Microsoft’s New Killer App – Training!

Implications: Simulations are a proven way of providing better training at lower costs.  Today’s simulations, to be effective, are prohibitively expensive for the average enterprise to adopt.  Microsoft’s ESP could potentially provide a platform for a wide array of simulation training at a price anyone can afford. 

Analysis: Simulations have been used for many years in select industries to provide training.  High-end simulators can cost tens of millions of dollars, but they provide a surprisingly realistic experience.  They are typically used today in places where human lives are at stake or the costs of a failure are prohibitively high.  Astronauts, who have to get it right the first time, train extensively in simulators before actually flying.  Pilots have long used simulators for training and testing. 

Current research in human learning patterns clearly shows the value of directed practice.  Virtually every world-class competitor in sports achieved their skills through thousands of hours of “correct” practice.  Practice is most useful when it directly simulates the actual event.  While world-class athletes have talent and natural gifts, even average persons can develop an astonishingly high level of skill through sufficient practice of the right kind. 

The key to learning is time spent on correct practice.  This is true for both cerebral events such as chess or physical such as football.  It applies equally to enterprise skills such as selling, customer service or management.  Many enterprises today spend large sums of money on training their employees, yet that training seems to be surprisingly ineffective.  Most training follows the traditional classroom format with a lecture and Q&A.  This does provide some information to the audience, but a multitude of research exists to show that true learning is very limited in this format.  True learning requires the students be required to actually apply what they have heard in real situations.  Some classes attempt this via role-playing, but that also has limited value, since the participants are usually not comfortable in their roles.

Computer-based simulations can provide the actual experience necessary to force students to acquire knowledge.  Such simulations have not yet been widely used, largely due to the expense of creating the accurate simulations.  A secondary barrier is that many people have not been entirely comfortable using a “video game” to learn a skill.  This latter barrier is falling rapidly as the video-game generation becomes more common in enterprises.  This generation, which is now most people under 40, is actually more comfortable using a computer game to learn a skill.  Limited testing suggests that the participation rate is higher and the actual results are better, even with the very limited tools commonly available today.

Microsoft’s ESP product promises to revolutionize this market.  If they can provide a general-purpose simulation tool at a reasonable price (in this market, $799/user is quite reasonable) they may create an entirely new market.  It is assumed today that the vast majority of enterprise (and even SMB) employees have a copy of Microsoft Office.  It is necessary for them to do their day-to-day work.  In the future, it seems quite reasonable that a training tool could be considered almost as necessary.  Every person using Office today is by definition a knowledge worker at some level.  Knowledge workers must be trained.  There is no better or more economical training method than simulation.

Every manager needs a simulation training tool to drill on various management scenarios to be better prepared when they actually arise.  Customer service people need drills on handling difficult customers.  Marketing and sales likewise need simulations.  The list goes on and on…  Microsoft could have a winner here that will one day rival Office in terms of popularity, although several years of development are yet needed to make it sufficiently general-purpose.