The Enterprise in the Metaverse

When it comes to the future of the internet, it is the metaverse that often comes to mind. Integrated technologies working together to form a virtual interactive world. While its current existence offers cutting-edge interactivity, much of the grand potential of the metaverse is yet to come. What lies on the horizon will most certainly influence the future of work and what it means to collaborate and exist as an enterprise.

Currently, enterprises that want to enhance their production processes, for example, can now replicate their facility using digital twin technology. By simulating production lines or other assets, organizations can determine potential failures before they occur and develop mitigation strategies.

Within the metaverse, this same concept can exist but with remote workers’ avatars in a virtual space, viewing a 3D replica of a facility, machine, product, or other asset. The virtual meeting space could be an auditorium or other large venue with global participants representing a cross-section of the product development team and supplier base. It would no longer require expensive travel and accommodate any number of people.

The differentiator between digital twins today and those in the metaverse is the use of technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and Internet of Things to provide photorealistic representations of the asset. Better still is the power of data analytics for real-time feedback to simulate real-world conditions in a virtual setting.

Developing a new product? Simulate a stress test to ensure the expected tolerance levels hold true under real-world conditions using artificial intelligence and machine learning. Working with an architectural firm for a new facility? Not only can you review the blueprints but tour the completed building in its entirety within the metaverse. These are just a couple of examples of how enterprises can leverage the metaverse for operational efficiencies.

Digital Image and the Future of Work

Want to take digital twin technology and apply it to the future of work in the metaverse? Those possibilities are growing. Our appearance can be replicated in virtual worlds — a critical part of our digital identity — in the metaverse. Union Avatars, for example, has a creator tool to construct full-body avatars based on scanned selfies and photographs to transplant into the virtual universe. Thus, it allows an avatar, with our physical representation, to converse with colleagues and customers as we appear in real life.

Taking it a step further, imagine your avatar on its own attending virtual business meetings and taking notes, or completing lower-value tasks, while you focus on strategic projects and execution. Two versions of yourself — physical and digital — accomplishing two different types of work simultaneously. Those possibilities are evolving and could be game-changing for Future of Work strategies.

Born and Operated in the Virtual

For the remote workforce, it can often feel as if the company has no physical existence. The primary use of Slack, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams for communication and collaboration only enhances that sense of the virtual. However, the future is coming where companies are born and operated exclusively in the metaverse, relying on virtual currency for transactions.

Looking for an attractive plot to build your enterprise? A CNET article detailed how millions are being paid for virtual real estate. It is entirely conceivable to build and operate a corporation within a vast virtual economy — populated with avatars working and living their best digital life. Blockchain will be critical to the stability of metaverse financial systems. As the foundational technology for cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to exist, blockchain security is a significant focus.

The possibilities seem endless in the metaverse. There is little doubt that the Future of Work will find its place in this virtual realm. How transformative will the metaverse be for the remote and contingency workforce? Considering the vast amount of data analytics and Industry 4.0 technology involved, entire industries devoted exclusively to the metaverse will emerge. Now is the time to explore what the metaverse could mean for enterprises and their remote workforces. The potential is there for the metaverse to become the next disruptive business force.

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Metaverse Defined

What is the metaverse? Simply stated, it is a virtual world(s) where people interact as 3D avatars, gaming, socializing, and working. That immersive experience is made possible by several technologies. Virtual reality and head-mounted displays, coupled with spatial technology and augmented reality bring the immersion to life. Other technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, and machine learning act as the brains for the metaverse, enriching the virtual environment through automated transactions, decision-making, and world-building.

The metaverse ecosystem is a vast network of hundreds of companies from a variety of industries all working toward developing specific metaverse attributes — infrastructure, economy, user experience, etc. And there are many metaverse platforms (e.g., Decentraland, The Sandbox, etc.) to put your virtual stake in the ground as no one owns the metaverse (yet).

Transition from Gaming to Business

Much of the metaverse is rooted in gaming. Unsurprisingly, children (and adults) are well-versed with virtual worlds through Minecraft (140 million monthly players), Fortnite (250 million-plus active users), and Roblox (30 million daily players). This bodes well for future generations adapting to the virtual world of work.  As consumers take several steps into the virtual realm with products like Meta’s Oculus and HTC’s VIVE, corporations are now moving closer to their own metaverse offerings. McDonald’s, Nike, Amazon, and companies in sectors like healthcare, finance, and hospitality are taking the plunge into the virtual expanse.

The culmination of virtual worlds leads to a vast decentralized multiverse of metaverses. The Meta metaverse, the Microsoft metaverse, the Nike metaverse, and so on. Does the future hold a centralized, singular metaverse where users can interact with other virtual platforms outside their metaverse sandbox? Whether it’s attending a virtual conference, reviewing specifications with a global supplier, or brainstorming at a virtual corporate retreat, the ability to engage other metaverses or link them together could forever alter business and the future of work as we know it.

A Virtual Work Future

The pandemic itself propelled the world’s workforce into remote work, ushering in a new normal where video conferencing replaced in-person interaction and collaboration. Today, as many companies recalibrate, there’s an urge to bring remote workers back into the office. Instead, now is the time to embrace hybrid and remote work as the future that it is. The timing for the metaverse could not have been better. It has the potential to offer not only enhanced remote workforce experiences but entirely new business models. Here are just a few examples of how the metaverse could impact and revolutionize the future of work.

• Talent recruitment. Recruiting talent can become a more immersive experience for candidates through virtual and augmented reality. Application submittals could launch a link to a virtual environment that allows virtual interaction with human resources or company recruiters. Using augmented reality, candidates might be asked to complete certain virtual tasks related to the job. Results of those exercises can provide greater insight into viable candidates and narrow the talent pool to gold and silver applicants.
• Employee onboarding. Company onboarding can be hit or miss. Some enterprises have a specific onboarding process, complete with presentations and meet and greets. What some companies fail to realize is that onboarding is the first official interaction with a new hire. If that process is disorganized or nonexistent, retention rates could suffer. The metaverse can automate the onboarding experience, bringing to life virtually how the company operates, its mission, and how a new hire’s work is purposeful in achieving enterprise objectives.
• New Zealand-based UneeQ, for example, specializes in the development of digital humans who serve as AI-powered customer experience ambassadors. With this technology, a company can create a virtual onboarding experience using digital humans to automate the process of introducing new hires to all that the company has to offer.
• Team collaboration. Much of the metaverse is about social interaction. Critics of remote work and the ability to collaborate effectively are missing the bigger picture. Virtual collaborative technologies are now available from dozens of providers (e.g., Gather and NOWHERE) that are innovating the space. Whether it’s creating a virtual workroom or lounge, gathering our digital selves (avatars) together for brainstorming and deep learning can bring a sense of immersive that can’t be replicated in a 2D Zoom session. One could argue that utilizing cutting-edge virtual technology to collaborate may result in even more out-of-the-box thinking.
• Training and development. Using virtual and augmented reality, coupled with gamification, training and development can be redefined. Enter a 3D space to learn how to operate a new machine or medical device using haptic gloves to replicate the feeling of a physical object. Or attend a virtual training session followed by activities that test what was learned. All of these examples can be enhanced with gamification elements to build excitement and participation around T&D. Earning virtual badges for completed training modules or high scores on virtual tasks, for example, are ways that companies are flipping the script on learning and development and increasing employee engagement with the process.

The metaverse holds incredible promise for enterprises and the future of work. Part Two on the metaverse will explore how organizations can use virtual reality for product development and operational efficiencies, as well as the emergence of virtual enterprises and economies.

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