One of the more popular attractions at major theme parks is the "motion ride." Through the use of visual, audio and other sensory cues (along with some pretty slick technology), visitors are given the opportunity to go places and do things they never could in the real world. Whether it's flying through the jaws of a dinosaur in Doc Brown's Delorean, visiting a galaxy far, far away, or taking a tour through the inner workings of the human body, these virtual environments engage visitors with a sensory experience that moves them in a way ordinary roller coasters can't.
While business organizations may not quite be able to capture the "thrill" of the motion ride -- nor in most cases would they want to -- they can still use branded virtual environments to create deep engagement and interaction with customers, prospects and employees in a way that ordinary Web sites or group sharing technologies can't. And rather than pushing information out and creating one more interruption to be ignored in an already-hectic day, they can make the information available on-demand, 24 x 7 x 365, whenever the customer, prospect or employee is ready to receive it.
Virtual environments for business take technologies such as sales, collaboration or online learning, and give them a human context. For example, an ordinary online partner training program might display a list of available documents, audio and/or video files in a text format, with a few stock photos or logos inserted to break up the text a bit. Select one, and you're in for an experience that mirrors everything else you do in a day.
But a virtual environment might take you to a sleek, futuristic-looking university campus with different classrooms for each topic. Enter the classroom and you could find yourself watching a presentation in a lecture hall, or sitting in a small discussion group, surrounded by other virtual students (some real, some just for atmosphere). Although the same material is being presented, the learning environment has been enhanced by taking you away from wherever you are in the real world and inserting you into a classroom in a completely different world.
A virtual environment also differs from traditional document sharing in that it allows organizations to gather data about where users go, how often they go to each room, what they view and/or download while they're there and more. By running a variety of reports, organizations can learn from their users and continue to improve the experience, adding the right content where consumption is high while eliminating information that no longer appears relevant.
While the technology for virtual environments has been around for a little while, what's new are the ways it's being applied. In the early days, the focus was more on the avatar; users seemed more interested in making them walk around, sit on a couch, or fly around the room than on absorbing information. Today's virtual environments are much more focused on helping organizations break through physical barriers in order to deliver superior results. They're also breaking the limits of who is using them within the organization; thanks to new, easier-to-use technologies, virtual environments may now be used for a variety of purposes inside and outside the enterprise. Here are three ways virtual environments are being used today.
