The Metaverse:
The next era of the Internet
For many thought leaders and visionaries, the metaverse is the next evolutionary stage of the Internet: innovative technologies, new end devices, and virtual environments as part of an immersive Internet.
The interesting thing? The metaverse is increasingly establishing itself in different areas and can be divided into three main types: Consumer Metaverse, Corporate Met averse and Industrial Metaverse.
What is the Metaverse anyway?
The concept of the metaverse has become increasingly important in recent years, especially since Facebook officially changed its name to “Meta” in late 2021.
There are many different definitions, but at its core, the metaverse is the evolution of the Internet into an immersive world.
The idea of the metaverse has many facets, but is often described as an immersive, partially virtual space that allows users to interact, communicate and perform various activities.
The Metaverse aims to make today’s Internet more experiential and real, allowing users to interact in vivid 3D spaces instead of 2D screens. The real world is becoming more digital and the virtual world feels more real.
The types of metaverse: Consumer, Corporate and Industrial
The metaverse is still a concept of the future. However, the first areas in which the metaverse will become relevant and where it can be used can already be identified today.
Three areas or different ways of subdividing the metaverse are currently crystallizing:
- Consumer Metaverse – For consumers primarily for social interaction, entertainment and gaming.
- Corporate Metaverse – For companies primarily for innovative collaboration, virtual training and more decentralized structures
- Industrial Metaverse – For Industrial Applications for Process Optimization with Digital Twins and Artificial Intelligence
Many overlaps and synergies exist between the areas. Nevertheless, the types of metaverse help to understand it better and to analyze more specifically in which areas companies can take action.
Want to learn more about the Metaverse?
#1:
Consumer Metaverse
Virtual worlds as successors to social media platforms?
The consumer metaverse has an ever-growing importance for today’s society. It offers new opportunities for social interaction, education and entertainment. The consumer metaverse allows users to have a variety of experiences – from virtual concerts, various games and virtual shopping experiences to virtual travel.
Personalization and connectivity in virtual worlds
One of the most important applications of the Consumer Metaverse is in personalized entertainment. Many people are looking for new and unique experiences that give them a more immersive and intense experience. A virtual environment offers just that.
Consumers can play games as creatively designed avatars, attend concerts in virtual worlds, and interact together with friends from around the world as if they were there in person. With the ability to customize their avatars, environments and experiences to their own preferences, users can create an experience that is tailor-made for them.
Brand Experience in the Consumer Metaverse: BMW, Vans and Porsche
Various companies are already using these new opportunities to present products and services in a virtual environment in order to attract potential customers.
One example of this is BMW, which conducted a 3D product presentation in a virtual space where users could interact as avatars with the new car in a futuristic world.
A similar strategy is also followed by Vans, which has built its own world around skateboarding in the game Roblox. Young customers as the target group of this brand experience can interact with the brand in a playful way and dress their avatars in virtual clothing from Vans.
Innovative customer loyalty and new source of revenue through NFTs
In addition to entertainment and commerce, the consumer metaverse also offers several monetization opportunities. One example among many is Porsche, which has launched a limited collection of NFT artwork of the Porsche 911. These NFTs (non-fungible tokens) can be traded or collected by fans as virtual collector’s items.
#2:
Enterprise Metaverse
A new way of working together?
The corporate metaverse is the idea of a virtual space that companies and organizations use to collaborate more efficiently. The trend towards more decentralized structures within the company is intended to create better collaboration with the help of the Corporate Metaverse.
Virtual rooms, where colleagues collaborate as avatars, offer the opportunity to make workshops more interactive than is possible with current technologies such as teleconferencing and web-based whiteboards.
What advantage does this offer? Users can try out new ideas and prototypes in a virtual environment and develop designs before implementing them in the real world.
The corporate metaverse for innovative training?
In addition, companies can conduct training and education for their employees in virtual space. For example, GE Healthcare offers virtual training in the Metaverse for medical staff to improve their skills in using new machines and reduce errors with real products.
Virtual reality (VR) training will become a big factor in the future to train employees and learn new skills. And what about recruiting and for HR?
Here, too, the Corporate Metaverse is already trying things out. The auditing and consulting firm PwC already uses the Metaverse and virtual rooms for recruiting events with avatars. This is where potential employees can have immersive experiences and meet potential colleagues.
#3:
Industrial Metaverse
New efficiencies through simulations with digital twins?
The Industrial Metaverse focuses on optimizing processes and workflows. This is enabled by new technologies such as Digital Twins, supported by real-time data and innovative process control.
What exactly is a digital twin? A digital twin is a virtual representation of a physical object, process or system that enables it to be monitored, controlled and analyzed in real time .
Digital twins can increase production and engineering efficiency by providing AI-based simulations and real-time data for production planning. Companies such as BMW have already successfully implemented digital twins in their production and have achieved an increase in efficiency of up to 30%.
We identify the right use cases for you!
This is only a small selection of the application possibilities offered by the Metaverse. The further development of the Internet will have an impact on many industries.
The important thing? Take the necessary steps early, before it’s too late. We help companies identify the right use cases and develop and implement potential business models or cost savings.
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