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Mercury XRS: What it is, How it Works, What it Could Mean For You

Mercury XRS is an Extended Reality System, or XRS, that helps organizations manage, deliver, assign, update, and track their virtual reality and augmented reality training.

By using our cloud-based API technologies, Mercury XRS empowers you to:

  • Deliver and assign XR training to any device or user around the world
  • Automatically track top training KPIs and receive easy-to-read reports
  • Push updates to XR training over Wi-Fi without any additional software

We recently launched Mercury XRS, and we couldn’t be more excited to see organizations use it to enhance their corporate employee training. The training industry has adopted virtual reality and augmented reality. The challenge is to expertly manage those learning solutions on a large scale to benefit the whole organization. Mercury XRS helps you do precisely that.

In this article, we’ll explain what Mercury XRS is, discuss how it works, and explore the value it can bring to your organization. 

What is Mercury XRS?

Mercury XRS is an extended reality system (XRS) that organizations use to manage their extended reality (XR) training. Before we explore Mercury XRS in detail, let’s review the topic of XR training.

What is XR training? 

XR training, commonly called immersive learning, is an umbrella term for training solutions that leverage virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed-reality (MR).

When used strategically, XR training has a profound impact on learners. In particular, VR training can: 

  • Shorten the time participants need to learn
  • Reduce the number of learner mistakes
  • Boost the amount of knowledge retained
  • Help learners remember information long-term

While the training industry was initially intrigued by XR, it also had concerns about its practicality. However, the technology advanced rapidly, developers multiplied, and costs came down. Now, organizations far and wide see the behavior-changing promise of XR. 

We’ve built XR training solutions for companies like Walmart and Verizon, helping them round out and elevate their employee training programs. With the industry having adopted XR training, the next challenge became managing the content efficiently and scaling across many locations.

That’s why we created Mercury XRS.

Mercury XRS Maximizes XR Training

Mercury XRS helps organizations maximize the value of XR training with effortless management, delivery, and reporting from one web-based dashboard. It unlocks the full potential of your XR training, enabling your L&D team to perform functions they otherwise struggle to do.

By using our cloud-based API technologies, Mercury XRS empowers you to:

  • Deliver and assign XR training to any device or user around the world
  • Automatically track top training KPIs and receive easy-to-read reports
  • Push updates to XR training over Wi-Fi without any additional software

Typically, training professionals have to access their XR devices to perform such tasks manually. Or, they’re stuck juggling multiple training apps, making for a clunky and inefficient experience. Mercury XRS eliminates those scenarios, making it easier than ever to manage XR training across various locations.

READ MORE: Extended Reality System (XRS): What it is, Costs, Pros, and Cons

How Does it Work?

Setting up Mercury XRS is as easy as using it. You install the Mercury XRS software onto your VR headsets and other XR devices. Once the software is up and running, it uses cloud-based API technologies to send messages from the device to your dashboard. 

You can sign in to your web-based dashboard from anywhere and manage your XR training proficiently. You can: 

  • Deliver training to device groups 
  • Assign training to specific users
  • Keep your XR training up-to-date
  • Track XR training KPIs
  • Add users and administrators
  • Manage user permissions

In turn, your users can securely sign in to your XR devices and access their assigned training from anywhere in the world. 


Pros and Cons of Mercury XRS

Mercury XRS gives organizations many valuable capabilities. And as with any new technology, there could be some hurdles when first using Mercury XRS. Let’s take a look at some pros and cons.

Pros of Mercury XRS

  • Deliver and update XR training without manually accessing your XR devices — You don’t have to travel, nor do you have to shuffle your XR devices from one location to another. All you need is an internet connection.
  • Automate gathering of vital training metrics — With Mercury XRS, you no longer have to track and record XR training KPIs manually. The software does it for you and publishes easy-to-read reports to your web-based dashboard.
  • Flexible assignment of training activities — You can assign XR training to any devices and users you want, regardless of their location. 

Cons of Mercury XRS

  • Mercury XRS may need extra time to deliver your larger XR training files, like those that include a lot of 4K video or 3D elements with 4K textures. A simple solution is to send such content to your devices well before opening the training to learners.
  • When implementing an XRS, you might have to account for user education. For an XRS to yield your desired results, you’ll have to give people time to get comfortable with the technology. Fortunately, usability was top of mind when designing Mercury XRS so that users can grasp it without much additional training.

READ MORE: AR vs. VR Training: How to Choose the Best Technology

How Mercury XRS Can Bring Value to Your Organization

We explained what Mercury XRS is, how it works, and the pros and cons. Now, let’s explore the value it can bring to your organization.

Enhance Your Training Operations With Supreme Convenience

We designed Mercury XRS to fit seamlessly into your current training program. Here are a few ways in which implementing Mercury XRS can be a delight, not a disruption. 

Versatile LMS Integration

Using xAPI or AICC communication, Mercury XRS can connect with your LMS, keeping career development paths intact. Your organization can also seamlessly switch from an LMS integration to standalone software, and vice versa. Additionally, Mercury XRS can send messages to Learning Record Stores (LRS) with an xAPI component. You and your LMS vendor can configure the appearance and function of the Mercury XRS integration to your liking.

Easily Host Existing Content

Mercury XRS can host your existing XR training, helping you get more out of it than previously possible. You or a vendor will have to add some back-end code to the training, which may take a little time. However, the good news is you don’t need to recreate training to make it compatible with Mercury XRS.

Offline Access to Training

The convenience of Mercury XRS continues offline. Users can access any training assigned to them that you delivered to your devices before disconnecting from the internet. Mercury XRS will also store any training metrics on the device and send them to the dashboard when it’s back online.

Take Control of Your Training With Complete Flexibility

In some cases, you’re so restricted in your XR training that it doesn’t even feel like yours. Mercury XRS eliminates those restrictions and restores your ability to choose your training equipment, vendors, developers, designers, and more.

Near-Universal Compatibility 

To begin with, Mercury XRS avoids significant compatibility issues, which is a typical road bump in XRS implementation. Mercury XRS is compatible with:

  • Oculus Go, Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift S, and Pico Neo 2 VR headsets
  • Any XR content built in Unity
  • Modern web browsers like Edge, Chrome, Safari, and Firefox 

You aren’t limited to a narrow set of tech requirements and can use the tools that work best for your organization.

Dictate User Assignment and Permissions

Organizations often must assign XR training via one method: according to users or devices. Mercury XRS provides the flexibility to assign training the way you prefer, regardless of where the devices and users are located. You gain further control over your XR training program by using the Mercury XRS dashboard to adjust user permissions and alter what projects and data each user can see. Organizations can also brand their dashboards with company logos.

Generate ROI at Multiple Levels

Everything Mercury XRS enables your team to do ultimately leads to ROI. The automated reporting helps you design better XR training in the future. The simplified delivery, assignment, and updating help you get that impactful training to more learners. That broader access to effective XR training pays off in two main ways.

A Team of High-Performing Employees

We mentioned the behavior-changing promise of XR training. By merely exposing more learners to it, you likely increase your number of high-performing employees. Those odds increase when you consider the valuable training KPIs you could access with Mercury XRS:

  • Session completions
  • Time per session
  • Objective completions
  • Score
  • Eye tracking
  • Dwell time
  • Acceleration
  • Action time

No longer faced with manually recording and entering KPIs, your L&D team can spend more time using the insights to improve the instructional design elements of their training.

Scale XR Training and Save Money in the Process

Despite the training impact of solutions like virtual reality training and augmented reality training, L&D professionals have struggled to scale them. Mercury XRS meets that challenge head-on by giving L&D professionals the capacity to manage devices and users around the world with ease. Scalability itself is a viable path to cost-effective XR training. PwC found that VR training achieves cost parity with classroom training at 375 learners and eLearning at 1,950 learners. VR becomes 52% more cost-effective than classroom training at 3,000 learners. Mercury XRS makes scalability possible and drives ROI as a result. 

READ MORE: 5 Hurdles to Scaling Virtual Reality Training and How to Overcome Them  

How Much Does it Cost?

Considering the capabilities and value Mercury XRS can provide, you might wonder what it costs. You pay a monthly license fee for each device you load the Mercury XRS software on. That fee falls between $10-$20 per month, depending on how many devices you use. The more devices you load with Mercury XRS, the less expensive your monthly license fee is per device. You also pay a baseline fee for the web-accessed dashboard.

READ MORE: Cost of Virtual Reality Training: Full VR [2020]

Ready to Streamline Your XR Training?

We hope you understand what Mercury XRS is and have a clear sense of its value. And we hope you’re as excited about it as we are! To summarize, your organization could benefit from Mercury XRS if you:

  • Have (or will have) XR training that you want to manage efficiently
  • Want to scale XR training nationally or globally

If your training program doesn’t involve XR training, you don’t need Mercury XRS. As always, feel free to reach out to us with any questions. We’re here to help!

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