Fidelity Investments has created a virtual reality financial advisor to answer client queries using a suite of tools from Amazon Web Services.
The VR advisor, dubbed Cora, was developed as a proof of concept with Amazon Sumerian, the new service for building and running virtual reality, augmented reality, and 3D applications from Amazon Web Services.
Fidelity Labs, the innovation arm of the investment firm which created Cora, believes the combination of virtual reality for exploring investment goals and a voice-commanded bot, makes for an alluring combination.
States the firm: "This proof of concept is a prototype. But imagine what experiences like this could mean for how you interact with your finances in the future?
"Virtual reality can help you imagine your savings goals… Add in a virtual coach who can answer your questions and give you the information you need to make decisions without 'data overload'.”
This is not Fidelity's first step into the VR domain. In 2014 the company created StockCity for Oculus, combining virtual reality with data visualisation to transform an investor’s stock portfolio into a city where building size indicates volume and price data. More recently. Fidelity applied the technology to assess the impact of elements such as age, tenure and asset allocation on its workforce.
More recently it has developed an 'empathy training' programme for employees which transport staff into the homes of fictional customers so that they can see the impact of their responses to queries both during and after a simulated telephone call.