VIVIDA Launches Immersive Experience Service for Diversity and Security Training

EY, Sky and Lloyds Banking Group among first to trial unique immersive training service

VIVIDA, the immersive Virtual Reality (VR) and video storytelling company announced the launch of a new online training service for remote workers today. VIVIDA is known for creating unique VR training tools in which employees experience otherwise impossible to replicate scenarios such as escaping a burning building (for fire safety training), or being put in the shoes of a black man in a corporate environment (for diversity training). Due to restrictions on physical contact and a remote workforce, customers – which include the likes of Ernst & Young, Sky and Lloyds Banking Group – will now be able to experience VIVIDA’s best in class experiences without the need for a VR headset.

The launch of this online service has also seen the company refocus its efforts on two key sectors – Diversity & Inclusion and Cybersecurity. Both areas have been earmarked for high growth and current training tools only scratch the surface of very complex issues.

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“We have seen the incredible power that storytelling can have when training employees,” said Simeon Quarrie, founder and CEO at VIVIDA. “Allowing staff to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes – whether that be a black man entering a corporate environment or a hacker on the dark web – immersive training can have a truly profound effect. It is a major step up from other corporate training tools on the market. Ultimately, our aim is to make very complex issues relatable for everyone through storytelling and gamification. Once COVID-19 hit, we knew we had to reconsider how we deliver our experiences so, we decided to make them available in interactive, online modules which are available to all customers – all they need is a laptop.”

Thus far, projects include a Diversity & Inclusion experience, developed initially for EY, which gave senior executives the chance to live a day in the life of a black man entering a corporate environment, including their home life and entering EY’s office.

“As a black man who knows how intimidating it can be to walk into corporate environments, I really wanted to bring the experience to life,” continued Quarrie. “We have done some incredible, eye-opening work aimed at helping board-level directors to understand what it is like for a black person trying to enter their world.”

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VIVIDA has also worked with the likes of Sky with an immersive security awareness training module, Date With a Hacker, which sits users across from a hacker who is trying to gather information that can be used for social engineering attacks. The company has also developed a Dark Web Mission Control Centre, which allows users to explore the various cyber-attack vectors through the eyes of an agent that has infiltrated the world of a hacker.

“I had never personally had much interest in cybersecurity until my card details were stolen. I started exploring training solutions on the market and found them patronising, unengaging, full of jargon, and hard to follow. The market was crying out for a solution that simplifies security for users,” said Simeon Quarrie, founder and CEO at VIVIDA.”Our Dark Web Mission Control Centre puts the protagonist in the shoes of an agent that has managed to infiltrate the dark web. They are able to move through the various sectors, with gamification and storytelling playing a role in helping users to learn about complex issues like social engineering.”

“We are always keeping an eye out for innovative new solutions and were attracted to VIVIDA as it offers a completely new approach to security awareness training that we had never seen before,”said Saj Huq, director at LORCA. “Being able to put users in the shoes of a hacker really brings issues that can be quite abstract to life, making immersive experiences a powerful tool when helping users to understand the kind of threats they are facing.”

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