Does virtual reality have a role to play in today’s banking landscape? Comerica Bank’s innovation team thinks so, which is why the bank is using virtual reality to train its employees, or “dabbling in futurism,” as Geoff Novak, Comerica’s senior technology and innovation executive, calls it.

“A huge part of our methodology revolves around something called digital ethnographic research,” Novak told Bank Innovation. “That’s the study of how technology influences human behavior, and conversely how human behavior affects the adoption of technology.”

It is through this research that Comerica’s innovation team decided to partner with a company called Mursion, which creates virtual reality environments for professionals to practice interpersonal skills.

“This project is specifically designed to help retail banking employees interact with customers,” Novak said. “For example, a newly married couple comes into the branch and the employee has to convince them on why they should have a joint account.”

“VR is a very effective form of learning,” he said. “The experience and training are totally immersive for the employee. So, this employee sees these avatars, and learns how to deal with real human emotions and reactions.”

Whether this virtual reality will find a place in actual consumer-facing products and services, Novak declined to say.

Right now, VR is still an emerging technology, Novak explained. The goal is to use it internally as a way to familiarize the staff with the technology as well as prove to stakeholders and investors the value of the technology.

Novak did not elaborate on other innovation initiatives, but Sangy Vatsa, EVP and CIO at Comerica previously told Bank Innovation that the bank has a technology strategy, called Tech Vision 2020 already in place focused on five guiding principles: “customer centricity;  speed & agility; embedded security & architecture; optimizing costs, and empowering our talent ecosystem.”

The approach towards these principles is twofold, Vatsa explained. One is strengthening the bank’s core, which includes embedded security projects, asset modernization as well as talent and culture development. The second part of this approach focuses on transformation and includes projects on robotics, AI, ML, agile digital delivery, etc.

Based in Dallas, Texas, Comerica had $71.6 billion in assets as of December 2017.

Based in San Francisco, Mursion is a platform that uses artificial intelligence, among other technologies, to simulate real-world human interactions by creating human-like avatars to train professionals on handling customer interaction.