The last two years helped us to understand how quickly we can adapt to new technologies designed to increase interaction in the virtual environment. With teleworking becoming the new norm, we had to learn how to use teleconferencing systems, collaborative working environments, and cloud-based tools. The pandemic is subsiding, and the world won’t return to the technology levels and styles of two years ago. The majority of people won’t give up the convenience and efficiency of these new technologies, and people are now prepared to adapt to unexpected situations. But what about the technologies that will have a major impact on mankind and are now in their infancy? Will the world adapt just as quickly to it?
Introducing Metaverse—Often Described as the “Evolution of the Internet”
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are two massive engines that play a crucial role in facilitating virtual experiences. These technologies made the metaverse possible, and is often described as the “evolution of the Internet”. A concept launched by sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson in 1992—three years after Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web—the metaverse was first put into practice in 2003 with the creation of Second Life, a virtual world in private space. Gradually, with the advent of technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and Non-Fungible Token (NFT), the metaverse is becoming increasingly developed and complex.
Basically, the metaverse is a network of connected, immersive, shared, virtual experiences and spaces. In some ways, the metaverse, or at least the building blocks of the metaverse, is already here. Like the Internet today, the metaverse is not owned by a single entity or accessed through a single piece of hardware.
Changing the name of the company that owns Facebook to Meta may have misled many users, but the bottom line is that, like the Internet, the metaverse will be a democratic, open environment—and not under the control of a single entity.
A Platform for Entertainment and Business
Many large companies—particularly those in the gaming world—have been talking about the metaverse. These organizations invest in building virtual environments to offer their customers new experiences. In addition to Meta, companies such as Microsoft, NVIDIA, Tencent, Alphabet, Snap, Adobe Systems, and Roblox have built their own versions of the metaverse. However, this technology is still in its early stages of evolution, and is limited to a small segment of “early adopters”.
According to the “2022 Emerging Technologies and Trends Impact Radar” report, Gartner expects the metaverse to reach early mainstream status no sooner than eight years from the end of this decade. At that time, Gartner expects the metaverse to have its own virtual economy enabled by digital currencies, NFTs, or some other more innovative equivalent, and will create an impact on all companies that interact with their customers on a daily basis.
Companies will offer better interactions, collaborations, and connections for their employees through virtual office workspaces. Businesses will no longer have to create their own infrastructure because the metaverse will provide all the necessary tools.
Marty Resnick, Research Vice President at Gartner, recently talked about how organizations will sell their products and services in the metaverse. “Enterprises will have the ability to expand and enhance their business models in unprecedented ways by moving from a digital business to a metaverse business. By 2026, 30% of the organizations in the world will have products and services ready for the metaverse.”
How Do Top Managers View This New Technology?
Seen as an alternative digital world where consumers and customers can interact and even own digital products, the metaverse opens up a new world of opportunities. But how do executive managers view this new technology?
The results of the annual “Gartner CEO and Senior Business Executive Survey” show that the majority of CEOs surveyed see the metaverse as either not applicable or highly unlikely to be a key technology for their business. Only 37% are confident that the metaverse “is very likely to become a key technology for growing their business”.
Only time will tell how quickly business leaders will change their perception of the metaverse—the deciding factor being the identification of substantial business benefits.
Conclusion
The metaverse has the potential to transform how, when and where companies interact with their customers, enabling them to deliver new experiences and provide information in new ways. As with the Internet, mobile, cloud and other “democratized technologies”, the question now is not whether, but how quickly we will adopt the metaverse—and in what way.
