There is no mistaking the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on digital growth within society, business and our everyday lives. Many of us are now fully accustomed to 100% remote working and now remote socialising, with new digital pub quizzes, hen parties, birthday parties, and sadly many of us have now experienced our first digital funeral. 

It is not surprising to read that Shopify reports that e-commerce grew more in the last 12 months then it did in the last 10 years. The impact on businesses is that digital marketing costs are rapidly increasing as online markets are more competitive than ever. The e-commerce sector is already evolving again with Augmented Reality (AR) about to go mainstream.

So what’s next? As society settles into a new normal, the door beings to creep open again for the next generation of technical change and development.

Virtual reality sales continue to grow and the sector is going from strength to strength. The AR/VR industry is currently valued around $37 billion dollars but by 2030 is projected to be valued at a staggering $1,274 billion dollars. Back in 2019, research by Gartner predicted that 70% of SMEs would be experimenting with immersive technologies by 2022. 

When someone says virtual reality, it is hard not to immediately think of kids playing on the latest gaming technology, but the truth is that it’s becoming so much more than that. I, myself have discussed the role of virtual reality in the sport, training and entertainment sector and I know i’m not alone in these new innovative considerations. 

An article by forbes.com discussed the future of virtual reality and its incorporation into employee experience (EX). Companies like Boeing are already experimenting with virtual reality and their training programme, to provide safe environments for engineers to learn and test different scenarios. 

So, let’s look at 5 areas where virtual reality could be implemented and utilised in the everyday office or organisation in the future…

Selecting the right talent for your business can be a make or break process. Every hiring manager around the globe wants to make sure they’re choosing the right person. So how can virtual reality improve this process? Quite often we ask interviewees to tell us how they would react to a situation and potentially even role play a scenario. With virtual reality we could simulate real business scenarios to test a candidates capabilities. A computer generated scenario would also ensure a consistent test environment for each candidate to promote equality and fair scoring. Some may argue this creates a rather intense interview process by putting candidates on the spot but this could be mitigated by allowing the candidate some preparation time and maybe even a practice run through before submitting their final response to the scenario. Interviewers would be able to watch the footage back and score appropriately. The Global Recruiter suggest businesses will risk being left behind if they don't adopt immersive technologies.

Ever wished you could clone a great manager and the way they induct their staff? Look no further, virtual reality may have the answer for you. Many of you will be familiar with the ongoing challenge of standardising business processes. Virtual reality inductions would be a seriously significant development for businesses. Every new employee could be welcomed by each of the Senior Leadership Team in a 3D experience. For larger organisations, employees could get a detailed virtual tour of offices all over the globe and even be welcomed by representatives from each country they operate in. I know I would certainly be impressed with an innovative induction like that. 

We’ve all got used to our new best friend, video conferencing. Whether it is Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Google Hangout, video conferencing is the new normal. But virtual reality could be used to massively enrich internal communications once again. VR could be used for internal product launches, office openings, global award ceremonies, virtual tours or even staff wellbeing (see separate section below on wellbeing).    

This is the area that some forward thinking companies have already started experimenting with. Virtual reality provides a realistic yet safe environment for people to train and learn in. Naturally the engineering, medical and military sectors are already utilising this technology. However I believe there is a fabulous opportunity for the wider business and training world, when this technology moves into the mainstream. As someone from the sales and marketing industry, one of the great opportunities apparent to me, is how virtual reality could assist sales professionals with role play training, practising virtual tours and sales pitches. 

Andro Donovan, one of the country’s leading executive coaches, discussed her recent experience with using digital avatars, “As a facilitator and executive coach, I depend on being able to create alchemy that helps the group open up, self-disclose and generate new perspectives. I have always been able to achieve this in the physical space however recently I was using an avatar-based, virtual-world software platform. As an online representation of the user’s world, the technology supports self-expression, group self-discovery and insights. We all found that the software added great value to our experience and allowed us to explore and venture out of the usual limitations of Zoom. I have been amazed at the level and depth of connection that can be co-created with a group in a virtual setting”.

Remote working isn’t the only priority at the moment, employee welfare and mental health is also a top priority as people are confined to their homes, missing human interaction and some facing long periods of isolation from the world. As employee wellbeing becomes the latest pillar in most HR strategies, it would make sense for any ‘people focussed’ businesses to take advantage of the opportunity of being able to virtually transport their to anywhere they want! Employees could enjoy beautiful, peaceful environments to help with stress management. 

So there it is, 5 areas we could be utilising VR for in the next 10 years. It doesn’t seem long ago that these types of ‘Futuristic’ technologies were just a fantasy but now they could be hitting the mainstream quicker than most people would have first imagined.  

You might not be ready for virtual reality just yet! But you’re probably still looking at innovative ways to engage your workforce by improving your employee experience, internal marketing and branding. If this is the case, we can support you with bespoke innovation workshops or with a more in-depth partnership project. Contact us today to find out more. 

Author: Hannah Cook, 11th February 2021