John Brooks is the founder and CEO of Mass Digital, a visionary expertise chief with over 20 years of expertise driving product and answer innovation throughout Digital Actuality (VR), Blended Actuality (MR), and Augmented Actuality (AR) for each business and protection sectors.
Below John’s management, Mass Digital has developed the MassXR platform, a complicated coaching ecosystem that integrates a Common Studying Content material Administration System (uLCMS) with cutting-edge simulations, gamification, and educational video assist. Designed to boost real-world expertise and scholar efficiency, the MassXR platform empowers organizations with a safe, sustainable, and cost-effective XR coaching answer, full with teacher administration instruments to create an immersive, results-driven studying expertise.
Might you inform us about your transition from serving as an Air Drive aircrew member to founding Mass Digital? What impressed you to start out the corporate in 2009?
My journey from serving within the Air Drive to founding Mass Digital was deeply private. After years of touring the globe and dedicating myself to my navy duties, I discovered myself longing to be extra current for my household. I needed to carve out a profession the place I may mix my love for expertise and the humanities with the insights gained from my navy expertise. The world of digital innovation captivated me, however I observed that the tempo throughout the navy was slower than I envisioned. I spotted I had the chance to create one thing significant and impactful, so I made a decision to take the leap and begin Mass Digital. It was my probability to not simply sustain with the longer term however to assist form it, and I couldn’t be extra enthusiastic about that path.
How has your navy background influenced the path and mission of Mass Digital, significantly in designing options for protection and aviation industries?
My navy background has performed a pivotal position in shaping each my strategy and the mission of Mass Digital. It instilled in me the significance of adaptability and strategic considering, particularly in high-pressure conditions. Within the navy, we regularly confronted complicated and dynamic challenges that required us to assume on our ft and think about a variety of prospects. This expertise has translated seamlessly into how we develop our coaching options. At Mass Digital, we embrace that very same spirit of flexibility and thoroughness, making certain our merchandise aren’t simply efficient but additionally attentive to the distinctive wants of the protection and aviation industries. It’s about crafting options that empower people to excel, and I’m extremely proud to hold these classes ahead in our work.
Because you based Mass Digital over 15 years in the past, how has VR/XR expertise advanced? What had been among the early challenges you confronted in constructing immersive coaching options, and the way have these been overcome as expertise matured?
The evolution of VR/XR expertise has been nothing wanting extraordinary over the previous 15 years. After we first set out, the panorama was fairly completely different; there was skepticism concerning the potential of those applied sciences, and we regularly confronted hurdles with restricted adoption. It was a problem to persuade stakeholders of the immense advantages VR and XR may convey to coaching and schooling.
Nevertheless, as developments in {hardware} and software program emerged, together with vital value reductions, we witnessed a shift in notion. The door started to open, permitting us to showcase the true capabilities of immersive coaching. Our group remained steadfast in our imaginative and prescient, believing from the outset that this expertise was destined to go mainstream. We devoted ourselves to refining our merchandise, pushing the boundaries of what was doable, and right now, that dedication has actually paid off for us and our prospects.
Because the market matured, so did our understanding of methods to tailor our options to satisfy the evolving wants of our customers. The journey has been crammed with studying and progress. I’m proud to say that right now we’re serving to firms implement their very own XR methods and highway maps to attain workforce proficiency.
Mass Digital’s expertise is deployed throughout 135+ areas and helps over 31,000 USAF members yearly. How did you scale the platform to such a large attain, and what position did technological developments play in reaching that?
Scaling Mass Digital has been an exhilarating journey, pushed by our prospects’ wants and their perception within the worth we convey to their coaching applications. We acknowledged early on that our platform needed to be adaptable, so we designed it with particular use instances in thoughts, permitting us to reply shortly to various necessities throughout completely different areas.
The success of our enlargement can be a testomony to our unbelievable group, whose ardour and dedication to innovation have been instrumental in our progress. They share a imaginative and prescient that goes past simply delivering an incredible product; it’s about creating significant coaching experiences that genuinely improve outcomes for our customers.
Technological developments have performed a big position on this journey. As VR/XR expertise has matured, we have been capable of leverage new instruments and methodologies to refine our choices. This has allowed us to achieve a wider viewers and meet the wants of the varied organizations we serve. It’s immensely rewarding to see our options making a distinction within the lives of hundreds of service members, and it motivates us to maintain pushing ahead collectively.
You’ve seen firsthand how VR has remodeled coaching within the navy. Are you able to stroll us by means of how immersive simulations can speed up mission readiness and tackle expertise gaps in industries like manufacturing and aviation?
Immersive simulations have actually revolutionized coaching, and I’ve witnessed this transformation firsthand. The fantastic thing about VR lies in its potential to create sensible eventualities that enable learners to interact deeply with the subject material. This accelerates studying and expertise acquisition, making coaching not simply efficient but additionally motivating.
Take aviation upkeep coaching, for instance. With VR, maintainers can follow complicated duties in a managed atmosphere with out the necessity for an actual plane. This not solely enhances their expertise but additionally builds confidence, permitting them to give attention to mastering their craft. The outcome? Higher ready maintainers who can reply swiftly and successfully to real-world challenges.
Furthermore, this strategy isn’t restricted to aviation. Industries like manufacturing are additionally reaping the advantages. VR can simulate intricate equipment operations, enabling staff to achieve hands-on expertise with out the danger of expensive errors. By addressing expertise gaps and bettering information retention, immersive simulations pave the way in which for a extra competent workforce.
Total, VR coaching not solely enhances mission readiness but additionally cultivates a tradition of steady studying and enchancment. It’s an thrilling time to be a part of this evolution, and I can’t wait to see the way it continues to form varied industries.
The MassXR platform encompasses a Common Studying Content material Administration System (uLCMS). Are you able to clarify how this technique enhances coaching experiences, and the way it integrates with third-party content material and gadgets to create a seamless coaching atmosphere?
The uLCMS is actually the spine of our MassXR platform, designed to simplify the administration of complicated coaching infrastructures. Consider it as a central hub that brings collectively varied XR content material, making it extremely straightforward for organizations to curate and entry an unlimited catalog of simulations and coaching supplies.
What excites me concerning the uLCMS is the way it empowers customers. It permits for real-time monitoring of progress and efficiency, making certain that learners have the correct supplies at their fingertips. That is essential for fostering collaboration and information sharing amongst group members, whether or not they’re in the identical room or throughout the globe.
Furthermore, our system seamlessly integrates with third-party content material and gadgets, which implies that organizations are limitless within the distributors they might wish to make the most of as a result of our uLCMS manages any XR content material they personal inside a turnkey system. It offers firms with insights in addition to accessible ROI to raised perceive developments — whether or not in weeks, months or years, giving them higher visibility in decision-making for subsequent steps in relation to their XR technique.
This flexibility enhances the educational expertise and encourages a tradition of steady enchancment and creates a coaching atmosphere that’s each environment friendly and interesting. I’m proud to say that our uLCMS performs a significant position in reaching that.
With the rise of distant work and distributed groups, how has Mass Digital tailored to offer versatile studying options which can be accessible anytime, anyplace?
In right now’s quickly altering panorama, we acknowledged that flexibility is crucial for efficient studying. Our system was deliberately designed to assist team-based studying experiences, facilitating collaboration in dynamic environments, no matter the place group members are positioned.
One of many options I’m significantly happy with is how our platform permits customers to interact in simulation collectively, carefully emulating real-world eventualities. This digital atmosphere permits customers to study and follow duties collaboratively, as they might in actual world settings – whether or not they’re in several buildings, states and even continents.
By studying to work ‘together’ – performing completely different, simultaneous duties as a cohesive group – customers not solely improve their very own efficiency but additionally construct stronger relationships amongst colleagues, fostering a supportive and related tradition.
As a expertise chief with over 20 years of expertise, how do you foster innovation inside your group, particularly when main cross-functional and globally distributed groups?
Fostering innovation begins with assembling a group of passionate people who convey distinctive views and experiences to the desk. I imagine that hiring for ardour, moderately than simply {qualifications}, units the stage for creativity and collaboration. Making a tradition the place everybody feels valued and heard is essential.
I attempt to domesticate an atmosphere the place group members really feel empowered to share their concepts and take dangers. Drawing inspiration from trailblazing firms, I encourage my group to embrace the mindset of exploration and experimentation. It’s all about nurturing a shared imaginative and prescient and aligning our targets in order that we’re all shifting in the identical path.
In the end, innovation is not nearly inside processes; it’s additionally about understanding and supporting the wants of our purchasers. By staying attuned to their challenges and aspirations, we are able to tailor our options to satisfy their evolving calls for. After we prioritize our purchasers’ success, we create a collaborative environment that drives innovation and results in impactful outcomes. It’s extremely rewarding to witness how this strategy helps us construct lasting partnerships whereas constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s doable.
Trying again in your journey with Mass Digital, what are you most happy with, and what excites you about the way forward for immersive applied sciences?
Reflecting on my journey with Mass Digital, I discover that my biggest satisfaction lies within the unbelievable individuals I get to work with each day. We’ve constructed a compassionate and inclusive atmosphere that fosters collaboration and creativity. There’s nothing fairly like seeing our group members develop and flourish and figuring out that we’re all contributing to one thing significant makes each problem worthwhile.
I’m equally thrilled about the way forward for immersive applied sciences. The chances are countless, and it’s thrilling to consider how we are able to proceed to innovate and make a optimistic affect throughout varied industries. We’re on the cusp of a technological revolution, and I genuinely imagine that our work will play a big position in shaping how individuals study and work together with expertise. The journey forward is crammed with potential, and I can’t wait to see what we’ll obtain collectively!
Thanks for the good interview, readers who want to study extra ought to go to Mass Digital.
