The RVRC 4.0 project kicked off in June 2023. For this Research & Development project, a consortium, of which we are a part, was established to develop a virtual reality application dedicated to customer relations.
It was created to meet the challenges of new consumer expectations, the digital shift, and the normalization of smartphone and social media use. Indeed, these factors have had a significant impact on consumption habits and customer service professions.
The main idea of the RVRC 4.0 project is that virtual reality and new technologies can be a means of training for the behavioral and technical skills required in customer service professions. The project is set to last 3 years and will be tested on a large scale, including with CAP, Professional Baccalaureate, and BTS levels.
Customer service professions include all jobs that are centered around the client. This represents more than 285,000 establishments at the national level that we aim to support.
What are the objectives of the RVRC 4.0 project?
- Analyze and understand the behavioral skills expected in customer relations.
- Develop a training framework dedicated to the skills used in customer service professions.
- Modernize the training ecosystem by creating a virtual environment and integrating new technologies.
- Evaluate the impact of new technologies on learning and teaching methods.
- Train trainers in the use of technologies.
The project is organized around 6 actions:
1° Identify and analyze emblematic customer relationship situations
- Gather a significant amount of data through field surveys conducted with partner companies;
- Analyze the data to define the core competencies used in customer service.
2° Script and experiment with customer relationship situations
- Design educational scenarios and multimodal or fully remote training courses adapted to different audiences;
- Create a virtual environment that includes professionalization modules.
3° Train the trainers
- Enable trainers to familiarize themselves with the created virtual environment and the new training modalities and technologies, through sessions organized in person, in a hybrid manner, and remotely.
4° Test the finalized training system
- Mobilize more than 20 establishments and 3 professional training organizations to evaluate the relevance and effects of the system;
- Identify deployable practices and areas for improvement.
5° Scale up the system
- Verify the technical capacity of the entire system to adapt to an increase in flow and data;
- Communicate to gain the adherence of new structures.
6° Transposing the Framework
- Produce a methodological guide to extend it to other situations.
Organizations involved in the RVRC 4.0 project
The promoters of this project:
- GIP FCIP Lille Hauts-De-France
- French Government
- The Investment Plan in Skills
- The Banque des Territoires (Caisse des Dépôts)
- The DEFFINUM project call (France Innovative Digital Training Devices)
- France 2030
- France Relance
- European Union
The partners of this project:
- GIP FCIP Lille Hauts-De-France (Public Interest Group for Continuous Training and Professional Integration)
- Immersive Colab, which uses virtual reality for businesses, training, and education.
- University of Lille, which brings together schools, faculties/UFRs, institutes, and internal schools.
- IAE Lille, which is a university school of management, marketing, and business.
- Immersive Factory, a startup specialized in the design, development, and distribution of simulators and serious games in virtual reality.
- Gaston Berger is a High School offering training in management, commerce, banking, insurance, transport, and tourism.
- GIP FCIP of Aix-Marseille
- GIP FIPAN (Public Interest Group for Training and Professional Integration of the Nice Academy)
- L'opcommerce, a partner for company work-study programs in commerce, covering 20 professional branches.
- AFMD is a network of retail brands.
- Campus des métiers et des qualifications Relation client in Hauts-De-France is the first tertiary campus in Hauts-De-France.
- Campus de l'habitat is a training center for ADEO group, the European leader and the 3rd global player in the DIY and home improvement market.
- GRETA Lille métropole is a training operator in the Lille metropolitan area.