Serious Games Entertain, Educate Employees

A hurricane is about to hit the coast of North Carolina. Knowing demand for items like plywood, flashlights and batteries will spike in areas affected by the storm, you turn to your networks to figure out which suppliers can quickly and cost-effectively supply the needed gear.

Supply chain professionals for large retail chains regularly face these kinds of situations on the job. It’s also a scenario offered in Innov8, a “serious game” created by IBM to educate users about business process management. Working with budgets, suppliers and a list of key performance indicators based on environmental impact, customer satisfaction and other factors, players learn the likely outcomes of their choices. For instance, while increasing prices on emergency supplies will boost company profits, customer satisfaction will suffer.

IBM first created Innov8 to address what surveys showed was “a major skills gap” in business process management among business students, says Phaedra Boinodiris, IBM’s Serious Games product manager. Seeking an “immersive, engaging experience” to teach the basics of BPM and illustrate how IT solutions can be used to improve business outcomes, IBM decided to borrow some of the learning methods employed by the developers of online simulation games such as the wildly popular The Sims.

It was offered as part of IBM’s Academic Initiative, a program designed to help universities produce graduates with the kinds of business-oriented IT skills desired by employers. After receiving positive feedback from university users, IBM decided to offer it to professional customers and business partners as well.

Features such as embedded glossaries were added to the original version, which runs on a 3D gaming engine, to make it more intuitive, and IBM launched three online games. To ensure the games featured situations of real-world relevance, IBM incorporated suggestions from its Global Services consulting organization.

Anyone can play Innov8 for free online and compare their scores with others on global scoreboards. Universities participating in the Academic Initiative and IBM clients can access the full 3D version. Also offered on the site are 3D case studies showing how IBM clients solved real-world problems using the company’s products. Coming soon, Innov8 will be integrated into BPM Blueworks, an online community that features content and tools such as process maps.

Innov8 offers users the ability to make mistakes, turning what could be costly errors in the real world into learning experiences in the virtual one. “Players can experiment with models and see how they affect the broader business ecosystem. You click on customers. What will they say to you? You click and see how much budget is left. How does that affect your next move? These kinds of things are what make the game resonate,” Boinodiris says.

Simulation games can also help companies get their employees in line with corporate strategy during a business transformation. The desire to do so led Assurant Employee Benefits, a subsidiary of insurer Assurant Inc., to partner with game maker Propaganda 3 to produce four games customized for its workforce. A multifunctional Assurant team meets regularly with Propaganda 3 developers to review the company’s goals and business and technical requirements for the games.

The company has been “overwhelmed” by response to the games, says Beth Helmuth, Training and Development manager. Within six weeks of launching its first game in July of 2008, 95 percent of its 2,100 employees had played. Initially, participation was tied to a short-term incentive bonus, and participating employees also will receive a bonus following the release of the fourth and final game.

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