Timeline
The VR drilling rig training is a complex digital product, the development of which is conducted in several phases. These stages may include the exploration of key concepts, concept design, prototype design, pre-usability test, innovation design, usability test, and effectiveness test (Lyk et al., 2020). The first phase — the identification of key concepts — will take one month and will be focused on examining the challenges experiences by drilling rig operators. The concept design stage will last two months and will involve writing scenarios and planning the shooting. Further, four months will be spent on the prototype design, and one month will be allocated to the pre-usability test. During the final three months of development, the VR training program will be refined and tested for usability and effectiveness. When the product is ready, the promotion phase will begin, which will involve the launch announcement and advertising. After the program is launched, customer feedback will be collected, and any necessary adjustments will be made.
Growth Ambitions
VR technology is an innovative way of training employees in many fields, including the oil and gas industry. It helps workers acquire a wide range of skills, including psychomotor, procedural, decision-making, and spatial skills (Radhakrishnan et al., 2021). VR training is especially useful in circumstances where learning in the real environment is either expensive or involves a high cost of errors. Since the operation of drilling rigs bears certain safety risks, the use of VR technology for training drilling rig operators is justified and has a high potential of becoming a high-demand product. In the petroleum industry, employees should be trained in both rig awareness and well awareness, meaning that they need to know what is happening both inside and outside of the well (Maliardi et al., 2018). Therefore, the growth ambitions include developing VR training programs for improving the knowledge of drilling rigs, well-related operations, and general safety issues.
Downside Risks
Although VR effectively improves employees’ skills and helps reduce costs, it has some downside risks. One risk is that VR technology may cause cybersickness in users, which is manifested by nausea during the VR experience (Radhakrishnan et al., 2021). Although this side effect is infrequent, it may hinder some potential customers from buying this product. Another risk is the possibility of security breaches resulting from cyberattacks. According to Gulhane et al. (2019), breaking into VR learning systems, hackers may use administrator privileges for eavesdropping or impersonation. It means that any security issues with the VR training can lead to data breaches, which will undermine the developer’s reputation and reduce product sales.
Communications
It will be necessary to communicate with oil and gas companies in the first place since they are the primary target audience for the VR drilling rig training. Communication channels that will be used for reaching them include commercial offer letters, telephone calls, and industry events. Another market segment to be addressed is colleges and universities that offer oil and gas training courses. The communication strategy for this audience will include not only raising awareness of the product and promoting it but also distributing educational materials explaining how to use the product. Finally, there is a need to engage in two-way communication with customers. Collecting feedback from users is essential for the success of the VR drilling rig training since it will allow noticing any shortcomings and modifying the product for a better customer experience.
References
Gulhane, A., Vyas, A., Mitra, R., Oruche, R., Hoefer, G., Valluripally, S., Calyam, P., & Hoque, K. A. (2019). Security, privacy and safety risk assessment for virtual reality learning environment applications. In 2019 16th IEEE annual consumer communications & networking conference (CCNC) (pp. 1-9). IEEE.
Lyk, P. B., Majgaard, G., Vallentin-Holbech, L., Guldager, J. D., Dietrich, T., Rundle-Thiele, S., & Stock, C. (2020). Co-Designing and learning in virtual reality: Development of tool for alcohol resistance training. Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 18(3), 219-234.
Maliardi, A., Ferrara, P., Poloni, R., Spagnolo, S., De Marchi, E., Grasso, T., & Allara, P. (2018). Virtual reality in D&C: A new way for immersion training and operation simulation. In Abu Dhabi international petroleum exhibition & conference (pp. 1-13). Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Radhakrishnan, U., Koumaditis, K., & Chinello, F. (2021). A systematic review of immersive virtual reality for industrial skills training. Behaviour & Information Technology, 40(12), 1310-1339.