Imagine how your company could benefit from immersive learning solutions that can train employees four times faster than traditional learning methods; a solution that empowers employees and makes them feel 275% more confident to act on what they learned after training; a solution that improves engagement, knowledge retention and allows employees to practice skills individually in a safe environment. That’s the power and potential of XR.

XR is a term that covers a number of immersive learning technologies including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR).

We first brought Jenson8 to the APAC region in 2019. The VR platforms and content in use and available globally have grown exponentially since then. Rather than focussing on bringing a single VR product to market, we are now able to be a one-stop-shop by providing full end-to-end XR and VR solutions.  We focus on understanding your pain points and recommending the most fitting alternatives for a more engaging and impactful experience.

“2023 was a pivotal year for XR and VR where sales exploded and this will continue over the next 12-24 months,” says Drew McGuire, CEO at Capability Group. “Our goal is to support our clients to figure out how XR and VR might benefit their organisation and in particular support rapid skills and capability lift at scale efficiently. We can do everything from strategy, providing hardware and software, providing access to a range of VR learning platforms, designing content, and managing fleets of headsets and multiple platforms. We want to become an organisation’s trusted advisor when it comes to all things XR and VR.”

“XR can be overwhelming and often people don't know where to start. Many clients we’ve engaged with initially approached VR content developers, seeking custom modules, only to discover the substantial costs involved. This high-risk approach is not the ideal starting point. A better starting point is to build your understanding of all the different sorts of platforms, content and use cases that are available globally today. We can significantly accelerate this process for you so that it's hours rather than days that you spend in “discovery mode. We start by understanding your pain point or problem you want to solve before recommending and implementing the best VR/XR solution as part of a wider learning strategy.”

Partnering with global XR and VR powerhouses

Capability Group has handpicked three VR platforms to partner with: Jenson8, Talespin, and Uptale.

“We’re the first company in the APAC region to stitch together partnerships with these vendors. Each platform has a really unique use case, learning methodology, and organisational pain point that they solve for,” explains McGuire. One supports synchronous group learning and the other two support asynchronous learning in the flow of work ... all ideal for building skills and knowledge across a geographically dispersed workforce.

Jenson8 combines VR and psychometric testing to enable deep and lasting positive behavioural change in the workplace. Jenson 8’s VR content can be used for diversity & inclusion, leadership, teamwork and other behaviour-focused content to bring teams together to drive impact.

Talespin is avatar- based and focused on skills practice such as human skills, selling skills and customer service. It enables employees to learn critical workplace skills through immersive and engaging interactions with AI enabled characters.

Uptale specialises in 360 degree video and has a wide range of uses but is ideally suited for teams working in the manufacturing and construction sectors, amongst others.

XR versus traditional learning and development

The results referenced in the introduction to this article are from a study by PwC and Talespin. PwC delivered the same diversity and inclusion training course to managers using three different learning methods: classroom learning, e-learning, and a virtual reality soft skills training course. The managers were surveyed and tested before and after completing the course and the results found that VR is more effective at training human skill concepts than either classroom workshops or e-learning.

Another study with employees of Coca-Cola found that XR-based training offering interactive and immersive experiences led to:

• 15% increase in knowledge retention;
• 80% increase in employee training engagement;
• 75% increase in the efficiency of training;

“As a learning and development practitioner for many years, XR is one of the most impactful things I’ve come across,” says McGuire. “It’s a proven technology in corporate learning environments in North America and Europe and has been for a number of years”.  

“Organisations in the APAC region are lagging behind when it comes to adopting XR and VR for learning. New Zealand, in particular, is way behind and the biggest limitation is the knowledge of what’s possible and a mindset to experiment. It offers a significant opportunity for L&D teams to move up the value chain supporting their organisations to drive transformation efforts and impact business performance in a way that they never have before. Operational people get it. They realise VR can save them time and money because it can dramatically reduce employees time off the job and increase speed to competency. Their teams don’t need to go to a four-hour workshop or a one-week face to face induction programme anymore. Instead, they can jump on a headset for bursts of 15 or 20 minutes and learn how to deal with customers better or upskill themselves on procedures that will keep them safe in the workplace.”

“We've been working with clients for the last 10 years on digitalising learning for geographically dispersed frontlines using learning platforms. XR is the next complementary frontier when it comes to building human skills, product knowledge and hard skills at scale.”

‍

Learn more about our Extended Reality practice