JamJou is a role play based gamified training platform aimed at customer facing functions such as hotel receptionist, bar and restaurant staff, customer service, etc. I spoke to CEO Jo Brennan a week ago, who kindly took me through the platform and how they have been using it with customers. I have to say it applies first person learning where the learner immediately steps into the shoes of the character in the game and responds to every day occurrences they would normally have to deal with as part of their day job.
Each scenario takes about 3 to 5 minutes to complete, so it is snack size and can be completed whilst also still being on duty or near their normal service are whilst waiting. Upon completion, the participants receive feedback on their performance with green happy faces, amber neutral ones and red unhappy ones. It is in an overview clear where an individual can improve and they can have unlimited repeats of the same scenario until they understood an improved what the best approach is. On average people tended to repeat scenarios nearly 18 times and the added bonus comment that was made that they also learned new appropriate vocabulary even if that wasn’t the initial intention.
One of their customers is the Jury’s Inn chain of hotels, where in 2014 they ran a pilot for 4 of their hotels by using this platform with specific scenario’s for the hotel front desk staff initially. in order to prove the concept worked they used the measures also taken by the global reputation index (GRI) as a yardstick to measure improvement across the 4 pilot hotels. The results ranged from 2% to nearly 10% improvement, averaging at a 4% increase in GRI for the 4 different hotels. Customer complaints went down in general as well as for the check in and check out experience. In comparison to other hotels not included in the pilot they also found a positive impact on staff retention and lower staff turnover rates.
Personally I was impressed with the platform. It was relevant and appropriate for the target audience. Making it short and in the 1st person again is a big bonus and the core of content gamification. The feedback on performance was easy to understand and managers could in an overview spot what his or her team was weaker at and address it or recommend further use of the training. If you are in the hospitality industry I would highly recommend you have a look into the platform.
