Why have employers turned to VR? Better performance at lower cost. “Time savings and, therefore, cost savings is the number one [return-on-investment] driver,” said Derek Belch, founder and CEO of Strivr. VR has the potential to offer both. Instead of inviting people to travel to a training for a day or a week, they can offer anytime, anywhere education in 15- or 20-minute sessions. “A medical school whenever you need it,” as Murthi described it.
But the benefits can be seen in other ways. The starkest example came when a gunman killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Tex., in 2019. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said VR training helped save lives, because employees had been prepared by an active-shooter training scenario. “I’ve done it myself,” McMillon told Fortune. “And there’s something about doing that through VR that helps you, in some ways, live the experience and understand the steps that you need to take.”