TRENDING early interest in the consumer-facing Metaverse , propelled by investments from major players , needs to give enough thought to the real challenges around ergonomics , accessibility , safety and privacy , which organizations are now working to address . The potential of the Metaverse is transformative and consumer curiosity remains high . Immersive experiences – including the Metaverse – for internal use cases could be more impactful for organizations , certainly in the short term .”
Consumers are clear about the immediate potential of immersive use cases
Research finds that consumers are intrigued by the prospects of immersive and Metaverse experiences and they would like to use the Metaverse mainly as a place to interact with their family , friends ( 43 %) and even their colleagues ( 39 %).
There is significant potential for employee and workforce experiences
As indicated by the interviews , organizations have already successfully implemented immersive and Metaverse initiatives , especially to improve operational efficiency , for example :
• Retail floor planning in CPR , where viewing a floor virtually enables organizations to plan their retail store design without teams having to travel there .
• Training and education of medical professionals ( and other industries ), which allows surgeons to plan , rehearse and carry out procedures using headsets and 3D scans of patients .
• Testing and digital prototyping in automotive , where VR is used for design and engineering reviews . By reducing the number of prototypes built , organizations can save millions of dollars while enabling considerable environmental savings .
Among the brands they would be most interested in interacting with in the Metaverse , they cite retail shopping ( 78 %) and consumer product organizations ( 77 %), i . e ., enhancing their purchasing or try-on experience for high-engagement products such as cars , furniture and household electronics .
15 % of organizations aim to have some Metaverse presence within one year .
However , many organizations lack a clear strategy to scale their immersive and Metaverse initiatives
With the development of Augmented Reality ( AR ) and Virtual Reality ( VR ) technologies , the increased pace of digitization due to the pandemic and greater concern for sustainability , organizations across sectors have developed immersive experience pilots and demos at a fast pace in recent years . For the consumer products and retail ( CPR ) sector specifically , some businesses are piloting immersive
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