Metaverse: A Technological Revolution

METAVERSE SERIES

Describe the Metaverse & how does it affect businesses?

What is Metaverse?

The term metaverse, has so many definitions. Experts may have different definitions of it as it is a brand-new and developing technology.

The metaverse enables us to embed computing into the real world and the real world into computing. — Satya Nadella, CEO @Microsoft

I believe the metaverse is the next chapter for the internet. — Mark Zuckerberg, CEO @Meta

The way that we define the metaverse is that it’s our virtual existence. The metaverse will be one step above that, like our virtual twin, doing all kinds of activities in the virtual world. — Neha Singh, CEO @Obsess

By combining the aforementioned definitions, we can say Metaverse

• Is an Internet progression.
• Rather than just browsing, it’s about taking part in and experiencing a long-lasting shared experience.
• It ranges from our actual world to a wholly virtual one.

Who is the metaverse’s owner? — The metaverse is not owned by any one person or entity. It is being created by several entities.

How Internet is Reformed?

. 1990s | Internet of Data

In the 1990s, the Internet’s primary function was to organize enormous volumes of data and make them accessible to users around the world.

. 2000s | Internet of People

People started interacting online in the 2000s. We continue to use a number of social media platforms that have ingrained themselves into everyone’s lives.

. 2010s | Internet of Things

Our physical products developed intelligence in the 2010s, enabling our systems to link to other devices over the internet. Devices are able to communicate and exchange data with one another thanks to sensors, computing power, software, and other technologies.

. 2020s | Internet of Place | Internet of Ownership

People began fusing virtual objects with the real world in the early 2020s, giving rise to the Internet of Place.

Later, users began to possess digital items known as tokens, or NFTs. These tokens can be tracked and audited. Additionally, it has characteristics like ownership and history. Here, we also observe a type of transparency.

As new technological capabilities like IOT, artificial intelligence, digital currency, gaming, digital identities, digital twins, and extended reality come together, the metaverse is created.

How Does the Metaverse Impact Businesses?

1. Customer Experience

A customer service representative’s digital twin can help users assemble, fix, or replace products. In addition to making the job of the customer support representative more simpler, this fosters long-term customer and brand trust.

2. Payments

Crypto wallets or the use of an exchange like Binance enable purchases in the metaverse. In this manner, fiat currencies can be changed into cryptocurrencies, enabling users to conduct transactions online. In addition to cryptocurrencies, there are other interchangeable tokens called NFTs that are used to signify ownership of unique items. Like cryptocurrencies, NFTs can be transferred and used as payment in the metaverse.

3. Employee Experience

Virtual reality experiences can be used by many organizations to onboard new hires. Compared to conventional onboarding methods, virtual reality is a significantly better tool for fostering human interactions. To teach new employees about the workplace and corporate culture, VR integration uses tours, role-playing, games, and actual simulations. Virtual reality can be used by HR departments to assess applicants and new recruits for certain attributes.

4. Design & Manage Products

Innovation levels are essentially unbounded. The possibility for creators to push the limits of design is greater than ever. The ability to design items that have never existed before thanks to the metaverse is revolutionizing the industry. Limited edition items like apparel and accessories are a growing trend among designers. These are offered with NFTs as a virtual ownership certification. The metaverse makes things more sustainable since it eliminates the need for new production techniques or materials that would eventually result in greater waste when altering designs or producing new varieties. Nike, in collaboration with the virtual shoe business RTFKT, is producing NFT sneakers for the metaverse.

5. Supply Chain

A virtual supply chain (VSC) replicates every element of the physical supply chain through a digital version of it. With 3D representations of how goods are manufactured, shipped, and sold, the Metaverse improves supply chain transparency. This gives insight into delivery delays, lead periods, transit timeframes, and even current freight rates. By improving insight into processes, facilities, inventory and capacity, it aids businesses in removing supply constraints.

Retailers and suppliers can virtually convene in a metaverse room to discuss anticipated sales estimates, estimated production plans, and potential supplier constraints that might affect manufacturing output. In a network of supply chains, they can locate the inventory, and if shipping is delayed due to congestion, they can simulate feasible alternatives to keep getting the goods to the right merchants.

6. Enterprise Management

The enterprise metaverse is a virtual area where organizations may conduct meetings with employees all over the world, review work in a collaborative atmosphere, and even conduct job interviews.

Employers can also use enterprise metaverse for staff training and immersive learning. Hyundai is training its new hires in a virtual environment.

Enterprises use the metaverse to build digital twins to aid in engineering and development activities. They can build detailed digital simulations of their production process and locate bottlenecks that might have an impact on the product’s quality or delivery.

Enterprises can also use the metaverse to ensure better problem management and scenario preparation. This is made possible in the metaverse by the merging of artificial intelligence, digital twins, and 3D designs.

7. Communications

Large groups can hold virtual interactive get-togethers, client meetings or product launch events. Users can engage directly in this 3D space with virtual avatars, simulating the experience of being physically present in the same location.

Through engagement between businesses and customers, the metaverse creates a genuine sense of ownership continuity between the actual world and many virtual realities. NFTs enable the sale of items in both physical and digital forms, allowing the buyer to display their purchase both in the metaverse and in reality. These NFTs also ensure the actual item’s legitimacy. Nike created a “Nikeland environment” within the gaming platform where users may dress in virtual Nike apparel while playing games.

8. Investments

Metaverse cryptocurrency is a different way to invest in the metaverse. Metaverse crypto, in its simplest form, refers to the native tokens of initiatives built in the metaverse. Typically, these tokens are utilized for a variety of purposes, including transactions, staking, and even governance.

Playing metaverse games is the most effective way to invest in the metaverse. Due to initiatives like Decentraland and The Sandbox, the gaming industry is expanding rapidly. Players can build their own avatars and interact with those of other players in the games’ detailed 3D landscapes. The “play-to-earn” (P2E) methods used in the metaverse games include cryptos. Hence, players can receive rewards in cryptos for their in-game actions.

NFTs are a different well-liked method of investing in the metaverse. The ability to offer “real” ownership of in-game assets is one of the key aspects of NFTs that appeal to the metaverse. If in-game items are organized as NFTs, trading can take place with ease. Additionally, it enables users to buy NFT-structured virtual land plots in their own reality. Decentraland provides this feature because its 3D environment has about 90,000 pieces of land that are each 16 meters by 16 meters in size. Land is designed as an NFT and may be bought with Ethereum or MANA (Decentraland’s native token).