According to a new report by analyst firm Gartner, IT chiefs should emphasise the reduced staff training costs that virtual world technology can bring when building a business case.

The report argued businesses hesitate to invest in virtual world projects because they lack proven benefits, but Gartner analyst Steve Prentice, said “Despite understandable concerns about investment during a time of growing business uncertainty, we believe that the internal deployment of virtual worlds offers most enterprise significant benefits in cost savings and improved productivity.”

Gartner pointed to the use of virtual environments in training emergency services and the military because of its lower cost than established training methodologies. Trainees can still interact with each other and their trainers, as well as stream media into the virtual world and embed documents into display objects, the report pointed out.

Virtual world deployment can also be used in businesses worldwide product launches that involve training, presentations and project planning, the report added. This will eliminate the need to bring employees from different worldwide locations and reduce associated travel costs.

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