What is the business metaverse and why should enterprises care? [Q&A]

The metaverse has triggered something of a buzz in recent months, particularly among big tech companies and wealthy investors.

But while the idea of a virtual world might be compelling for consumers, what does it mean for enterprises? We spoke to Nadir Ali, CEO of Inpixon to find out.

BN: What is the metaverse and why is it becoming an emerging technology?

NA: The metaverse refers to experiences that combine physical and digital realities. This usually involves the use of technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) or other immersive tech that create multi-dimensional experiences, uniting aspects of both our physical and digital worlds.

Elements of the metaverse have been in play for many years, but its profile as been elevated recently, primarily driven by technology maturity (of processors, displays, batteries, connectivity, blockchain, miniaturization techniques) and some actions by high-profile companies, such as, Facebook renaming to Meta, Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and firms buying virtual real estate and registering trademarks for virtual goods.

BN: Is the metaverse still something for the future?

NA: Elements of the metaverse are here and delivering value already. Think, for example, of Google Maps' Live View, which uses AR to help users navigate their surroundings, IKEA's app that allows virtual placement of furnishings in a room, and one of the most popular mobile games ever, Pokémon GO.

What the metaverse needs right now is more real-world use cases that illustrate how transformative and useful these rich new experiences can be. And they exist.

A prime example is what analyst firm Gartner calls Smart Spaces. These are environments, "in which humans and technology-enabled systems interact in increasingly open, connected, coordinated and intelligent ecosystems."

Such capabilities have become more important as businesses that want to bring employees back to the office seek new ways to optimize their facilities for an enjoyable, productive, and safe workplace experience. With such technology, companies can convert static floor plans into dynamic, interactive spaces filled with information-rich digital twins that deliver contextual content based on employee physical location.

Another example: Boeing has been testing an AR application since 2018 that allows the complex task of installing electrical wiring in an aircraft to be done via interactive, 3D diagrams rather than more manual, error-prone models.

These are just a few among a panoply of immersive experiences -- enabled by advances in AR and VR as well as other technology that leverages location awareness, artificial intelligence, and automation -- that the world may not have thought of in a 'metaverse' context but that certainly fit the description.

BN: What is the 'business metaverse'?

NA: A lot of the existing metaverse applications are focused on the consumer, such as for gaming and entertainment. But businesses can also use the metaverse for benefits such as, increased productivity, reduced costs, enriching the employee experience, and better serving the customer.

Ultimately, many organizations are in business to sell products. Things get really interesting when you consider how, for instance, product promotions may change with the metaverse -- how will companies and consumers use the metaverse to explore new and existing products? In what ways will the content we put into the metaverse affect their buying decisions and patterns? Will there be ad platforms specific to the metaverse that companies need to adjust to? What will these ads look like and how will people interact with them? When a prospect 'clicks' an ad or link in the metaverse, will they go to a 3D, interactive demo of your product or will they be routed to a live person or AI bot who can answer their questions in real-time? Truly, the possibilities are endless and we're just getting started.

What's clear though, and is likely on the minds of many business leaders, is the importance of not getting left behind. Whether companies are ready for it or not, the metaverse is here. It's a matter of time before your competitors figure out new ways to better serve their employees or to reach the target market first. It’s better to brainstorm and experiment now, rather than arrive late and regret it later. Thus, the time to begin innovating in the business side of the metaverse, is now.

BN: How does digital twin technology enable the business metaverse?

NA: Digital twins are a key component of most metaverse experiences. In fact, an early stage in many metaverse implementations, and one most companies can start now, is to create the digital twins of an organization's physical elements. Let's use an office as an example. Viewing a meeting room with your bare eyes provides limited information. You can see how large it is and if it's in use, but that's about it. The room's digital twin however, viewed through the display on your smartphone, tablet or AR smart glasses, reveals so much more. By linking to other systems and databases you can view at a glance the room's capacity, temperature, air quality, when it was last cleaned, when it's available, whether it has a video conferencing unit and more.

As another example, think of any big, high-capital-cost physical project -- an oil and gas pipeline, electricity plant, chip factory, a pharmaceutical supply chain. Since the digital twin can mirror real-time processes, you can study and improve upon those processes happening in the physical world to boost operational efficiency. As more data is collected from the digital twin, over time you can simulate processes virtually and test different conditions to create an optimized production methodology.

The digital twin idea is not new. It just keeps advancing with each new generation of semiconductors, sensors, wireless communications, software, graphics, predictive analytics and powerful handheld computers. Leveraging digital twins is a key aspect of the business metaverse.

BN: Which industries will benefit the most from the business metaverse?

NA: Manufacturing and healthcare are two, though there are many other industries benefiting as well.

Let’s start with healthcare for which there was an exciting, advanced metaverse application recently: hologram doctors visited the astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The hologram is a new human connection -- from Earth to space -- bringing astronauts an immersive experience matched only by real-time interaction in a physical doctor's office itself. The technology is powered by a combination of a mixed-reality headset, sensors, optics and holographic processing technology allowing the viewer to enter into their own virtual world where they can interact with a real doctor. The result is a digital healthcare experience unlike any other for travelers, in this case, hundreds of miles away in space.

Manufacturing and logistics organizations are using the metaverse to better understand what is happening within their environment -- where a material flow bottleneck may be, for instance, in order to quickly and remotely diagnose the problem and then implement the solution. This is an example of Industry 4.0, which offers a whole new world of possibilities for industrial companies. By interconnecting machines, adopting more intelligent software (that thinks and grows along with your business processes), and implementing more location-aware sensors, companies can gain vital insights regarding their factories and warehouses, in real time. Many factories are early adopters of digital twins and of metaverse-related technologies. The factory of the future will increasingly have access to -- and be able to properly process and learn from -- data to make decisions, handle problems and delays, and ensure that end-users get what they need, requiring very little human input or intervention.

BN: What do you predict will come next with the business metaverse?

NA: From the macro perspective, you might study how the four industrial revolutions evolved, because what's happening now is likely to be known as metaverse 1.0.

Companies and people will need to work together to build it and power it, and to ensure it’s accessible across the globe. There will be relatively centralized sources where AR/AR-enabling components of the metaverse will be mass produced as well as myriad smaller producers. Software will be created to coordinate these parts intelligently, with a high likelihood of ML and AI involved to do this sustainably, at scale. The systems that manage the metaverse will evolve to communicate and become aware of one another, so they can share information and influence each other in ways that improve the experience of the end user or operation. Sensor-laden clothing and smart contact lenses will become a reality. We may even see human-cyber fusion such as a neural-computer interface, wherein the ability to interact and virtually live in the metaverse could become seamless and second-nature to its users. The trajectory of technology like this tends to go from simple, single-function, manually-created tools to intelligence ecosystems that automatically manage themselves and are able to identify new opportunities and grow, with minimal human intervention.

On a practical level, we're going to see businesses create and use digital twins of nearly all their physical assets. Everything will have a label that if clicked on will reveal the asset's specs, history, status and schedule. Large offices will enable AR-enabled navigation, first via the phone's screen and then smart glasses. Employees will come to expect these advanced metaverse experiences.

Meetings will evolve fairly rapidly. There will be better tools, such as interactive whiteboards; better audio, such as to allow for sub-conversations within a meeting; photorealistic avatars; support for VR, to allow you to meet in outer space or underwater, and to turn your head to look at the person next to you. Eventually, smart glasses will enable us to view our meeting agenda and talking-points and to read foreign language translations in real-time, hands free.

Events will also become more immersive. On- and off-site attendees will interact seamlessly. You'll navigate the trade show using AR, view virtual product demos remotely, and see 'inside' of products. Your ticket to the event might be a non-fungible token (NFT).

It’s truly exciting to see the business metaverse unfold in front of us and all the possibilities it represents for companies to discover new ways to enrich others' lives and to help their business achieve success.

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