Gearing up for the enterprise metaverse.

The metaverse is certainly something that everyone’s familiar with. But in different conversations with different types of people. What they mean by the word metaverse varies. It depends on whom you’re talking to. What are the practical implications and relevance for enterprises?

Yves Bernaert, CEO of Accenture, explores this subject with Dominique Pouliquen, CEO of Cintoo. Both of their enterprises specialize in guiding companies when it comes to the importance of the metaverse. The post-digital age shows no signs of slowing down. This makes the need for rapid business transformation more valuable than ever. What does it matter to companies, why should they start thinking about it? What is the value that it brings to companies?

Web 1,2,3…
Everyone is talking about the metaverse. Some might say it’s the next big thing and as significant as the mechanization in prior generations. Enterprises have no choice, but to react to this shift. Connected to the term metaverse, is Web3. We’re now currently in Web3, but we once started in Web1.

• Web1 started with doing searches on the internet and just a few web applications, also known as the worldwide web.
• Then during Web2 we all got our own phones, for social purposes, and started with creating personal and business data. This is where social media had the center of attention.
• Eventually we moved to where we’re currently at, Web3, which is more 3D. Web3 is thought to be the third major revolution of the internet and the metaverse is a big part of that. The internet is now not only data and search, and not only socially important. The internet is a ‘real’ space.

Digital twin
The commercial metaverse is really booming. Consumers create avatars to interact with brands and to buy physical and digital products. Bernaert and Pouliquen believe that the impact of the metaverse could be as high, if not higher. It may take some time, but they see that leading companies around the world are already make their first steps generating their digital twin. Eventually the enterprise metaverse will be built by dozens interconnected digital twins. Their purpose is to replicate everything from physical assets to people to core business processes. The goal is to interact without any human intervention.

It may not happen now
Augmented Reality (AR) is also very important for the Metaverse. Companies nowadays either go the e-commerce side. Like Gucci selling bags to use in the metaverse, or stick to they way Roblox did it, one of the early players when it comes to the metaverse. But it can also be useful for things that until now only could be thought of in our 2D world. Think about a report concerning a new branding for your company. What if besides just the textual aspect of it, you could have a digital metaverse implemented version where you can really visualize what you mean. Visually vision a plan. Or to make online shopping more interactive. So not just swiping up and down looking for the perfect top but having a real shopping experience containing interacting with people who work there and making your way through the store. According to Bernaert we have to think more about the fact that it not just happens now. A lot of companies are skeptical when it comes to joining this metaverse hype.

Explore it yourself
Bernaert argues that it’s really important that before you develop your metaverse environment for example for e-commerce, you need to experience it yourself. During covid people were unable to be physically present for things like onboarding. Then you can really estimate what your possibilities are. This technology was already there 10 – 15 years ago, but it’s now that they’re ready to redeploy. Whether it’s VR or AR, they can be both at the same time.

This idea is both exciting and a little bit overwhelming. What are companies going to need when it comes to this transformation? If you look at the manufacturing specifically, that’s where the enterprise metaverse will transform the quickest. This is due to the fact that it’s concrete. The best advice Beraert can give to companies is to first try it yourself. It’s really learning by doing. All change is difficult, but if you want to stay relevant, you have no choice but to join. Pouliquen points out that it’s important to have a virtual representation. Specifically in the manufacturing side. Not the exact representation of the existing conditions. Fill this gap between this existing condition and the virtual representation with reality capture.

Start today by implementing the metaverse
Companies should constantly be thinking about the next step. The easiest way for the metaverse enterprise is to train your staff with it. Either you create the factory yourself or use an existing one. The human can now experience and simulate the production line and interact with machinery before doing the real thing. Starting with the easy part might be the only way. The metaverse is one of the most trending technology concepts right now. Enterprises must acknowledge this by implementing it.