A killer app is an IT application whose value to individuals and companies is relatively simple to explain, its use is fairly intuitive, and the application turns out to be so useful that it can singlehandedly propel the success of a new product or service. Word processing and spreadsheets, for example, were major factors in the widespread adoption of personal computers in the 1980s.
I got interested in 3D immersive environments in the mid-2000s when IBM launched an exploratory initiative on the topic. As part of these efforts, we conducted a number of experiments on Second Life, a platform that allowed its users to develop a variety of virtual world applications. We built a number of workplace applications, including virtual meetings, and online events, and even built a virtual replica of Beijing’s Forbidden City in partnership with the Palace Museum that was opened to the public. But, despite our high expectations, we couldn’t find any compelling enterprise killer apps, and after about three years, the project was dissolved. In the ensuing years, 3D immersive technologies and applications continued to advance, but mostly focused on video-games and related industries.
The past few years have seen a surge of interest in the metaverse and extended reality. “After desktop computing, the consumer internet and the smartphone boom, the consumer-computing industry is past due its Next Big Thing,” wrote The Economist in “A reality check for the metaverse is coming,” an article in its 2022 year-end issue. “[A]n internet which is still largely flat — based on two-dimensional text, images and video — is ripe for replacement with one that is three-dimensional and immersive.”
The last major advance in user interfaces took place in the 1980s when text-based interfaces gave way to graphical user Interfaces (GUIs). GUIs were developed at Xerox PARC in the late 1970s and popularized by the Apple Macintosh in the 1980s. In the 1990s, GUIs were embraced by just about every PC and user device, and GUI-based Web browsers played a major role in the explosive growth of the Internet and World Wide Web.
In October of 2021, Mark Zuckerberg announced his commitment to a metaverse strategy by rebranding Facebook as Meta Platforms. A week or so later, Satya Nadella shared Microsoft’s metaverse plans, starting with enabling users of Mesh for Microsoft Teams to interact and collaborate in 3D immersive workspaces. “Rival firms have similar ambitions,” said The Economist. “But the industry that is furthest along is the video-games business, which has been selling virtual worlds for decades.”
Given the continuing pace of technology advances, as well as our increased use of online applications since the advent of the pandemic, perhaps the time has finally arrived for the development of enterprise 3D immersive applications beyond the entertainment industry.
In June of 2022, leading standards organizations and companies announced the formation of The Metaverse Standards Forum aimed at industry-wide cooperation on the interoperability standards needed to build an open metaverse. And in January of 2023, the Linux Foundation launched the Open Metaverse Foundation “to provide a collaboration space for diverse industries to work on developing open source software and standards for an inclusive, global, vendor-neutral and scalable Metaverse.” These are two important steps toward the development of enterprise metaverse applications.
“The enterprise metaverse is a now opportunity — a time to build the foundation for a purposeful future that spans the digital-physical divide by creating tangible, measurable, and sustainable business results today,” said “Beyond the Hype: Five ways retailers and brands can drive value in the enterprise metaverse,” a recent report by IBM’s Institute for Business Value (IBV). “As the consumer metaverse progresses through the hype cycle, retailers and brands must address the opportunities to leverage key metaverse themes— immersion, decentralization, virtual economy, and community — to drive value within the enterprise.”
The report defines the metaverse “as a shorthand word for the network of shared 3D experiences that blur the divide between the digital world and the physical world. … Contrary to most of the press coverage, the metaverse does not just exist in a headset. It’s essentially everywhere — experienced on a phone, laptop, tablet, and in physical spaces all around us, often through a digital overlay onto the physical world.”
Chris Hay, one of the authors of the IBM report, said in this podcast that one of the reasons he’s excited about the metaverse is that it unlocks us from the web, mobile, and other traditional channels that we’ve lived with for a long time; virtual (VR), augmented (AR), and especially mixed reality (MR) will give us new possibilities for innovation in enterprise applications.
The report discussed five key areas of opportunity for leveraging the metaverse in enterprises to achieve tangible value beyond what could be achieved with existing 2D interfaces. Let me summarize the five areas.
New product development: “streamline, enhance, and accelerate the digital product development process through improved collaboration across R&D, innovation, product design, and production.”
3D immersive methods can help improve the productivity of product development, such as eliminating the need for physical prototyping which would result in faster times to market and reduced development costs. 3D-enabled visualization tools would enable members of the development team to create, review, and test new products across virtual worlds, as well as ensure that consumers understand and have accurate information on the product’s capabilities to help them make better purchase and usage decisions. “The ability to more easily collaborate with colleagues, partners, and even consumers, paves the way for a fundamental re-think of product design and innovation.”
Manufacturing and engineering: AR/VR technologies, digital twin simulations, and AI-enabled services “allow organizations to both virtually represent existing business functions (such as a production line) and to overlay new capabilities on top of physical processes.” According to the report, metaverse-enabled operations can help create business value in three key ways:
- Design, test and update real world assets like factories and distribution centers using digital twins, that is, virtual models that reflect their counterparts in the physical world;
- Use AR/MR and AI-enabled computer vision to improve the speed, accuracy, and overall efficiency of the many multi-step processes in distribution centers; and
- Keep facilities up and running by monitoring manufacturing operations with AR/MR and AI technologies to find problems before they occur and fix them quickly when they arise.
Store and space design: planning, creating and building stores, merchandising displays, and other physical spaces take considerable time and resources. “In the metaverse, retailers and brands have opportunities to quickly create, visualize, and update stores, working seamlessly across teams, locations and iterations.”
For example, the creation of a store’s showrooms can benefit greatly from the use of 3D/spatial design processes, immersive virtual reviews, and the ability to rapidly explore new ideas. “3D visualization tools and virtual spaces can help teams iterate quickly, while remaining within the boundaries of what’s possible in an existing building or space.”
Training, service, and support: the metaverse can help shorten the time frames for training employees to deliver better customer experiences. “Immersive hands-on training helps users quickly intake difficult-to-learn information and gain a knowledge and skills foundation, increasing knowledge retention and elevating skills and capabilities.”
“The ability to be immersed into a human-centered story that feels real helps people understand and prepare for more complex situations, where brand values, culture, and empathy play a big part in successfully handling them.”
Enhanced customer experience: augmented and virtual environments have the potential to redefine how consumers browse, buy, and receive goods and services. Immersive virtual environments make it possible to engage with consumers in ways not possible in the physical world. “Augmented experiences are designed to offer a natural, easier access point for a wide range of customers, providing richer engagement and more ways to convert.”
The report concludes with five key recommendations for executives that want to start experimenting with the metaverse:
- Identify benefits you can deliver today - “Be purposeful on where you want to focus the effort”;
- Bring 2D and 3D worlds together - “Consider where 2D and 3D content can co-exist happily together, such as digital twins, associate training, or customer support”;
- Create transition points - “Identify when and where the potential transition from 2D to 3D worlds could happen across your consumer experience and internal operations”;
- Measure twice, cut once - “Leverage your existing analytics and intelligence capabilities to select the right experimentation projects so you can test, learn, and scale in a rapid and agile manner”; and
- Choose partners that can scale - “Work with your existing partner ecosystem to identify shared objectives and complementary capabilities.”
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