Where’s the beef in the Metaverse?

Recent headlines about the metaverse haven’t been encouraging. That’s quite a reversal since Facebook changed its name to Meta not so long ago and announced ambitious plans to enter the metaverse. Recently, Meta has laid off 11,000 employees as its metaverse bet isn’t paying off. The layoff occurred after Meta’s stock plunged 60 percent in 2022 due to falling advertising revenue and US$36 billion in expenses for metaverse development.

Many business leaders mistakenly believe the metaverse will primarily impact social media and entertainment. “The metaverse is experiencing an explosion of interest akin to the Cambrian explosion of early life forms,” said Kevin Collins, managing director, software & platforms industry at Accenture. “Many clients are exploring the metaverse concept and experimenting with various business applications.”

This article describes metaverse use cases that CIOs should consider to show leadership in demonstrating there’s beef in metaverse applications.

Metaverse application opportunities

Metaverse applications have the potential to transform how:

1. Businesses interact with their customers, suppliers and perhaps the government.
2. Many aspects of work are performed.
3. Companies determine what products and services to offer.
4. Products are made in collaboration with suppliers.
5. Products are distributed and sold geographically and by channel.
6. Companies operate their geographically distributed organizations.

The top five enterprise applications where companies are implementing metaverse concepts today are the following:

1. Marketing campaigns to build brand awareness and engagement.
2. Professional development for employees and supplier staff to improve learning.
3. Internal meetings to enhance employee commitment and retention.
4. Hosted events or conferences to engage customers and suppliers while eliminating the time required to travel.
5. Product design using digital twins to shorten development times.

“Just because the metaverse recently experienced the skeptical portion of the typical hype cycle, no one should think that the metaverse is going away,” Collins noted. “Many organizations, including Accenture, our peers, AWS, Meta and Microsoft, continue to invest, experiment and launch metaverse prototypes.”

The best way to view the metaverse is as the next web era. The metaverse advances online experiences beyond the traditional 2D web of text, graphics and video. In the metaverse, end-users experience a connected 3D, immersive virtual world where they intuitively engage through virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and other interfaces.