“The metaverse is a set of virtual spaces where you can create and explore with other people who aren’t in the same physical space as you. You’ll be able to hang out with friends, work, play, learn, shop, create, and more.” – Meta
Is your business ready for the transition to the metaverse? Yeah, we get it – that’s a loaded question! After all, there’s still a fair bit of speculation and rumors about exactly what’s involved with the metaverse and what it will mean for us and our businesses.
Over the past couple of years, we have witnessed businesses placing a greater emphasis on e-commerce and digital transformation – thanks in large part to the global pandemic.
But we also see businesses beginning to shift their attention even further toward the digital as the virtual world becomes less of a fantastical idea and closer to reality.
Metaverse For Your Business
The goal of every business is to market its products or services where its customers or clients hang out. This means you will need to conduct market research to find out where your ideal customer is present. If your product or service caters to the audience that is ready to experience virtual reality and exist in it for a majority of their time, then you should be thinking of making your digital presence on the metaverse.
“Companies will need to transition their marketing strategies from online ad buys to existing in a shared, virtual economy. Companies will need to do market research on their new customers in the metaverse. How people act and what their preferences are in the metaverse could be totally different than how they behave and what they shop for in real life. Add to that the layer of business to robot to consumer, where virtual assistants and robots own the relationship with the consumer and it all starts to make sense.” — Forbes
Metaverse Strategy
In the metaverse, some of the existing services and business models we are familiar with will continue to exist, but the metaverse opens a whole new realm of ways to engage, which, we expect will lead to uniquely new services and business models. Not everything in the metaverse will be relevant for every business. However, there are some things to take the opportunity to explore.
Learn
There are many different interpretations of the metaverse, and various angles to learn about beyond the content here.
Assess
While the metaverse will scale across many industry verticals, evaluate if there are relevant opportunities for your business.
Create
Gain experience through internal development. Take the opportunity to explore creative consumer engagement through new channels, services, experiences, digital goods, and assets. Start small and move fast. Test and learn.
Connect
Start building a network of metaverse ecosystem participants. The world is still small, so high-quality collaborations and partnerships are still available at a reasonable level of investment. Connect with a new generation and tap into alternative talent pools.
Establish
Get your business out there and position yourself to capture the hearts and minds of tech-forward sub-communities.
The Metaverse And Insurance
Although the Metaverse is currently small, it has big ambitions. Designing immersive user experiences and streamlining digital processes will also help companies and customers flourish in an increasingly digital future. In the Metaverse, the insurance industry will re-emerge with a slightly refreshed facade, ready to play an integral role in the operations of this new digital world. Cyber insurance is one of the solutions that could help people and organizations prevent and recover from digital losses.
The transformative impact of the metaverse will ripple through most sectors beyond media and entertainment. Companies should be exploring the metaverse now, at least as far as internal applications like creating digital twins for the office or factory are concerned. Developing digital business strategies that leverage the built-in infrastructure and participants of the metaverse is advocated, along with the leading idea and innovation management that focuses on new opportunities and business models within the metaverse.
The possibilities of a virtual world, where everything is supported by lines of codes, could open new revenue streams for companies diving into this new venture. The opportunities are limitless and based on how people have adopted an increasingly digital life, the change is already taking place.