To improve its safety train-
ing, Verizon approached Strivr,
a VR software training com-
pany Bailenson cofounded
in 2015. Impressed by the
startup’s work with other
large corporate partners like
Walmart, Verizon tasked Strivr
with developing modules to
train store managers in high-
fidelity heist scenarios. Since
late 2018, roughly 1,500 of
these managers have under-
gone Strivr’s training experi-
ences. When surveyed, 95%
said they better understood
the factors they would need
to consider during an actual
burglary attempt. Asked about
the ethical concerns of pur-
posefully traumatizing employ-
ees, Tedrick says that profes-
sional trainers walk employees
through every step of the way.
“In fact, we had many people
thank us for creating an incred-
ibly realistic experience versus
trying to sanitize the experi-
ence,” she adds. Verizon now
plans to have store managers at
all its retail locations trained in
these VR simulations.
It turns out that while VR
movies or virtual hangouts
may not be ready for prime
time, the technology is ideal
for certain practical applica-
tions. VR is gaining traction
in fields like surgical train-
ing, STEM education, indus-
trial design, architecture, real
estate, and more. At Face-
book’s F8 developer conference
in April, Oculus announced an
expanded Oculus for Busi-
ness program slated to begin
in the fall. It includes access
to enterprise-grade headsets,
such as the new Oculus Quest,
and “a dedicated software
suite offering device setup and
management tools, enterprise-
grade service and support, and
a new user experience custom-
ized for business use cases.”
Microsoft and HTC, mean-
while, have pushed heavily
into industrial enterprise with
the mixed-reality HoloLens
headset and the HTC Vive, re-
spectively. “Our bigger market
is on the consumer side,” says
HTC’s Dan O’Brien, general
manager of the Americas for
the Vive product line. “But our
more aggressive growth area is
enterprise.”
Strivr, the Verizon vendor,
is solely focused on business-
to-business VR applications.
In addition to the giant phone
company, it counts Chipotle,
Jet Blue, Fidelity Investments,
and Tyson Foods as clients. It
has distributed 17,000 Oculus
Go headsets embedded with
Strivr’s software in Walmart
BRAINSTORM TECH VIRTUAL REALITY
$34.5
billion
estimated worldwide
VR total market
forecast by 2023
(SOURCE: GREENLIGHT INSIGHTS)
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