On the way to the metaverse: In future, ERGO will also train self-employed sales agents using virtual reality (VR)

At ERGO, self-employed sales agents and partners will in future also be able to train using virtual reality (VR). From the second half of the year the insurance group will be rolling out the ERGO Academy’s multi-award-winning “VR Sales Training” system for this. In future, it will be possible for up to 500 self-employed sales agents to be trained with it each year. ERGO sees this offering as a first important step towards the metaverse and aims to gradually expand it.

Speaking about the roll-out, Mark Klein, Chief Digital Officer of ERGO Group AG and CEO of ERGO Digital Ventures AG, said: “The metaverse is currently probably the biggest bet on the future that we see. No area of our professional or private life will be unaffected by it, and it also offers the insurance sector tremendous opportunities. Our innovation teams are therefore already working on developing solutions for the use cases of tomorrow, for example in training and further training, or for advice at the point of sale. Our aim is nothing less than for ERGO insurance agents to be among the first in the metaverse.”

With the current “VR Sales Training” system, users learn how to conduct successful sales talks. Four different personality types are available to them as avatars, as well as a virtual coach to provide them with tips and support. The training course in German currently lasts altogether an hour and is to be gradually extended to up to ten hours. For self-employed sales agents, the training is intended to supplement the ERGO Academy’s traditional in-person and online training and will count as part of the annual further training requirement under the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD). The pilot for the project was launched in March 2022 and, by December that year, 75 sales agents had already taken part in it and rated the training as ‘very good’.

Besides the “VR Sales Training” system, ERGO has already firmly established virtual reality in other areas, such as business meetings. For example, for the last two years, meetings of ERGO Digital Ventures’ divisional managers have taken place purely in 3D virtual reality.

ERGO is also playing a leading role in the insurance sector with digital sales talks using VR. For example, sales agents have already been able to meet interested customers in a virtual, three-dimensional room since 2020. This is made available to sales agents via ERGO and offers them not only a new digital channel through which to reach their customers. The immersive visual possibilities of virtual reality also offer participants completely new options for advice.

ERGO aims to be the digital leader in the insurance sector by 2025 – both in Germany and in the international core markets. To this end, the insurance group is already working flat out on developing and implementing new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and process mining. ERGO also wants to play a leading role in the area of the metaverse, which is why work on the first promising use cases is already being carried out throughout the company.