From once being the preserve of cutting-edge technology firms and organisations with massive budgets, Virtual Reality (VR) technology is now accessible, affordable and customizable to the needs of small and medium-sized firms – thanks to a newly launched business app, Hazid.app.
Hazid.app is a new, immersive training platform developed by BSC – the Business Science Corporation – which enables organisations to create and manage their own VR training content, while providing advanced analytical insights into how well employees are retaining information.
VR training need no longer be an elaborate and expensive exercise to implement. Hazid.app is available to businesses at affordable subscription rates, and it works in tandem with standalone VR headsets such as the Oculus Go that can be purchased at low costs from around $200. Since the technology is now so accessible, companies – from SMMEs to multinationals – can now custom-build their own VR training modules.
Hazid.app provides an easy-to-use platform that lets companies capture and manage 360° content representing their own working environments, with pre-built functionality to enrich it for hazard identification learning and assessing trainees’ knowledge retention. No coding experience is required.
“Hazid.app gives clients the option of creating their own VR training experiences or having BSC do it for them in consultation with their team,” says Darren Cohen, Associate Partner and Portfolio Lead for Reality Science at Business Science Corporation, the team that created Hazid.app.
“VR is the future,” he said. “Hazid.app is a first-of-a-kind solution that makes virtual reality accessible and scalable for companies of all sizes. Hazid.app enables immersive safety training where employees can visualize various work scenarios safely, repeatedly practise their responses, and build confidence in performing their tasks safely.”
Hazid.app’s powerful analytics reporting allows companies to monitor the training progress. It is set to revolutionise the efficiency of hazard identification training in organisations.
Once 360° content is uploaded, the portal lets users tag it with text, images, video or audio for instructions and learning. An administration portal lets businesses manage and store all 360° content in a secure Hazid Library. Content can then be arranged into individual modules, courses and syllabi.
“VR Training helps organisations mitigate risk by improving training effectiveness and efficiency,” said Cohen. “We have found that trainees retain up to 80% of information learned through virtual reality training, compared to around 20% using traditional methods.”1
“By the time participants face a real-life situation, their awareness and ability to face the challenge have become second nature,” he said. “With Hazid.app, the benefits of this kind of VR training are affordable to businesses of any size.”
