This article presents the results and findings of employees perception and experience regarding the User Experience (UX) Test conducted for a Virtual Reality (VR) application. This is the Proof-of-Concept (POC) for Business Communication training programme held on 26th October 2022 by an enterprise training provider of an oil and gas company. Ten individuals were selected for this session, comprising five executives and five non-executives.

The objective of the User Experience (UX) Test is to evaluate the immersivity of a VR application for communication and business networking practice. It is highlighted that the critical success of immersivity of VR application is depending on user’s quality of experience (QoE). QoE is defined as a user-centric metric that assesses how a user perceives a service, particularly in telecommunications. It's a holistic concept that considers subjective feedback and how well a service meets a user's needs. QoE is related to Quality of Service (QoS), but QoS focuses on technical performance, while QoE considers user satisfaction which are the main focus of this study.

This study involved objective metrics and subjective metrics. Objective metrics are evaluated through user experience. In this work, we examine users excitement by capturing and monitoring user’s heart rate. User’s heart rate is read throughout the UX test within the interval of 5 minutes. A participant’s heart rate beats per minute (BPM) is taken using a heart rate monitor (HRM) armband. While, subjective metrics measures user’s perceived quality of experience based on self-reported measures via post-experience questionnaires. Through an online survey distributed among the participants of this training which consists of 4 subscale which are (1) VR Environment, (2) VR Devices, (3) Experience and (4) Effects, 10 demographic questions and 3 items are open-ended questions, the study investigates the benefits, challenges and implications of incorporating Business Communication training using Virtual Reality (VR) application/platform.

The findings underscores the perceived advantages of virtual training using VR, which participants are able to experience the immersive and realistic scenarios through VR and create real world behavioural changes. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of immersive technologies in enhancing learner motivation and interaction in corporate training programs. Minimal adverse physical effects were reported, reinforcing the viability of VR as a safe and effective communication learning tool.

Overall, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the opportunities and challenges associated with utilising VR in corporate business practices and suggests avenues for future work and policy development in this domain. From the results analysed in this study, it is concluded that the tested VR application have been well perceived by participants. Virtual environment seemed natural, even with the virtual interfaces. Participants responded overwhelmingly positive to the VR application, highlighting its realism, ease of interaction and the ability to simulate real-world scenarios effectively. The VR application was well-received, with participants praising its functionality, responsiveness, and overall user experience. Participants found the VR application to be engaging and effective, with many citing it as a valuable tool for interactive learning and task performance.

Keywords: Virtual Reality, immersive, corporate, communication training, business networking practice.