To compete with tech giants, Strivr opens its VR platform - TechTarget

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Derek Belch, laminitis and CEO of VR startup Strivr, is opening up its level to accelerate firm VR grooming adoption and grow contented options.

Patrick Thibodeau

Patrick Thibodeau, Senior News Writer

Published: 24 Oct 2022

Strivr Labs Inc. is simply a virtual world for sports grooming startup founded successful 2015 that started disconnected moving with NBA and NFL teams. But a twelvemonth later, it gained a caller benignant of customer -- Walmart, which adopted its VR strategy to bid employees. Verizon and Bank of America followed, among others, successful adopting its platform.

But Strivr is 1 of the smaller food swimming successful a increasing pond of large companies moving deeper into the firm learning market, including Microsoft and Meta.

To assistance it compete, Strivr is gathering a spouse web for endeavor deployment of its VR technology. It is opening up its level to marque it easier for third-party providers to make contented and for services and exertion providers to enactment the adoption of its VR technology.

This month, it unveiled concern agreements with companies including VMware, Qualcomm and Accenture, arsenic good arsenic headset shaper Pico among others. Strivr uses Oculus, owned by Meta, and Pico headsets connected its platform.

Building an ecosystem

VR training requires headsets, software, content, information analytics and consulting services, "and we request to plug into a batch of the systems retired there," said Derek Belch, laminitis and CEO of Strivr, based successful Palo Alto, Calif.

Partnerships person been moving retired for Strivr. Belch pointed to the narration with Meta and Oculus, for example, calling it "a fruitful relationship." Accenture is an investor, and truthful is Workday. Strivr is present moving with Workday connected a ceremonial integration.

As of today, we are moving with these companies, we're not competing with them. Derek BelchFounder and CEO, Strivr

"As of today, we are moving with these companies, we're not competing with them," helium said.

With VMware, Belch said that users tin negociate headsets utilizing mobile instrumentality management nether the aforesaid umbrella arsenic tablets and different mobile devices.

The narration with Qualcomm, which makes semiconductors and wireless exertion products, and is simply a shaper of VR instrumentality chips, enables Strivr to supply feedback connected "what is happening and not happening retired successful the field," which whitethorn assistance with aboriginal spot design, Belch said.

Josh Bersin, an HR analyst, said Strivr's VR strategy is proprietary, arsenic are each VR platforms, due to the fact that "there are nary standards for immoderate of this, truthful Strivr is trying to make an ecosystem."

Strivr "essentially pioneered the firm VR market," and "their clients privation much options -- antithetic goggles, the accidental to usage different improvement partners, connecting the Strivr strategy into their [learning absorption system] and different infrastructure" and usage it arsenic their ain interior improvement tool, Bersin said.

Bersin compares Strivr's determination to unfastened its level arsenic being akin to Apple's determination to make an app store.

Strivr, which expects to grow its spouse network, said its strategy has trained much than 1 cardinal workers astatine assorted companies.

Initial adopters are larger companies with wealth to walk connected customized VR learning. "The contented instauration is the astir costly part," Belch said.

For the midmarket and smaller companies, "there is not a robust room of off-the-shelf VR content," Belch said. "It's not arsenic cost-prohibitive arsenic it was a fewer years ago, but we're inactive not astatine the constituent wherever it is acceptable to spell for the satellite of SMBs."

As acold arsenic however Strivr volition coexist with tech giants, Belch said that's thing to beryllium determined.

"Sometimes startups similar america vie with large companies similar Microsoft, sometimes we spouse with them, sometimes they telephone america and say, 'We privation to get you,'" Belch said. "It's excessively aboriginal to accidental however we are going to vie with the larger players."

Patrick Thibodeau covers HCM and ERP technologies for TechTarget Editorial. He's worked for much than 2 decades arsenic an endeavor IT reporter.