The business relies on the virtual (expension January 2008)

Recruitment, training, sales, innovation companies down more and more activities toward digital universe. Success has a job interview in jeans, her hair dyed pink sunglasses on the nose, it is now possible … In virtual worlds. In recent months, the CAC 40 majors eager to track their future staff in Second Life, the life simulator in vogue. Areva has been one of the first to move in this direction. Last May, it urged readers to pages use of a major newspaper to “teleport” their skills to Second Life. Others have followed, confirming the interest of business heavyweights towards the universe pixilated. Thus, BNP Paribas has increased a hundred interviews virtual hiring since last summer, along with Capgemini. ”We have mobilized a lot of people behind the avatars, virtual incarnations of Internet users,” Fun director of the workshop technological supervision of BNP Paribas. The operation allowed to test a new form of recruitment, while creating the buzz, to obtain many benefits in the press, on radio or on the Internet. “We had an unexpected audience, confirms the director of recruitment at Capgemini. All the media were there. “ But for the companies, the interests of virtual goes far beyond mere coup de pub. Example: training. HR managers are now using software close games – serious games – to train and aguerrir their employees. In this area, L’Oreal is a precursor. Two years ago, he offered a simulator hairdresser allowing hairdressers, or beginners, to learn how to increase turnover, to better respond to unhappy customers and to create a dynamic team. Former online easier and cheaper “In hairdressing schools, students learn all sorts of techniques cuts and colours, but the business often comes in second place,” says the international director e-services to L’Oreal. A deficiency as a virtual showroom can be filled. Another advantage by holding competitions, L’Oreal can detect the best elements. The employee will find his account, the playful side of the software making training more attractive than the traditional e-learning. “We have a satisfaction rate very high,” says the director of development for L’Oreal Hair and bearer of the project since the beginning. Sign of success, the game is already translated into a dozen languages. Another success: the simulator dialogue proposed by Daesign, a coming of the video game sector. This program puts you in the shoes of a framework that prepares – or is about to undergo – an assessment interview, or that of a financial adviser to answer questions from a customer. Thanks to a very simple interface, the player selects the stage of the interview, chooses the topics for discussion and clarify its intentions (listen, appreciate, bounce, and so on.). The software offers a balance sheet and possibly refers to training modules. A technology that attracted more and more businesses. ”To form a framework costs several hundred dollars per day, and it is sometimes difficult to assemble a lot of people together for sessions,” says Damian Nolan, business manager Daesign. Thanks to its simulator, BNP Paribas was able to train 1500 employees in a year, ten times more than the old methods, and much cheaper – the group would have saved 1.3 million euros! The value of these tools is not just financial. “The role-playing classic used in the training room are often distorted: no one dares to push each other’s positions. Not to mention the fear of trial participants, including that of colleagues, which may cripple, “says the director of training at SFR. “The simulator maintenance is to have a promising future,” concludes the project manager in human resources at Vivendi, despite a high acquisition cost (it takes at least 50000 euros for a product Quality). These successful experiences rather encourage companies to plunge further into the virtual world. Notably by investing in “private” Second Life. Such is the case with Victoria Couture, which launches in early 2008 a virtual shopping mall for its brand Hello Kitty. Before you enter, you must first create an avatar, a true beast shopping and dummy by proxy able to move in the store, look at the products closely and try on clothing. “It will be possible to go shopping at the same time as his friends,” Ringeval Dominica, artistic director of Ideas-3Com, the company that has just completed the project. The large distribution groups, very interested in this new type of technology, already considering similar applications. Delays incubation ideas shortcuts But the real challenge for the coming years is to encourage innovation through the virtual. “Today, the development of seven products in ten fails, because the creative process does not take sufficient account of the consumer,” says the president of The Factory of the Future, a think tank dedicated to the foresight and the ‘innovation. Hence the idea to involve the creation of products for people with imagination and attending Second Life. Another advantage is the incubation period between an idea and its realization is significantly reduced. The director of the agency Proâme, and the project manager of the agency Insights working together on the future of shower gel for a giant in the field of health and beauty. “Our client was running out of ideas. With the support of residents in Second Life, we have delivered eight concepts in a month. Five have been identified and are being tested in lab, “says Emilie Labidoire. The director of 3dswym, imagine also the products of the future for wholesale customers in the food and luxury: “You can simulate in six months what usually takes twelve to eighteen. “At this rate it will not be long to see happen in real supermarkets the first products born in virtual worlds. 

Sebastian Julian for expension of January 2008

Arnaud Chapu