The metaverse promises new, innovative ways for businesses to build a digital future. However, today, emergent metaverses are in their infancy. Enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders must understand the scope of the metaverse to maximize its potential now and in the future.
Overview
Opportunities
- A metaverse is the next level of interaction in the virtual and physical worlds. It will allow people to replicate or enhance their physical activities.
- Emerging metaverses provide the ability to transport to, or “go and immerse oneself” in, a virtual world. That world may be a 3D simulation and/or in virtual reality. This offers new opportunities for increased collaboration, connection and engagement with prospective and current customers, employees and citizens through immersive meetings, virtual events and enhanced collaboration tools.
- Soon, the metaverse will transform the physical world by bringing the digital to it in a more immersive and interactive way. This allows users to have access to real-time information, collaboration and experiences in the physical world.
- The metaverse brings new capabilities to transact by providing an economic foundation through the use of Web 3 technologies such as cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and blockchain.
Recommendations
Enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders, including CTOs, wanting to maximize the current and future potential of metaverse technologies should:
- Task an innovation team to look for opportunities where metaverse technologies could optimize digital business, or create new products and services.
- Work with qualified agencies to evaluate the viability of metaverse technologies in terms of user and customer reach, and engagement rates with new, early-adopter audiences.
- Build metaverse products and solutions through a pipeline of innovation based on combinatorial emergent technologies, rather than a “killer app.”
- Identify metaverse-inspired opportunities by evaluating current high-value use cases vis-a-vis their product or service.
- Develop technology strategies that leverage the built-in infrastructure and participants of the metaverse, and provide digital product or service opportunities.
- Invest in specific emergent metaverses cautiously, as it is still too early to determine which investments will be viable in the long term.