Virtual reality training is the newest form of onboarding employees and introducing them to critical concepts within a business. But it's difficult to know if VRT is a good fit for your company. Studies show that virtual reality is proven to speed up the training process and help employees retain information for longer periods of time. Not only that, but it can also give employees the confidence to complete tasks as if they had been doing it for years instead of just days. Along with the practical application time, the benefits of virtual reality training are many, but even with all of them laid out in a row most business owners are hesitant to spend the initial cost that it takes to get VRT up and running for their organization. Which is reasonable. It can be pretty steep.
The Cost of Virtual Reality Training
Virtual reality can accommodate various types of corporate training, including scenario-based learning, onboarding, technical skills, and simulations. With this wide variety of capabilities there is a lot of work that can go into creating VRT programs. As a result,virtual reality training software can cost anywhere between 20,000 and 150,000 USD, depending on a variety of factors. This includes, but is not limited to:
· The price of equipment from headsets to software,
· the development team that puts it all together, and
· the time that it takes to develop the software and give it real world tests.
The hesitation that most employers feel when considering making the switch to virtual reality is understandable. However, even though there is a pretty steep up-front cost to developing virtual reality for your business, the cost can even out over time as it's used to onboard more employees. Employees who have been trained well tend to be less of a financial liability. As VRT becomes a more standardized way of training, the cost will go down. But how can virtual reality training save your organization money? Here are 7 ways that VRT can do just that.
7 Ways Virtual Reality Training Can Save Your Organization Money
Shortens training time- Time in the business world can be directly converted to money, and training employees takes a decent amount of time. It's a delicate balance of giving the trainee enough time to understand critical concepts and getting them trained fast enough to be of immediate use to the company. Because of the gamified nature of how virtual · reality shares knowledge, the information retention rate is much higher than other methods of training. Information can be absorbed and processed by the trainee much faster and more efficiently. They train faster and are able to enter the workforce sooner, making them a productive member of the working environment. Overall, less time and money is spent on training.
· Reduces safety risks- In more hostile work environments such as manufacturing, healthcare, and construction, it is unreasonable to assume that an employee comes equipped with the necessary qualification and real-world practice to do the work they've been hired for without previous training. Nor is it reasonable to allow them to work in that environment without having that training first. There is the conundrum. How do you give an employee on the job training with potentially harmful consequences without risking their safety, along with everybody they work with? VRT gives them the opportunity to work with the equipment necessary for the job in a low risk setting, giving them confidence to do the job right when the time comes.
Reduces employee error- Similarly, even in non-hostile environments, employees can be given practical scenarios that they would find in their every day work setting. The training program would supply them with different scenarios they would encounter, problems to solve, and for better or worse, let them see the consequence of their chosen action. Making these errors in a low-risk · environment ensures that it won't happen in a real world scenario (at least on a far limited scale) where profit is at risk.
· Reduces employee turnover- The simple necessity of training new employees takes money. If you need to train more of them because they were not given an accurate representation of what the job would be like, you're spending money unnecessarily. Given the opportunity to see what the actual job will be like, potential employees can have a few scenarios they would find on the job and can make an early determination on whether the job is a good fit for them, reducing the amount of repeat training necessary to get the right employee in the right position.
· Remote Training- Virtual training enables you to bring together a group of people and train them together without added expense. Employees can be anywhere in the world to do it. Training this way is more accessible to a vast majority of people, especially as remote work becomes more widely available with the development of capable technology. Virtual reality training takes employees from multiple sites across different countries and trains your workers without the travel expense.
Better customer service- Having the ability to accurately assess the needs of a customer (from finding the right product to deescalating negative situations) is a skills that employees develop in training and hone on the job. It's a valuable skill that saves companies money on a daily basis.Virtual reality combines the training, with on the job scenarios and allows employees to practice their customer service abilities. Giving them the opportunity to practice on virtually generated customers and understand the multitude of problems they'll face when dealing with customers empowers them with confidence to do just that in the real world without the fear that they'll do something wrong.
· Creates consistency in training experiences- If your organization is one that spans regions of the world, across states and continents, there still needs to be a level of consistency to the product you offer the public. It doesn't matter if you manufacture toys in seven different locations or build chain restaurants. There is a standardized, recognizable way things should be done, and that many companies depend on for their continued success. This is for consistency to for the public, and consistency behind the scenes of production. Virtual reality training offers the same experience to each employee, ensuring that each product stands the test, reducing the need to repeat the process at a loss of funds.
Creating a virtual reality training program and buying VR equipment does cost a fair amount of money upfront. Between developing the software, finding the right developers to help you with the job, and sourcing the necessary equipment (headsets, processors, etc.), creating virtual reality training for your organization does involve a pretty big initial investment.
However,with these 7 ways that virtual reality training can actually save your company in the long run, it is an important option to consider when creating your training program. In comparison to more outdated methods of training, like manuals and videos, VRT programs have better performance reviews, a faster learning process and trainees retain more information. It doesn't really matter what field the training is taking place in, VRT increases employee efficiency, reduces time spent on minor tasks and gives employees more room to work on the more important things, like saving you money.