of international clients over the past 20 years and brought an innovative perspective to the more traditional elements of team building, which lead to the founding Growth Academy Asia. With GAA, he aspires to disrupt the L&D industry with the immersive VR organisational and leadership programmes.
