In 2018 Crédit Agricole Technologies & Services (CATS), the group technology entity that builds systems for Crédit Agricole's 39 regional banks, was asked to find a better way to train branch staff. Classroom courses and e-learning were judged too theoretical, with weak knowledge retention and low engagement. CATS evaluated the options and settled on virtual reality.
Rather than buy a training catalogue, CATS built its own: a VR application paired with a web platform so each regional bank can use, author and distribute its own content. The library had grown to 23 custom scenarios by the time the case study was published. Employees are placed inside a simulated bank branch to work through compliance guidelines, practise delicate customer conversations and learn new product features.
Crédit Agricole d'Île-de-France (CADIF) is the flagship user. It began on HTC's VIVE Focus Plus standalone headsets and later moved to the VIVE Focus 3, which the bank says simplified headset configuration and deployment and improved the user experience. The HTC VIVE team also helped CATS integrate the headsets into its MDM fleet-management tool and advised on data-security practice.
By the time the case study was published, nine of the group's 39 regional banks were using the platform. The bank reports better knowledge retention, more confident employees and lower training travel costs; no figures are published for any of these, and the account is the hardware vendor's own. Further scenarios and a broader rollout across the group were described as in progress.
