If you’ve been searching for an innovative way to upgrade your employee training strategies, you’ve probably already heard about the benefits of immersive learning. Extended reality can accelerate training cycles, improve employee confidence and boost engagement. Now, XR training vendors are kicking things up a notch, with the addition of artificial intelligence.
AI doesn’t just give companies the tools they need to create immersive learning content at scale. It also helps them improve employee experiences with gesture and vision recognition, deliver real-time feedback to learners, and access meaningful insights.
Now that the World Economic Forum predicts about 60% of workers will need reskilling by 2030, it could be the perfect time to invest in more intelligent immersive training opportunities. So, where do you start when comparing vendors?
What to Look for in XR Training Vendors
As “improving training” emerges as one of the top priorities for companies investing in immersive technologies, the number of XR training vendors is growing fast. You might already know a few, like ARuVR, VR Vision, Immerse, and VirtualSpeech.
To narrow down your shortlist, look for:
- Complete Customization: Great vendors shouldn’t just give you one-size-fits-all training templates. Look for solutions that provide full control over your modules and classes, allow you to upload your own information, and adjust settings with low-code/no-code tools.
- Analytics and Insights: A lot of XR training vendors give you software that tracks who finished their training. You want to go beyond that. Look for insights into skill progression, performance gaps, engagement rates, and common challenges.
- Hardware Flexibility: Your team might have various devices they use for training, iPads, laptops, Quest headsets, and augmented reality smart glasses. The right vendor should support all of these, and give you the freedom to embrace new tech as you scale.
- Versatile Learning Options: Sometimes, you’ll want to run live group sessions in XR, other times, you’ll want to allow users to learn at their own pace. Look for a vendor that allows you to create various experiences.
Another great thing to review? Case studies. Find out what your vendor has helped other, similar companies (particularly ones in your industry) achieve in the past.
Evaluating AI Features Offered by XR Training Vendors
You’re not comparing intuitive immersive training solutions. You’re looking for vendors that can help you combine cutting-edge AI with extended reality. So, what exactly does your partner deliver? Can they give you easy access to a range of AI models, GPTs, and LLMs? Are they building their own AI assistants specifically for training? Look for things like:
- Generative AI: GenAI is great for creating immersive learning content at scale. It can help produce the course content, code, and even metaverse environments you’ll use in modules. Just make sure your system can adapt to your specific needs and goals.
- Language and Gesture Recognition: Can the built-in AI assistants understand and respond to your employees in multiple languages? Can they track eye movements, hand movements, and gestures to support a more natural learning experience?
- Adaptability: The best AI and XR training vendors offer solutions that can adapt quickly, responding to data and input to personalize every training experience. Look for a solution that can dynamically adjust to the needs of any employee.
- Transparency and Explainability: Can your vendor explain how the AI system works, how it gathers data, and what it does under the hood? This could be particularly important if you’re training teams in a highly regulated industry.
- Customization: Just like you need to be able to customize your XR content, you also need to be able to adjust your bots. Look for opportunities to add your own language models, machine learning algorithms, or automated workflows.
Keep an eye out for innovators too – like companies using AI systems that can track employee emotions or sentiment, monitor temperature and heart rate through biometrics, and more.
Integration and Scalability: Non-Negotiables
One of the worst mistakes you can make when you’re comparing AI and XR training vendors is ignoring your existing tech stack, and your future needs. Your training platform shouldn’t work in isolation. It needs to connect to more than just your headsets, smart glasses, and favorite AI apps.
Check whether you can connect your system with your Learning Management System (LMS), HR applications, and even your CRM for personalized customer service training. Also, find out whether you can track data from learning modules and store it with your compliance reporting tools.
You might also want to ask about SSO support, API access for building your own integrations later, and specialist integration options. Once you’ve ensured the right connections are available, think about scalability. For instance, the platform should:
- Support different languages
- Adapt to new workflows and processes
- Work with various headsets and devices
- Support content version control as regulations change
- Repurpose content across formats
Access to low-code and no-code authoring tools, as well as flexible customization options should ensure you can scale your strategy without headaches.
The Top Questions to Ask in a Demo or RFP
You can only learn so much about AI and XR training vendors by reading their case studies and checking out their websites. It pays to really dive into the experience with a demo and ask some valuable questions, such as:
- Can training scenarios automatically adapt to an employee’s learning pace?
- How easy is it to customize the modules I share with my team?
- How do you store and protect data gathered by the AI model?
- Can your system provide automatic compliance updates?
- Can I create content for VR, AR, and mixed reality?
- What measures are in place to protect user data and privacy?
- What level of support can you offer with content creation?
The questions you ask might vary depending on your overall priorities and goals. For instance, if you’re using AI and XR training in healthcare, you might want to ask about HIPAA compliance.
Budgeting and Long-Term ROI
Often, when you’re comparing XR training vendors, it’s easy to get caught up with a focus on budget. The more advanced your needs for both XR and AI, the more you might need to pay for software, content creation support, and even add-on accessories and devices.
The best strategy is to plan out your budget ahead of time. Make sure you think about all of the potential costs you’ll incur for hardware, software, and even content updates. If your teams need training to actually use the systems, how much will that cost?
Once you’ve figured out how much you’re likely to spend, make sure you have a strategy for calculating ROI. Don’t just look at how much you save on paying educators to visit your teams. Look at everything, from improved productivity to increased content engagement to faster training outcomes to reduced travel costs.
The outcomes can be massive. The US Air Force, for instance, saved around $13.4 million just by using immersive learning for pilot training.
Comparing AI and XR Training Vendors
There are plenty of XR training vendors out there using AI to revolutionize immersive learning. Choosing the right partner is all about identifying your specific needs, use cases, and priorities. Forget about flashy marketing and focus on what will really drive results for your company.
