Interactive Training Blog

With the recent chatter around Return on Investment (ROI) in virtual worlds I thought it only fitting to put it in writing on the blog! I would say that the vast majority of us are infatuated on getting the most bang for our buck, if I am able to buy a pair of shoes at a discount store and save $20 off retail from the big name department store, than I am having a good day. Well enough about me and back to the task at hand: Providing real data for ROI in virtual worlds.

Since the whole idea of virtual worlds is fairly new, there are only a limited number of use cases currently available. However, many proven use cases will likely soon be introduced in the near future since there are a growing number of new virtual world training applications currently in development.

One can however find a wealth of measurable and proven benefits within the virtual events sector, citing superb Return on Investment. Direct Magazine interviewed Unisfair about the ROI on virtual world events and got the following response: “Cost does play a big part. One of our clients completely eliminated doing road shows in favor of one virtual event. They said it was 50% to 80% less expensive. Another client is in the process of doing a 15-city road show. They took some of the poorer-performing cities out [of the schedule] and augmented [their coverage] with a virtual event. They’ll still have the intimacy with the 100 or 200 people in those cities, but another 500 or 1,000 people who couldn’t attend in those areas can now attend virtually. Another large client had a corporate mandate to reduce event spending by 20% this year and 50% next, so now they do sales and marketing training virtually.”

So you may be asking this question: Well this is great and all- but my boss is bottom-line oriented…Well, our friends at ThinkBalm published a Business Value Study on ROI in immersive environments you can download the report from ThinkBalm’s website.

In their study ThinkBalm respondents acknowledged some level of success with currently implemented virtual world solutions. According to the report, “Ninety five percent of survey respondents (62 of 66) reported some level of success with their 2008 / 1Q 2009 immersive technology deployments. People who worked for government, non-profits and even some corporations focused on non-financial benefits, which sometimes makes quantification of that success difficult. Regardless, over a third of those surveyed (36%, or 23 of 64) said their organization will definitely expand investment in immersive technology in 2009 and 2010, and another 38% (24 of 64) indicated that they might expand their investment.”

Simply stated, the primary benefit of virtual worlds is cost savings (which is especially appealing in today’s economic climate). With low entry cost and increased engagement, virtual worlds are a natural fit for most organizations as a training solution. Typically, these rich, simulated environments are produced at only a fraction of the cost compared to other types of simulation training such as decision-based, and in a compressed time frame as well. So, cheaper, faster and funnier, AND virtual worlds are shining in the categories of mirroring the real world while increasing trainee engagement. The creation of an engaging virtual world learning environment can be a great fit for any organization!

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