VR offers transformative technology for the insurance industry
Virtual reality and related technologies provide a way for insurance companies to increase satisfaction, both internally and externally.
In today’s technological and connected landscape, insurance companies are facing enormous pressures. While automation and artificial intelligence add value in many places, the human workforce demands that curricula and methodologies for learning and development evolve as well to keep pace with advancing technologies.
Customers are demanding faster, easier and more convenient experiences. A happier, well-trained workforce translates into a better customer experience.
At the same time, job candidates are looking for employers that offer flexibility and the latest tools and technology. Adopting XR (collectively, virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality) training technology is a great way for insurance companies to increase overall satisfaction, both internally with employees and externally with customers.
Recruiting and retaining talent
As baby boomers retire, many insurance companies are having a tough time attracting millennials. In a recent survey, 42% of millennial respondents said learning, development, and training opportunities were one of the most important benefits they considered when looking for a job. However, employers don’t always have the resources and infrastructure in place to provide the ongoing L&D opportunities younger workers want.
Competition for talent in the insurance industry is fierce. To stay competitive, employers need to offer the best perks, benefits and training programs. XR training is an innovative tool that helps insurance companies counter these trends. For instance, immersive training opportunities and gamified learning attract millennial employees looking for tech-forward workplaces. This technology offers employees an opportunity to advance their skills by allowing them to collaborate from different locations. This allows employees to get the training they need without having to travel to a worksite to receive job-specific instruction.
Preparing employees for what matters
Insurance industry employees encounter many high stakes situations in their daily work. Often, this includes speaking to customers on one of the worst days of their lives. These moments are critical touch-points whereby employees need to complete a task or guide a conversation toward a particular resolution.
This type of scenario can be emotionally exhausting, but employees need to foster a high degree of empathy. Properly executing in these moments benefits the employee and business significantly.
XR training is an ideal solution to prepare employees for these important moments because it creates a highly-realistic training environment. Pilots have been using flight simulators for decades. We never question the value of training pilots with technology that provides iterative practice because we inherently understand the cost of mistakes on the job. XR, and particularly VR, allows us to apply this thinking to other jobs. It gives employees permission to fail, learn and grow, and provides companies a way to measure and track progress.
This type of training is valuable for new, existing, and even veteran employees. Aside from its enhanced learning capability for task-based roles, virtual reality can provide an additional element that traditional training methods cannot. Interpersonal communication using virtual human technology can add a role-play in order to train and rehearse active listening, negotiation skills, overcoming objections, conveying empathy and more.
For example, if a call center representative was to receive a first notice of loss call about water damage in a residential home, he or she would need to talk the customer through the event (even if the claim is being filed through an app, there are still thousands of cases that require connecting with customers). Even if the call center representative has former field investigation experience, he or she must be able to drawn upon knowledge of building materials, water damage, investigative skills, and the app the policyholder could be using. They must also leverage their best interpersonal skills to service a potentially distraught customer. Success — for everyone involved — is most likely if the representative has rehearsed this scenario repeatedly. Familiarity with the procedures, emotions and variables is achieved through experiential learning using virtual reality.
XR training can help prepare employees for such a situation by simulating it from end-to-end and allowing them to practice. This thoroughly familiarizes the employee with the procedural aspects of the situation, exposes them to a variety of scenarios (different types of claims, challenging customer conversations, etc.), and allows them to hone communication skills through virtual role-play. Enabling employees to feel more prepared through virtual practice not only leads to more confident employees, but it also results in better customer relationships.
Complementing existing training methods with XR
XR training does not replace the classroom, the facilitator or the learner. It augments existing training methods by providing an experiential layer of learning that allows employees to feel what it’s actually like to do their jobs before setting foot in the field.
For example, training to investigate a water damage claim requires an employee to be familiar with construction materials, procedures for documenting and estimating damage, and understanding when and how to contact colleagues and vendors. Whether text-based, classroom, or via another learning methodology, all insurance companies have existing curriculum for teaching this procedural knowledge and have been doing so for decades. What is missing is a training tool that captures that knowledge, then tasks an employee with utilizing it in real-time to make decisions. Ultimately this demonstrates their ability to complete a multi-faceted task like investigating a claim.
Incorporating VR software into learning curriculum gives L&D teams a scalable tool for helping employees test their skills and see first-hand what it feels like to do their jobs. Realistic virtual environments with simulated damage, artificially intelligent characters representing customers, and virtual versions of investigative tools are just a few examples of the way in which VR training takes existing training subject matter and makes it experiential.
Insurance companies today are finding XR training to be a powerful tool for increasing the ROI of their training practices and propelling their businesses forward. XR is offering insurers a realistic and safe training tool for their workforces. By integrating XR technology into existing training programs, insurers are catering to the next generation of insurance employees, improving the overall quality of their training programs, and preparing their workforce for the future.
Stephen Fromkin is co-founder and chief content officer at Talespin, a California company that aims to create transformative XR (virtual, augmented, and mixed reality) business solutions. These opinions are the author’s own.
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