TD Bank is experimenting with virtual reality to build practical skill sets through controlled customer simulations, leading to improved employee training.
“TD has been experimenting with different immersive experiences for colleagues and customers,” TD Product Manager Kerry Narduzzi told Bank Automation News. “This is a new technology and we want to really understand it and understand its applications.”
Virtual reality (VR) provides a computer-generated 3D environment that surrounds a user and responds to an individual’s actions, often through a headset.
The $1.9 trillion TD Bank launched its pilot with VR training solutions provider Strivr in November 2023, Narduzzi said. The pilot includes 260 employees from 20 Canada-based branches who have access to headsets and immersive training modules.
For the VR simulation, employees practice interactions with customers in a “judgement-free space,” she said. This allows employees to practice speaking, build overall confidence, practice a skill set and listen back to their own responses to simulated customer inquiries.
JetBlue, Walmart and health care system AdventHealth are also using Strivr’s technology to train employees, according to Strivr’s website.
Toronto-based TD Bank has deployed a module for employees to learn to help customers resolve check holds, Narduzzi said, adding that the bank will deploy two more modules before the pilot phase concludes in May.
In the initial phases of evaluating the pilot, TD found:
- 96% of employees were highly or somewhat confident that what they learned in the VR training could be applied in the real world;
- 90% of employees reported higher information retention through VR training; and
- 80% of employees said VR training was more effective than traditional methods.
Next steps
TD is in the data collection and evaluation phase of the pilot, Narduzzi said, adding that the bank is assessing the costs and benefits of VR training.
The bank is analyzing whether VR complements existing training methods and reduces the amount of time required for managers to train employees to become customer-ready. After the data has been analyzed, the bank will determine next steps for the VR program, she said.
While Narduzzi declined to say how much TD is spending on the pilot, the bank reported a $1.9 billion non-interest expense in the first quarter of 2024 ending Dec. 31, 2023. This was a jump of 6% year over year, partly driven by technology costs, according to the bank’s Feb. 28 earnings report.
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