Corporate training is moving to a virtual level

Today, the task of corporate training is no longer to transfer knowledge, but to give people the opportunity to try something for themselves, to experience themselves. And in this case, the best method of learning is the game training. And it is even better to create a game in virtual reality.

If you give an employee the opportunity to be a paladin (a hero of computer games. – Ed.) 80 level, it will work much better, sure Seth Pribach, ex-HR director of Google, founder of SCVNGR. And he knows what he’s talking about. According to numerous studies, simulating real-world activities, which in fact become gaming business simulations, can absorb up to 90% of the information.

But it’s not just monsters like Google that have long been actively promoting the gaming approach in corporate training. According to a 2011 Gartner study, by 2015 more than 50% of companies that manage innovation will have gamified the processes of motivation, training and corporate culture management. A study by the Entertainment Software Association is increasing the use of computer games for employee development to 80% by 2013. The reason for this boom is simple: the luminaries of education have noticed more than once, the passive, lecture approach to learning is outdated. It is ineffective when it comes to corporate training of the new, digital generation of employees. New forms are needed. And virtual gaming technologies are becoming them. For the new generation, accustomed to virtual worlds and battles, the concept of computer learning games is more than acceptable and easy to learn.

Today, computer learning games are actively used, for example, in trade. In Japan, McDonald’s new employees have been testing and training for the second year, based on a video game created for Nintendo DS handhelds (the most popular game consoles among Japanese). The game’s business goal is to shorten training times for new staff.

But MITRE Corporation’s job applicants are competing for the 3D game Honorary Work. It introduces potential employees to the company structure, infrastructure, the process of interviewing candidates, examples of company projects. Such training games belong to so-called simulators. But there is also a format “serious games”. A vivid example of such training is a computer game developed for the company Renault. It teaches the standards of service in the car service. The whole process from receiving a request for a car to the execution of documents for its purchase is implemented in 3D-space, in which the employee must manage his avatar. In addition, a sales manager simulator has been created, as well as an anti-monopoly management game. The ability to manage a team of four sales managers and achieve real results in a virtual space helps to practice management skills and develop their abilities. Virtual player results are already linked to the real KPI of the employee.

A similar virtual simulator has been successfully used in the Hilton Garden Inn hotel chain for three years now. It is a three-dimensional simulation of the virtual hotel guests service. With the help of virtual characters hotel staff are in different situations, and each action the player affects the mood of the virtual visitor. The higher the satisfaction of the character, the more points the player gains. British Gas has introduced a computer game that trains service engineers in effective customer communication and initial troubleshooting.

Designed for L’Oreal Professional Products Corporation and launched in over 20 countries, Hair-be12 develops the skills of barbershop staff.

The educational computer games, available even online, have been implemented by Intel (basic information security) and Cisco (unified communications simulation).

In Russia, the level of digital learning solutions does not lag behind foreign ones, but there are still few examples where businesses use such solutions. Business should realize the modern reality: the task of training is no longer to transfer knowledge, it is to give people the opportunity to try to do something, to experience their own experience. Computer technologies and game mechanics open endless possibilities for this.