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Accenture Virtual Experience Solution

The Accenture Virtual Experience Solution (AVEnueS) is a virtual reality (VR) training experience that makes the unknown familiar in public service.

Helping to see more with virtual reality

Every day the human services workforce makes important decisions with significant impacts on people’s lives. This work requires well-tuned skills and experience in understanding and navigating human behavior.

To help develop these skills, Accenture created an immersive learning resource known as the Accenture Virtual Experience Solution (AVEnueS). We designed the solution not only to accelerate the pace of learning but also to enhance workers’ scope of awareness.

AVEnueS helps human services workers refine their skills and become more alert and cognizant of the signals and other complex dynamics they observe. It uses immersive storytelling and interactive voice-based scenarios to completely transform how workers hone their data-gathering and decision-making skills.

AVEnueS provides a foundation for building a workforce highly skilled in assessing complex situations and making more effective decisions.

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The Metaverse Continuum

Where change, imagination and opportunity meet.

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Making the unknown familiar

AVEnueS training offers unlimited possibilities for developing skills and experience in the human services workforce.

Engage

AVEnueS uses virtual reality (VR) technology to transport trainees into simulated environments and engage them with realistic scenarios.

Observe

An immersive 360⁰ headset helps trainees develop observation skills to identify important decision points.

Decide

Help workers strengthen their ability to rapidly discuss decision points and make effective choices.

Training scenarios for human services

AVEnueS offers four scenarios designed to enable real-world practice without real-world risk.

To create an AVEnueS scenario, Accenture brings together seasoned human services workers and teams of professional actors, directors, writers, and set and costume designers.

The resulting scenarios are both high quality and highly realistic—immersing human services workers in environments with people similar to those they may encounter in their day-to-day work. AVEnueS offers the opportunity for anyone who works in the public sector to think about how we interact with citizens and design ways to improve interpersonal behaviors.

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Practice observing, inquiring and interpreting human behavior, especially when what people say doesn’t match what they do.

Sophia’s story invites the user to practice the universal skills needed in human services. Here you step into 7-year-old Sophia’s home following a report of neglect. Your task is to interview each member of the family and develop an opinion about her safety. This experience provides an opportunity to observe, engage and interpret human behavior in complex families.

Practice conflict management, particularly when it might rise to the level of violence.

Monica’s story invites the user back into Sophia’s home to develop a deeper understanding of the intersection of domestic violence and child protection. Here you spend time with Sophia’s mom, Monica, and her mom’s boyfriend, Lance. Your task is to negotiate a plan that will enable Sophia to stay safely at home. This experience provides an opportunity to experience the risk and power dynamics at play when domestic violence may be present.

Deepen our understanding of how and when race bias enters our decision-making process.

Tory’s story is a unique opportunity to understand how race bias affects decision making. Here you spend time with 15-year-old Tory, who is experiencing conflict at home. Visit him and his family at home and decide if it’s safe for Tory to stay there. Would your answer change based on Tory’s race? This experience provides an opportunity to reflect on behaviors that could increase race equity in our day-to-day lives.

Focus on how trauma impacts us over generations and consider ways to help people begin to heal.

Alayna’s story invites the user to develop a deeper understanding of how trauma affects young people. Here the user meets a 15-year-old girl who is entangled in a conflictual and dysfunctional family dynamic. The ability to engage with her over time gives a window into the impact of intergenerational trauma and how it presents itself in adolescent behavior. This experience provides an opportunity to practice promoting a culture of safety, empowerment and healing.

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Benefits of learning in virtual reality

31%

reduction in turnover.

75%

trainees feel more prepared to succeed.

69%

of experienced workers report improved observation, inquiry and interpretation skills.

40%

reduction in training time compared to traditional training.

75%

reduction in training resource costs.

40%

fewer mistakes made compared to conventional training methods.

THE IMPRINT WEBINAR

Taking on Racial Bias in Child Welfare

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Awards and recognition

2022 Anthem Awards -- Advancing Race Equity in VR (Tory's Home Visit) has been awarded GOLD for Best Special Projects, which recognizes projects that raise awareness via Responsible Technology. The same project also received a SILVER award in the Innovation category, which identifies new and innovative techniques that are advancing and improving the community.

 

VR Social Impact Award - AVEnueS – Race Equity in Child Welfare was recognized by AIXR (The Academy of International Extended Reality) in 2021 for achievements in human services.

 

GSMA GLOMO Awards - AVEnueS was the recipient of “Best Mobile VR or AR” in 2019. The GLOMOs are a testament to the incredible innovation and ingenuity shaping our industry.

 

SXSW Interactive Innovations - AVEnueS was a finalist in the 2019 SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards, which recognizes the most exciting tech developments in the connected world.

Case studies

San Diego County wanted to address error rates in eligibility decisions that affect whether families get the essential benefits needed to access food, health care and basic needs. The County recognized that new caseworkers needed more “real world” experience to help them conduct interviews to validate eligibility.

 

San Diego County selected AVEnueS to train eligibility caseworkers so that they can feel confident on day one by creating a new learning module for the AVEnueS program that focused specifically on eligibility.

 

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The Georgia Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS) sought to accelerate the pace with which their child welfare caseworkers could build the experience and confidence to make the tough decisions faced daily.

 

Solution
Georgia DFCS partnered with Accenture to pilot AVEnueS as supplemental training for their child welfare workers. Through VR, users are transported into real-world scenarios where they practice making tough decisions in stressful situations. Followed by a carefully curated seminar, users work together to evaluate their approach and increase their ability to observe and interpret human behavior.

 

Result
During the initial phase, approximately 250 DFCS caseworkers and supervisors (15% of frontline staff) completed the learning cycle. Preliminary feedback suggests the training should be incorporated into the new case manager training academy in the future. The State of Georgia sees much promise in this training platform as a way to improve decision making and child safety.

What we think

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Working for racial justice in child welfare

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New AVEnueS for virtual reality in child welfare

Early adopters are uncovering innovative child welfare use cases for the Accenture Virtual Experience.

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Technology Vision

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AVEnueS in the news

Using VR to improve child welfare services

Facing a high turnover rate, Indiana's Child Services Department used VR to better prepare family case workers for a tough job. Read more

Virtual reality can improve employee retention

Indiana Department of Child Services decreased staff turnover by 31% and laid the foundation for a data-centric transformation. Read more

Accenture wins GLOMO award for VR mobile app

The Accenture Virtual Experience Solutions (AVEnueS) has won “Best Mobile VR or AR” at the GSMA GLOMO Awards 2019. Read more

Our leaders

Molly Tierney

Managing Director – Public Service, Child Welfare, North America

Molly has spent 25+ years improving outcomes for vulnerable citizens, most recently as the Director for Baltimore Department of Social Services.

Meet Molly

Dan Buie

Senior Manager, Health and Human Services, North America

Dan combines expertise in business, technology, and design to help organizations achieve their strategic objectives through digital transformation.

Meet Dan

Nancy Blackwell

Manager – Health and Human Services, North America

Nancy is a human services professional experienced in local and state agencies, domestic/international nonprofits and most recently on Capitol Hill.

Meet Nancy