Busting metaverse BS to understand where we are now and where we are headed!

The metaverse has evolved rapidly over the past year, creating a new dimension for immersive customer and employee experiences. That’s the minimum we can expect from it.

At its best, it can be exemplary of a Horizon 3 technology: open, collaborative, and decentralized with precisely the kind of capabilities supporting the development of the HFS OneEcosystem™, in which service providers and advisory firms help enterprises work together to discover new sources of value, revenue, and engagement.

The value and definition of the metaverse are still in flux

Across the internet, various firms point to the new sources of wealth the metaverse can create. However, in Davos 2023, the metaverse was pegged as a $1 trillion opportunity, and global investment bank Goldman Sachs predicted it would become an $8 trillion opportunity. Is it time for a whack with the reality stick?

A soon-to-be-released HFS Horizons study covering metaverse services has pegged the current, realistic opportunity for the services industry at closer to $2.5 billion. We based our estimate on in-depth interviews with 18 services firms, such as Tech Mahindra and Accenture, which described their current real-world activities related to the metaverse.

So, what is real? To gain some perspective, HFS brought together an expert panel consisting of Francesco Federico, Executive Director of Global Marketing Technology, JLL; Vivienne Hsu, Co-founder, CEO, and Partner, Anabasis Partners; Dr. Mary Lacity, David D. Glass Chair and Distinguished Professor of Information Systems, Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas; Manish Upadhyay, Global Business Head—Sports Tech Business, Tech Mahindra; and Phil Fersht, CEO and Chief Analyst, HFS Research. This panel convened in London in March 2023 at HFS’ Horizons Summit.

Bridging Web2 metaverse with Web3 metaverse is about technology, experience, and innovation

As Dr. Lacity pointed out early in the conversation, we are on two paths. The first path is “a metaverse,” which we are experiencing with today’s Web2 and gaming, where we employ augmented reality and virtual reality via headsets and consoles. The second path is to our destination, “the metaverse,” where new technologies and behaviors enable an immersive experience creating unimagined possibilities that don’t rely on today’s hardware limitations.

JLL’s Francesco Federico described how JLL uses the metaverse “to craft digital twins to create experiences for customers to get a feel of the function and visualization of spaces that matter to them.” JLL currently delivers this experience with AR/VR equipment.

As Manish Upadhyay pointed out, “The metaverse is helping to build an experience-driven economy and sustainable innovation.” He highlighted how Tech Mahindra uses the metaverse, high-speed access, and mobile devices to allow fans to interact with digital representations of teams, event locations, and players.

HFS’ Phil Fersht reminded all of the value metaverse technologies could bring to employee experience and that it could be critical in helping manage our emerging hybrid working lives.

We must be wary of the governance, ethics, and privacy of metaverse utopia

Dr. Lacity warned, “Governance is important; the headsets often used to experience the metaverse, for example, have the potential to provide surveillance capitalism on steroids!”

And Vivienne Hsu cautioned, “As tech catches up, we’ll move from global accessibility to global experiences.” Here, we must think carefully about our moral and ethical responsibilities before going live.

The Bottom Line: Ready or not, the metaverse is coming. With a high valuation, many firms will see this as a goldmine for future growth. However, we must make it a secure, inclusive, and positive place.

To sum up our session

• A range in valuation from $2.5 billion to $8 trillion shows we are still defining the metaverse.
• The metaverse brings equality of experience to global fans, educators, and businesses.
• As technology catches up, we are moving from global accessibility to global experiences.
• Improving bandwidth and new forms of content will fuel metaverse growth.
• The metaverse will play a revolutionary role in how society will interact in the very near future.

Watch the session video here:

To Read/Download session deck click here