Virtual Reality Systems are increasingly being tapped by enterprises due to their ability to provide immersive training environments, accurately simulate dangerous situations, and avoid costly travel and equipment-related expenses.
In many cases, consumer-centric Virtual Reality (VR) headsets, controllers, and tracking systems can be used with few modifications. ABI Research, a leader in emerging technology intelligence, forecasts that the enterprise VR training market will generate US$216 million in 2018 and grow to US$6.3 billion in 2022.
Industries with high-risk working environments such as energy, industrial and manufacturing or construction are the early adopters of enterprise VR training applications. Technician trainings in industries such as the energy sector can be perilous, mainly due to the nature of the job where technicians work on offshore rigs, or in the utility sector where technicians work with power distribution systems. “In heavy industries, VR training prevents risks associated with training hazards such as safety of trainees in the dangerous work place or accidental damage of equipment. It can save time and money for the companies by providing realistic hands on experience to trainees without any work downtime.” says Khin Sandi Lynn, industry analyst at ABI Research.
Aviation and Maritime are other, more well-known, areas that also use virtual reality training programs for simulated training. Virtual reality can also provide immersive experiences which has an important role in keeping trainees, across all industries, engaged in their training. Companies which deploy VR based training programs have experienced a time savings up to 80%. The effectiveness of VR based training is recognized by retail and marketing businesses, too. “In fact, one of the world’s largest retailers, Walmart, has deployed VR technology to train its staff. Walmart is planning to deploy the technology in its 200 training centers by the end of 2017,” adds Lynn.
Although VR training applications are still at the early stage of deployments, they have strong potential in the entire enterprise training space; tourism, sales and marketing, and athlete training are just some of the segments where VR training applications will expand. ABI Research expects that the enterprise VR training market will grow concurrently with the continued advancements in VR headsets, controllers, motion trackers and associated software applications. ABI Research forecast that enterprise VR training market will grow at CAGR 140% in the next five years to generate $6.3 billion.
These findings are from ABI Research’s VR in Enterprise Training report. This report is part of the company’s Video, VR & OTT research service, which includes research, data, and analyst insights.
