The smart money says that metaverse events will entertain consumers and turn us all into gamers, but the big money in the metaverse will be at the enterprise level. And it’s already happening in a metaverse near you. Mytaverse, rooom, MootUp, Virbela, NewSky XR and Headroom are actively creating enterprise solutions. How can an enterprise use the metaverse? Here are just a few brain-starters:
Customer Support
Visit Soul Machines where synthetic digital humans provide customer support. Or check out Ruth, the virtual human from Toll House that teaches you to bake.
Sales and Marketing
Check out what Drest is doing with virtual try-ons. They’ve created an interactive styling game, which gives players a chance to curate the perfect wardrobe, test out runway looks, and brainstorm what we’ll all be wearing next season.
Ruth is a digital human who gives baking lessons on the Toll House website. Credit: Toll House
Advertising
Read my column at Techonomy. If nothing else happened at Metaverse Fashion Week, it was a huge advertisement for all 70 fashion and beauty companies that participated.
Collaboration
The metaverse offers new tools for creating prototypes, learning surgical techniques, sharing ideas, and understanding different departments within your company.
Education and Training
You’ll be able to complete that degree, with the world’s greatest instructors. According to the University of Maryland, users retain information more effectively when presented in virtual reality (VR) rather than with more traditional tools. A PricewaterhouseCoopers report states that employees can be trained four times faster in soft skills using VR than traditional in-person classroom or other online training. Walmart has deployed 17,000 VR headsets to enhance employee training. It has cut training time for certain activities from 8 hours to 15 minutes without sacrificing effectiveness.
Government
Singapore, Seoul, Dubai, and Victoria (Australia) are leading the way to bring government services into the metaverse. Town halls, driver’s license renewals, court disputes and basic health are all possibilities. Seoul has announced that it will offer services in the metaverse, allowing citizens to interact with public officials, resolve civic complaints, and receive consultation services in a virtual world without visiting City Hall.
In Dubai, the Minister of State for Happiness offers medical counseling in the metaverse.
Credit: The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP)
City Planning
Virtual twins of IRL cities are letting governments monitor and solve problems such as traffic congestion and air quality. Architects are being employed to take CAD designs and drop them into the metaverse to make important design decisions before spending any money on physical production.
Corporate Events
From large corporate meetings to smaller meetings, there are strong arguments for meeting in the metaverse (allow time for the uncanny-valley feeling to dissipate). For example, Accenture has embraced the metaverse as part of its corporate culture. Here’s a starter’s guide on how to build your office metaverse.
The list could go on and on, but if you’re following the money, think enterprise.
