PwC, a leading professional services firm, has made six predictions about Metaverse and how it will impact businesses in 2023.
The predictions, according to the firm, will help businesses position themselves without putting their organisations at risk.
While the Metaverse is not yet ready for prime time, it has begun to create real business value today and can set businesses up for reinvention tomorrow, according to the company.
PwC predicted that in 2023, businesses will be the Metaverse’s power users. It discovered that many Metaverse conversations in 2022 were about consumers, particularly younger ones, and revolved around activities such as games, virtual experiences, and cryptocurrency and other digital assets shopping. It is expected that these activities will expand further, “but we believe that in 2023, business applications will take the lead.
PwC explained the factors that will drive businesses’ use of the Metaverse; “More and more companies are starting to simulate physical operations on the Metaverse. Retailers, for example, can digitally recreate physical stores, and then let customers and employees virtually try out different configurations to see what increases satisfaction and sales.
“Restaurant operators can do the same with kitchens and seating arrangements. Manufacturers will use the Metaverse’s new data to enhance digital twins in order to improve supply chains, manufacturing, and logistics.”
It advised businesses to align their Metaverse initiatives to specific, measurable business outcomes, noting that the Metaverse can currently deliver common outcomes such as brand building and customer engagement, diversification and growth revenue streams, workforce enablement, and process optimization.
PwC’s second prediction stated that trust will make or break Metaverse success.
It said; “We believe that Metaverse initiatives will rise or fall even more on trust than on functionality. After all, as a business leader, would you let your organization bring its operations or customers into a Metaverse space that offers a whiz-bang experience — but minimal security? Or would you look for an opportunity that lets you feel confident that your company won’t be garnering headlines as the victim of a Metaverse scam, security breach, privacy violation, data preservation sanctions or tax penalty?
“Some of these threats to trust are familiar, but others are brand new. The potential harm of an abusive experience for your customers (or their children), for example, may sadly be especially great in an immersive, three-dimensional digital world.”
According to PwC, AI will also drive Metaverse transformation. According to the company, artificial intelligence can glean insights from massive amounts of data and simulations about what Metaverse avatars buy or do, how they play or work, who they meet, and how they interact with brands.
It was also predicted that the Metaverse will redefine every business leader’s agenda, and that the Metaverse will soon touch nearly every aspect of every company. While PwC also predicted that the Metaverse will be a force for good, the final prediction was that starting next year, organisations will be scrambling for skills they never needed before.
“AI can make it possible even for those without technical experience to create immersive Metaverse experiences. Just as you don’t need to be a coder to design a web page on today’s internet, you won’t need to be a techie to make a Metaverse space. AI can also increase the power of “digital humans” — computer-generated avatars that look realistic and, perhaps, inspire people to interact with them as they might with fellow humans.”
PwC advised businesses to prepare for these Metaverse trends by advising non-tech executives to collaborate closely with each other and with chief digital, chief innovation, chief information, and chief information security officers, who will be creating (and protecting) your company’s Metaverse infrastructure, experience, and data pipelines.
“AI can make it possible even for those without technical experience to create immersive Metaverse experiences. Just as you don’t need to be a coder to design a web page on today’s internet, you won’t need to be a techie to make a Metaverse space. AI can also increase the power of “digital humans” — computer-generated avatars that look realistic and, perhaps, inspire people to interact with them as they might with fellow humans.”
