How can businesses use the metaverse?
Over 200 large and well known brands and organizations have established a presence in the metaverse such as Coca Cola, Samsung, Audi, Nike, Adidas, J.P Morgan, Gucci, Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton and many others.
Companies are using the metaverse primarily to engage with and sell to consumers aside from making a name for themselves as a first mover in this aspect.
The metaverse offers new opportunities for enriching customer experience, engaging with customers in a hip and alternative way, introducing a path for new branding channels.Offering digital products and services, exclusive to the metaverse, has been getting a lot of attention lately.
However, it is important to note that the metaverse is ever changing and “under construction”, meaning that the risk is real. It might be the fear of investing resources into something that could be obsolete and forgotten in the future or the eminent uncertainty of digital security in digital technologies. As with anything new technology, metaverse too requires adapted strategies from the business side to dwell into its waters.
Another point to mention is that each business has to evaluate for itself the potential and attractiveness of the metaverse and accordingly adapt its involvement strategy.
Not every company has to end up buying land and virtual estate on metaverse to state they’ve started their journey. Chances are many companies have already tipped their toes into the metaverse, by working on Proof of Concepts or projects that leverage on the building technologies of metaverse.
While businesses decide their level of involvement with the metaverse, having a core understanding of how this new technology is growing and effecting the way we connect, work and rethink the economy, is basic due diligence. This way, your business should be able to make informed decisions and not risk being left far behind to catch up with an ever changing virtual world.
What are the metaverse enterprise use cases?
Three of the biggest barriers to entering metaverse, according to senior executives is uncertainty on return on investment, lack of business model for the metaverse technology and lack of managerial capability to embed meta technology into business.
While the concerns they are putting forward make a valid point, informing themselves and keeping up to date with the metaverse enterprise use cases offered in the market, might help put these concerns at ease.
Some of the use cases are:
- Immersive (product)marketing- Fashion giants are already taking advantage of immersive virtual assets or experiences that their customers can experience or own in the meta worlds. The world’s first metaverse fashion week in March of this year offered an immersive shopping experience where users could buy the digital twin and get the physical twin delivered to them. NFTs of course play a crucial part in the metaverse fashion; they’re often being used as part of loyalty programs.
- Education – Whether it is hosting lectures in the metaverse or enriching learning material with the use of immersive technology, education is a good use case for the metaverse. It offers the opportunity to learn beyond boundaries, supplementing the learner with a hands-on experience rather than simply reading from a book.
- Banking – Although some argue that banks presence in the metaverse is limited to mere representation spaces, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have estimated that the metaverse economy could be worth as much as $8 trillion. This puts banks in a very favorable position as it opens up opportunities to lay down the groundwork for the metaverse transactions, reinvent customer experience, connect with their customers in new ways and introduce new products/services such as digital assets, digital payments and digital twins.
- Digital Twins – Often considered the building blocks of the metaverse, digital twins are digital copies of real life artifacts, processes or systems. They are often used in product development and simulation, especially in the manufacturing and automotive industry. The combination of the metaverse technologies with digital twins gives the opportunity to manage not only singular artifacts but also entire cities. Simulating “what if scenarios” for example catastrophe management is another important use case that is recently being implemented in several cities around the world.
- Recruiting – One of the world’s largest global communication groups is hosting recruitment services in the metaverse to enrich the employee experience for new joiners, offering a fresh view on the onboarding process. Other companies are already seeing metaverse as an additional channel to revamp their recruitment process, some of them have already hosted job fairs in the metaverse. Of course there is still a long way to go, but the attempts are there.
- Remote Collaboration – Metaverse brings remote collaboration to another level, by offering an opportunity to collaborate with your colleagues across the world in an immersive environment. Except for the platforms that offer virtual collaboration in virtual meeting rooms or conference venues, metaverse is offering collaboration opportunities in the field of healthcare and manufacturing as well.
What should business leaders start doing?
Get up to speed
- First things first, start getting aware about what the metaverse is, how it is defined by different field experts and what it really means – despite all the tech jargon. Understanding and keeping up with the metaverse requires little effort but brings huge advantages. Keeping up to date on how the market is changing and where its leading can help you create a clearer picture of your next strategic move.
- Start exploring the meta worlds
The best way to understand virtual worlds is to immerse yourself in them. If Roblox, Minecraft, Sandbox or Decentraland are unfamiliar to you, it is time to take an effort and try what one can do with them. All you have to do is sign up for the platforms, create a digital avatar and start exploring. Once a meta user, you’ll be able to create a better picture of meta worlds.
- Know your customer’s metaverse behavior
A strong incentive to pursue metaverse investment is to follow your customers. If your customers can already be found there, you can use the meta world as an additional channel to connect with them. Study your customers‘ metaverse behavior, survey their stance on the matter and decide on the role you as a company will play.
- Align goals to Metaverse
To follow up, you as a company should define whether and how the metaverse technologies help your business goals and company vision. In this way it will be easier to guide your efforts in the right direction. Think whether you want to feed your short or long term goals first and test the metaverse waters accordingly. There is always the option to not participate in the metaverse, however it would be best to first consider how this may impact your business.
- Re/Define ROI
Also, important to keep in mind during these times is a redefinition of the way you measure ROI from your attempts to enter the metaverse. Investing in new technologies does not necessarily guarantee success, but a good measure to take is to define the value you as a company would like to gain from it. Moreover,new business models can be fueled by metaverse, such as play-to-earn, create-to-earn, and learn-to-earn – meaning new opportunities arise for businesses across different industries that require redefinition of return on investment.
- Keep an eye out for the competition
Your competition is an additional important factor that might influence your engagement with the metaverse. If they’ve already taken the first step towards this technology, it can still be used to your advantage. Learn from their experience, take notes and improve your own journey.If on the other hand you still have the opportunity to list your company among the first movers in the metaverse, grab it.
- Consult field experts
If you’d like to know more about the metaverse and how this new technology can be used for your business, there is always the opportunity to consult with field experts. Buying Sandbox land is not the only way to make moves towards the metaverse and be seen as a tech-driven and modern company. Our experts from PwC Austria are here to assist you on your metaverse journey.
Key points to remember:
Business leaders should develop a strategic stance by defining metaverse goals and the role they want to play. They should also explore becoming metaverse users themselves. Metaverse poses urgent challenges that cut across firms, their employees, independent developers and content creators, governments, and, of course, consumers.
There is no “one solution fits all” approach to how different businesses can engage with the metaverse; it is important for decision makers to follow up and have a core understanding of this technology to adapt their strategy accordingly.
For more information about the metaverse, click here (DE & EN).
Autors:
Gersa Tome (PwC AT)
Bernadette Fellner (Pwc AT)
Sebastian Egger
Sources:
McKinsey & Company Senior Executive Survey, April 2022Executives, https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-global-surveys
https://bankingblog.accenture.com/ultimate-guide-to-banking-in-the-metaverse
https://www.marketing-interactive.com/havas-group-sandbox-metaverse
