It’s been calculated that the ‘soft skills gap’ costs U.S. economy $160 billion annually.
In an effort to help combat this, CGS Immersive has unveiled Cicero: an innovative AI-powered roleplay platform designed to transform how companies train and develop their workforce.
Hyper-Realism in the Workplace
Announced on March 10, 2025, Cicero creates hyper-realistic training scenarios where employees can practice critical business interactions with AI-generated personas that respond dynamically to their approaches.
The platform allows organisations to deploy customised training scenarios in as little as 15 minutes; addressing one of the most significant pain points in corporate L&D: the time lag between identifying training needs and implementing solutions.
“Traditional workplace training is often generic, costly, and lacking in the real-world context employees need to succeed,” said Doug Stephen, President of CGS Immersive. The Executive continued:
With Cicero’s hyper-realistic scenarios, businesses can immerse their teams in dynamic, unscripted roleplay simulations for a limitless number of real-world circumstances. The engagement and feedback created with Cicero drives measurable performance improvements and ROI. What normally took teams weeks to develop can now be produced in minutes.
Real-World Applications Across Industries
Cicero’s versatility makes it valuable for virtually any industry where interpersonal interactions drive business outcomes. Healthcare providers can practice patient-centred care conversations, sales teams can refine their pitch and objection handling techniques, and customer service representatives can develop conflict resolution skills in a safe, judgment-free environment.
Medtronic, the global healthcare technology leader, was quick to recognise Cicero’s potential and became an early adopter for their sales enablement and surgical education programs.
Colleen Tully, Senior Program Manager, Learning Technology Innovation at Medtronic said:
The Cicero application is a significant leap forward in surgical training technology… Cicero’s XR-enabled roleplays will revolutionise our sales enablement, surgical education and other medical training. We’re excited about Cicero helping us improve healthcare delivery.
Similarly, Scoot Airlines has implemented Cicero with impressive results, particularly for flight attendant training on handling challenging passenger interactions.
Min Qi Lim, Senior Specialist, Communications at Scoot Airlines explained:
The flight attendant training we developed with Cicero has surpassed our goals. We’re seeing improved efficiencies, reduced training costs, improved confidence in our flight staff, and significantly improved customer service.
Key Features That Set Cicero Apart
What distinguishes Cicero from other training platforms is its combination of realism, customisability, and actionable feedback.
The AI-powered avatars display unique personalities based on the five common personality traits: extroversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism.
This allows trainees to experience a range of interaction styles they might encounter in their daily work.
The platform offers:
- Unscripted, fully customisable scenarios that mirror real-life business situations
- Real-time feedback from an “always-on AI coach”
- Multilingual capabilities to support global organisations
- Detailed analytics to track individual and team progress
- XR-powered workplace settings for maximum immersion
Plug and Play: The Cicero Advantage
What makes Cicero particularly attractive to enterprise customers is the speed of implementation and the measurable outcomes.
Unlike traditional training solutions that can take months to develop and deploy, Cicero can be up and running in days, with customised scenarios created in minutes.
This agility allows organisations to rapidly address emerging training needs or quickly scale successful programs across departments or regions.
The platform’s intuitive interface requires minimal training for administrators, making it accessible to L&D professionals without technical expertise.
Abdelghani Es-Sajjade, L&D Advisor at Sipchem, a Cicero client said:
After discovering Cicero at an international L&D conference, we tested scenarios like performance appraisals and sales support and were amazed by the user-friendliness and interactive nature of this solution…You don’t need to be a technical expert or versed in AI to use Cicero. I would recommend Cicero to anyone who is interested in scaling soft skills training.
Addressing the Soft Skills Gap
Gina Smith, Ph.D., Research Director at IDC, emphasizes the growing importance of immersive training:
The increasing demand for immersive training solutions highlights the importance of platforms that blend AI and extended reality (XR) to address critical workforce skill gaps. Roleplay solutions that can enhance human skills are fundamental, making them essential for workforce transformation and future-readiness.
With Cicero, enterprises can now provide employees with unlimited opportunities to practice challenging interactions before they occur in the real world. This approach addresses the learning principle that skills improve through deliberate practice and feedback rather than passive consumption of training materials.
From leadership development to safety training, customer experience management to sales enablement, Cicero provides a safe environment for employees to develop confidence and competence in their interpersonal skills. As organizations continue to navigate complex human interactions in an increasingly digital world, tools like Cicero represent the next evolution in workplace learning—making the development of essential human skills both scalable and effective.
For enterprises looking to close the soft skills gap and prepare their workforce for complex human interactions, Cicero offers a compelling solution that combines cutting-edge technology with practical business applications, delivering measurable improvements in employee performance and business outcomes.
