The corporate presence in the metaverse continues to grow, including in Brazil. The “The Metaverse At Work” survey, conducted by Nokia in partnership with the consulting firm Ernst & Young with 860 business leaders from Brazil, the USA, Germany, the UK, Japan and South Korea, showed that among Brazilian respondents, 63% have already implemented at least one pilot program or implemented a case in the metaverse.
This places the country in the top three countries that see the potential of virtual reality for business, after the United States with 65% and the United Kingdom with 64%. The survey was conducted with leaders within companies in the automotive, industrial goods, manufacturing, transportation, supply chain, logistics, energy and utilities sectors.
The metaverse could be worth $5 trillion by 2030, according to a report from consulting firm McKinsey. But is this a potential business model exclusively for large companies?
There’s room for everyone, says Kenneth Corey, an MBA professor at FGV who specializes in new technologies, artificial intelligence and metaverses. “We have to break down the scenario: Obviously, the big companies, the big tech companies (Meta, Apple, Google) have different investment size and also business goals, so they’re making billionaire investments to create technologies that will be used by billions of people.”
“Major brands, such as Gucci, Nike, Adidas and Renner, invest in hundreds of thousands of innovative projects (such as several recently awarded at Cannes), to gain visibility and build authority as innovative and consistent brands. These investments are generally in building or using existing platforms, creating unique experiences (that is, made in a personalized way) to achieve fame, ”the specialist emphasizes.
“On the other hand, small businesses cannot invest so much, or sometimes they have someone’s time within the company just to use solutions that are already there, that are already available and that actually work. In this scenario, decentralized platforms like Decentraland or Sandbox, or centralized systems like Spatial or Roblox, offer free options that can be used for different business purposes.”
According to Kenneth, small businesses can apply efforts in the metaverse on several fronts, which include product display, virtual workroom, data processing, tourism experiences and events such as shows, conferences, exhibitions, virtual training, digital twins, and immersive shopping, among others.
For the real estate sector, for example, it is possible to offer clients visits to real estate and showcasing construction projects. Medicine is already able to provide remote surgeries, as well as other therapies and approaches, such as digital therapy, for people with autism. The range is already quite large and tends to expand more and more, ”he explains.
trends in the metaverse for the coming years
And what are the main trends in the Metaverse in the works for the coming years? Kenneth notes that the next steps include developing Web3, developing blockchain-based metavers using cryptocurrencies and NFTs, as well as breaking down barriers to technology adoption.
The expert points out that there are still many problems to improve, improve, and even solve, but there is also a lot of investment. In 2022 alone, there were investments worth 120 billion US dollars, an increase of 10 times compared to 2021, that is, news appears at such a speed that it is difficult to keep up. Meta launches its new Oculus Quest 3 model in 2023, and Apple in early 2024, Apple Vision Pro. Microsoft is investing in the Industrial Metaverse, its vision of using virtual, augmented, and mixed reality for business. “
The main challenges of implementing the metaverse in the works
Kenneth Coreh also talks about the challenges. “It’s a novelty, and people are having a hard time accepting the new. Especially those who need to invest, but don’t have access to capital (high interest rates and inflation around the world), and also don’t expect long-term returns. Although some gaming Metaverses have large numbers of users (hundreds of millions), social Metaverses platforms are still struggling with hundreds of thousands, so there are few users to justify a higher investment,” he notes.
Today, the metaverse is still an infancy technology. According to Gartner advisory data, emerging technologies are expected to have a significant impact on business and society over the next two to ten years.
To invest in the metaverse, it’s not specifically about the company’s maturity. “It’s more about the company wanting to get there before others while space is still a blue ocean and the foundations are being built,” says Kenneth.
“For a company that wants to invest in Metaverso in the hope of immediate turnover, it is most resolute to direct its investments towards more established technologies (such as a good marketing campaign on Tiktok, for example), since investments in emerging technologies are riskier, and the environment is still quite uncertain. However, those companies that look at the metaverse as a way to reduce training costs, offsetting, and reduce occupational risks, these companies can already generate results in 2023, the specialist concludes.
