Virtual Reality Shopping is a Real Frontier of Opportunity

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            [post_title] => Global Virtual Teams – We Have the Technology, But Do We Have the Empathy?
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            [post_content] => When it first really came to be noticed, back in the 90’s, e-learning was positioned as a less expensive and time-consuming alternative to traditional classroom based training.

But many businesses that invested heavily in eLearning solutions often did not see the return on investment.  Indeed, recent studies by the ASTD (American Society of Training and Development) show that while there has been an increase in blended solutions that involve e-learning the effectiveness of these solutions on the whole is dropping.

So should we just give up on the concept of effective online learning? No.

The challenges the sparked the interest in e-learning in the 90's such as limited budgets, access to people and time - are just as present today. The growing interest in the Massive Online Open Courses provided by Coursera, EdX and their like, shows that interest in online learning is alive and well. But when it comes to serious development few organisations rely on online one-size fits all programmes for the development of their people.

The key to getting return on investment in online learning is to integrate it as part of the overall learning and development strategy - this means a focus on a blended solution - that incorporates multiple types of learning - rather than just on what is going online. Take the example of driving, yes you can learn the rules of the road, understand the theory of driving, and even get lessons, but at some stage you need to get out on the road and DRIVE! Adults learn best by doing, we learn through experience and reflection. A well-designed tailored blended solution used in the right situations can deliver business results faster, cheaper and better than classroom training alone.

Firstly, make sure you start not with a list of desired “skills” but with the following series of critical questions:

- What are the behaviours we want to achieve?
- What will people be doing differently after the training?
- How will these new behaviours be promoted and rewarded in the workplace?
- How will the organisational culture support these new behaviours?
- How will applying these new behaviours deliver on the department goals and objectives?
- And finally, how will this link to delivering on the organisational strategy?

Once these questions have been explored and answered, the programme content can be chosen and a decision made about about what needs to be delivered in the classroom.

At this point it is key to consider how the learning will be embedded back into the workplace.

Participants need tools and resources that reinforce the knowledge, skills and attitude developed in the classroom workshops and they need to be held accountable for practical actions and tasks that help to embed the behaviours into everyday activities.

In my work designing online blended solutions I find that making it work is about making it REAL.

R– Reinforced. The learning from classroom workshops needs to be reinforced through alternative methods.

E– Embedded. The knowledge, skills, and attitude needs to be embedded into everyday activities in the workplace.

A– Accountability.Participants need to be held accountable for applying the new skills and behaviours.

L – Linked.The development must be linked to the individual’s performance plan and the whole programme built around the organisation strategy.

Learning to think of, not just online learning but all learning & development solutions in terms of the REAL model dramatically changes how organisations engage with management training and education.  The result is the ability to deliver desired results, faster, cheaper, and better ... and goes some way to delivering on the true potential of e-learning.

Derek Fox is an expert in management development, innovation and interpersonal communications. Derek has published a number of books including his bestselling titles in both Psychology (DISCovering your style and dealing with difficult people) and Presentation skills (Presenting without fear).  He contributes to journals and business publications such as: T&D Magazine, HR Ireland, People Management, and has published articles with the Sunday Business Post, and the Sunday Times.

If you are interested in investigating what a blended learning solution might deliver for your organisation please contact Derek Fox or speak to our Tailored Solutions team.   
            [post_title] => Want Return on Virtual Learning? Make it REAL
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Dr. Philip O’Reilly

31st Jul 2017

Dr. Philip O’Reilly is the Programme Director for the IMI MBS in Digital Business

Building Trust with a Virtual Team

Global Virtual Teams – We Have the Technology, But Do We Have the Empathy?

Want Return on Virtual Learning? Make it REAL

Virtual Reality Shopping is a Real Frontier of Opportunity

The next generation of online shopping platforms which are set to significantly disrupt the status quo are based on augmented (virtual) reality.

In today’s online world, most companies are primarily concerned with their websites design and their organisation’s social media strategy, which for most is about engaging with customers on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Yet, the nature of customer engagement and the associated world of online shopping is rapidly evolving and changing.

The next generation of online shopping platforms which are set to significantly disrupt the status quo are based on augmented (virtual) reality. Virtual Reality (VR) shopping is no longer the realm of science fiction, but a commercial reality. Gartner predict that by 2020[1], 100 million customers will shop in augmented reality. Furthermore, they predict that one in five global brands will enable augmented reality shopping by the end of 2017. For organisations, this trend represents a significant commercial opportunity and one which they should be thinking about taking advantage of.

So what’s new in a virtual reality shopping environment? By being three dimensional, VR shopping represents an opportunity for greater customer engagement vis a vis traditional websites as it enables customers to fully explore product features and obtain additional information to help them with their buying decisions. For example, customers can try on makeup, clothes, shoes, visualise how furniture would look inside their home and get product information while they browse shelves. Furthermore, payments are seamlessly integrated into these environments, making it easy for customers to traverse from browsing to buying. Therefore, payment providers will play an important role in maximising the commercial potential of these platforms.

But won’t customers require one of those fancy VR headsets, costing hundreds of euro to participate? The answer is no. Let’s examine the model developed by Alibaba, one of the world’s largest retailers. Customers can avail of Alibaba’s Buy+ virtual shopping experience, simply by purchasing a cardboard VR headset, which costs 15 cents[2]. Customers simply slip their smartphone into the headset to enable them to browse products from leading department stores. In Alibaba’s promotional video, released via twitter[3], a customer is taken from their office in China to Macy’s in New York where they browse the aisles and examine the products on offer. The customer is met by a Macy’s staff member, browses the products, selects a handbag and pays for it, without even having to enter any payment information. This is a result of Alibaba’s Buy+ product being integrated with Alipay, an online payment platform. The experience is very different from your traditional online shopping experience. In VR shopping, you are immersed in the environment, and the experience is evolving towards one where this experience is similar to actually physically being in store.

So what does this emerging VR shopping trend mean for commercial organisations?

The ability to reach a worldwide audience is not new and one which can be achieved with a traditional website. However, virtual reality shopping is different. It enables you to immerse a customer from anywhere in the world in your store. Customers can meet a representative, walk the aisles, browse/review/try products and pay for them.

This presents opportunities for companies including design and IT companies; commercial and payment organisations, all of whom have a potential role to play.

This emerging market will represent opportunities for design and IT companies to develop these multisensory, immersive and interactive platforms for commercial clients. For companies, management need to consider that investing in their virtual real estate is potentially now as important as their physical real estate as it represents an opportunity for companies to get even closer to their customers, to enable these customers to immerse themselves in the company’s products and services. For companies, these augmented reality worlds present significant cross selling opportunities.

One fact is unescapable. Virtual reality shopping will become a reality in the years ahead. Now is the time for organisation’s and their managers to plan to ensure that they are in the position to avail of the emerging opportunity and that their organisation’s become the disruptor’s rather than the disrupted.

[1]http://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/gartner-predicts-a-virtual-world-of-exponential-change/
[2]https://www.forbes.com/sites/helenwang/2016/11/06/how-alibaba-will-use-the-worlds-biggest-shopping-day-to-transform-retail/#6cd65bea6d4e
[3]https://twitter.com/AlibabaGroup/status/789086429330575360

Dr. Philip O’Reilly is the Programme Director for the IMI MBS in Digital Business and a Senior Lecturer at University College Cork.

Philip has delivered keynotes and workshops to numerous multinational companies and at leading practitioner events including the Banking & Payments Federation of Ireland National Conference.

He recently received the Stafford Beer Medal in recognition of the most outstanding contribution to the philosophy, theory and practice of Information Systems (IS) from the Operational Research (OR) Society at an Awards Ceremony.