As technology continues to advance, the metaverse is expected to become even more immersive and interactive, providing new opportunities for education, entertainment, and socialization.
Let’s dive deeper into why your business needs a metaverse strategy, a few examples of it in action, and how to get started on developing your own.
Why a Metaverse Strategy is Crucial for Your Business
As this emerging technology evolves, businesses of all sizes and shapes are beginning to recognize the need for a metaverse strategy. Why? The simple answer is that the metaverse is already here to stay. Ignoring it or moving forward without a strategy means you risk being stuck on the Web3 sidelines while your competition embraces its potential.
The metaverse is an increasingly significant part of our digital landscape and is expected to continue growing in both potential and adoption. Here are some reasons why your business should consider developing a metaverse strategy:
Competitive Advantage
Embracing the metaverse early on can give your business a competitive edge. By integrating metaverse technologies into your operations, you can offer unique experiences to your customers, employees, and partners that differentiate you from your competitors.
Enhanced Collaboration and Productivity
The metaverse could be a platform for remote teams to collaborate in real-time, regardless of their physical locations and without some of the limitations of asynchronous tech. This could increase productivity, broaden the talent pool, reduce travel costs, and have a positive environmental impact.
New Avenues for Customer Engagement
The metaverse offers new possibilities to engage with customers, such as creating immersive and interactive experiences, virtual showrooms, or product demonstrations. These experiences allow customers to explore and interact with products in a virtual environment, opening new doors for your business to deliver value.
Improved Employee Satisfaction and Retention
As companies navigate hybrid and distributed work models, the metaverse can become an important tool for building and maintaining culture. It can help foster community and innovation in how your employees interact with each other, leading to improved collaboration, satisfaction, and retention.
Innovation and Experimentation
The metaverse provides a sandbox for your business to experiment with new ideas and innovations. Teams can test and refine concepts in a virtual environment before implementing them in the physical world, reducing costs and risks associated with traditional R&D.
Access To New Markets and Audiences
The metaverse has the potential to reach a global audience, which means your business will have to adapt to the behaviors of customers in this new environment. By embracing metaverse technologies, you can tap into new markets and connect with customers who may prefer virtual experiences over traditional channels.
Examples of Companies Exploring Metaverse for Business
In recent years, an increasing number of companies have been exploring the potential of the metaverse for their business. By examining their approaches and successes, you can learn valuable lessons. As this technology continues to evolve, it is likely that we will see even more innovative use cases emerge.
IKEA in Animal Crossing
In 2020, IKEA created a virtual showroom in the popular video game Animal Crossing. The showroom featured some of IKEA's iconic furniture pieces, and players could download these designs to use in their own in-game homes. This was a way for IKEA to showcase its products to a new audience and demonstrate how they could fit into different living spaces.
Amazon Lumberyard
In July 202, Amazon announced the successor to Amazon Lumberyard: Open 3D Engine. This cross-platform, open-source 3D engine is designed to be an "extensible, modular foundation" for building games, virtual worlds, immersive and scalable experiences, and more. Open 3D Engine provides the necessary tools and features for building 3D worlds and applications.
Hyundai Metamobility
In 2022, Hyundai announced its Metamobility universe, a vision for a sustainable, future mobility ecosystem that integrates various modes of transportation and mobility services. Metamobility aims to provide its users with a smooth and hassle-free mobility experience that combines air transportation, ground transportation, and other services like car-sharing and ride-hailing.
Start Developing a Metaverse Strategy for Your Business
Creating a strategy for a metaverse can be a bit “blue sky” if you don't know where to start. Here are a few key steps that you can take to begin laying the foundation for your own metaverse strategy.
Define goals and objectives: Clearly articulate what you want to achieve through the use of metaverse technologies and how it aligns with your overall business goals.
Research and understand the technology: Stay informed about the latest metaverse platforms, tools, and trends. Educate yourself and your team about the capabilities and possibilities of the metaverse.
Identify potential use cases: Explore how the metaverse can be integrated into different aspects of your business, such as customer engagement, employee collaboration, training, or virtual events. Identify areas where the metaverse can add value and innovation.
Develop a plan: Based on your goals and use cases, create a roadmap for implementing the metaverse strategy. This includes selecting the appropriate platforms, defining policies, establishing protocols, and allocating resources.
Implement and evaluate: Execute your metaverse strategy, and regularly evaluate its effectiveness. Monitor key metrics, gather feedback from stakeholders, and make adjustments as needed to ensure the strategy remains aligned with evolving business needs and technological advancements.
Remember that adopting a metaverse strategy is an ongoing process that requires continuous monitoring and adaptation. To keep it relevant and effective, stay up to date with changes in customer behavior, industry trends, and emerging technologies.
If you are interested in exploring collaboration for implementing metaverse strategy in your organization, please contact us and our team will get in touch with you as soon as possible.