Breaking the metaverse stigma

Business leaders across many industries struggle to see the value of the metaverse, failing to understand its application now that the initial hype has died down. The numbers tell a different story, however, as it was reported earlier this year that the global metaverse industry would rake in US$82 billion in 2023 and skyrocket to US$936.6 billion by 2030.

Reshaping engagement

As businesses move through a digitally led world, technology is changing the way in which we engage with one another. This means structuring business models to adapt to a new way of living, thinking and communicating — understanding the cultural and technological forces that drive growth of the metaverse will be key to determining how and where to implement it.

The pandemic accelerated technological development and the rate at which new tools were introduced into business. Those same tools now aid consumers and organisations aiming to lower environmental impact by conducting meetings, training, events and discussions remotely. The metaverse represents opportunity to make these interactions more digitally immersive, delivering a more effective, engaging and valuable audience experience. Similarly, social networks and other virtual platforms allow users to communicate and interact. The metaverse enhances these encounters, allowing individuals to become immersed inside a collective community space.

Digital natives are at home in this reshaped landscape of new technologies and cultural change, meaning that organisations must prioritise implementation of these types of tools within their digital strategies.

Connecting the real with the virtual

Previously established digital spaces, like virtual words, required lots of costly technology that was difficult to integrate into an online offering. These barriers created an isolated narrative for technology such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), as access to these platforms was not guaranteed for everyone.

Today’s AR, VR and metaverse technologies are more accessible and affordable and likely to provide the immersive experience to a wider range of audiences as a result.

Advances in cloud computing resources and AI technologies have also enhanced these extended reality (XR) experiences by making them more engaging. For example, 3D game engines are used more regularly across industries as a core technology. As they become more accessible and utilised, the ‘real’ can be more easily connected with the ‘virtual’.

Facing the challenge with an iterative, agile approach

As metaverse technologies like spatial computing and real-time 3D avatars are introduced, it’s important for organisations to be agile and to have digital acceleration strategies in place, allowing them to realise ROI from these emerging technologies.

It’s important to regard the metaverse with a practical approach — there’s no point in launching a metaverse initiative for the sake of being part of the next big thing. Rather, ensure the initiative addresses specific business needs and has the potential to provide a return: revenue growth, enhanced customer experience or improved employee training, for example.

Developing initiatives in incremental steps that offer practical deliverables will ensure flexibility in a still-rapidly evolving environment. An ongoing digital acceleration will most likely reflect the organisation’s overall digital transformation, meaning business models shouldn’t need to be fundamentally overhauled to accommodate the introduction of metaverse ambitions. It also means that once the metaverse is integrated into the organisation’s digital strategy, it will require constant monitoring, assessment and improvement over time.

The metaverse may still be in the early phases of development and yet to reach full potential, but it should be central to discussion around shaping the digital economy and how the human–computer relationship will evolve in the years to come. It holds tremendous potential as a tool for audience engagement, thanks to changes in the way we communicate, so it’s time to embrace it, not ignore it.

Image credit: iStock.com/Thinkhubstudio