Welcome to the Unlimited Future: The New Reality of the Metaverse

At NTT DATA we think that Metaverse is more than a new type of interfacing technology, more than a 3D social media platform and much more than an extension of gaming, Web 3.0 and the growing NFT market.

In reality the Metaverse, like the internet, is just the next term for future business-as-usual, for the way we will all operate in the near future and the (virtual) space we will all inhabit, for fun… in fact, just about all forms of interaction.

From where we stand today, we can identify a series of new opportunities for businesses of every kind, for B2B and B2C: from new ways to interact with complex systems and machinery (enabling operators to inhabit a space thousands of miles from where they are based); virtual environments in which people can live, work and play (not to mention buy and sell virtual goods); to entertainment centers so sophisticated in their immersive capabilities that normal interaction will take place here as a matter of course. 

We can identify a series of new opportunities for businesses of every kind. This is a concept that will in the next 10 years (at most) become an intimate, integral part of our normal lives.

In other words, this is not something outside of our day-to-day lives – this is a concept that will in the next 10 years (at most) become an intimate, integral part of our normal lives.

Once we talked about online channels as forming a distinct, even separate, added-value business location. Now it’s the space where we communicate and collaborate every day. Sooner rather than later, the same will be true of the Metaverse.

The unlimited future

This will be a new kind of space where our increasingly-lifelike avatars will interact with each other for both business and pleasure. And though this vision is far from being fully formed, the Metaverse is already here. Major corporations like Nike and Gucci are already selling virtual products that are sometimes more costly than their physical equivalent, through virtual outlets located on Metaverse platforms. They are just the vanguards in a market that by 2030 will have an estimated value of $1.3 trillion.

But if everyone is convinced Metaverse will be a normal part of everyday life in the near future, why exactly is it taking so long to become reality?

There are obstacles to the take up of any new technology: that’s normal, but with a concept as demanding and complex as Metaverse, those barriers to adoption tend to be higher and wider than in the past.

The challenges aren’t virtual

Attempts to push people to the Metaverse have not been very successful to date, and the reasons for this stalling of mass adoption are almost certainly generational. Younger people, who treat gaming platforms as a ‘normal habitat’ are already mentally in the Metaverse. 

The problem lies with established technology players, which may simply be too conservative in learning how to connect with this younger age group and ensure interest for the mass market. The secret is to improve the quality of content available, develop higher-impact features and build the most valuable use cases we can. 

Established technology players may simply be too conservative in learning how to connect with the mass market. The secret is to improve the quality of content available, develop higher-impact features and build the most valuable use cases we can.

Industries will also need to agree on new legal and technological frameworks to ensure the traceability of users and their interconnections. Privacy and security will be major concerns, given that virtual worlds can only be built on vast amounts of personal and biometric data. 

So, creating a verifiable digital identity may become the biggest challenge to developing what should be an open and immersive environment where no single party can claim ownership. Cross-industry efforts are underway to develop open Metaverse standards that can simplify and accelerate the transition.

Creating a Metaverse economy will also require high bandwidth and intelligent networking, which means that building a robust and secure 5G network infrastructure that can support it at scale will be crucial. Other technical elements such as edge computing, advanced graphic engines, machine learning, AI for simulation, and the ability to accurately map and position objects in a 3D space will also be fundamental building blocks.

The Metaverse will also require secure payment systems that can allocate funds to each owner. Digital wallets and currencies are expected to play a key role in enabling these transactions, with blockchain and NFTs used similarly to safeguard digital assets and uphold the rights of participants.

The Metaverse players

This is a complex landscape in which different participants can come together in a huge variety of different ways to create markets, solutions, offers, concepts and marketable ideas of every kind.

Open ecosystems and collaborative models have already become an increasingly important trend, and a living reality for innovation teams and content or service developers. As we work together in bringing the Metaverse and its XR interfaces to life, we will need to make dynamic collaboration a normal way of how we work and do business.

This emerging collaborative ecosystem contains a lot of different players, all of them with their own different capabilities to offer.

Specialist technology companies, however, will be critical to fast development and maintenance of Metaverse environments. And we do not think this will be an in-house affair. The efforts of some major players (Meta, Google, even Apple) to ‘own’ this space will not, and cannot, work. No business, however large and capable, can define and develop something as huge, global and complex as this. 

The age of flexible collaboration may take a big and rapid step forward precisely because the complexity of the Metaverse is too great for any one company to handle. It has to be collaborative.

We expect to see a boom in virtual collaboration, with secure platforms used for “variable geometry” projects, in which teams come together to swarm around one task, and then reconfigure to deal with another, very different need. Developers, creative teams, systems engineers and technology integrators will all have a part to play – but we doubt that many of the key specialists will be long-term employees of any major player. The age of flexible collaboration may take a big and rapid step forward precisely because the complexity of the Metaverse is too great for any one company to handle. It has to be collaborative. 

For product and service providers, the Metaverse will be a new channel offering a virtual environment for branding, virtual retailing, and pure B2B activities, such as managing complex assets. Key market segments are likely to be transportation, healthcare, leisure, and manufacturing.

Then there will be the platform owners and developers who will create and manage the environments in the Metaverse. While many of these will be aimed squarely at consumers, there will also be business-focused platforms providing spaces where employees can work with others in highly flexible and secure ways.

And once these environments are created, specialist technology companies will emerge to develop and maintain them.

Network and infrastructure companies will also need to make sure there is sufficient low-latency bandwidth for the high-speed, high-volume data transfer that’s so essential. Telcos and communications service providers (CSPs) will have an initial advantage when it comes to creating the kind of intelligent networks that are needed.

Content creators will adapt or develop materials for sharing and sale to virtual audiences. This will range from immersive films and TV shows to events such as music concerts, games and fantasy experiences, which could be sporting or multi-party gaming.

And then, of course, overseeing all this will be the regulators, institutions, government bodies and other organizations. Inevitably, this will lead to some disruption as common ground is sought over privacy, compliance, taxation, accountability and the other issues that are bound to arise in a world without borders.

Capitalizing on opportunity

Regardless of whether your business operates in B2B, B2C or B2B2C markets, the potential of the Metaverse cannot be ignored. The Metaverse provides significant profit opportunities, but businesses will need specialist help to monetize initial concepts and turn them into solid propositions.

Early consulting support from organizations such as NTT DATA is how blind alleys can be avoided and new ideas identified. Consulting in this space is likely to be targeted, pragmatic and measured according to positive business outcomes. Consulting will naturally lead into the role of integration, which will be vital to the success of Metaverse simply because the requirements are so varied and levels of collaboration so intense. Integration of ecosystem members, creative ideas, technologies, platforms, processes and methodologies, smoothly and efficiently, is the key to success in Metaverse. Having this capability available will be extremely important

The Metaverse is still in the early stages of its development, but we think there is a clear roadmap into the future. The time to start the journey is now. 

Originally published by NTT DATA EMEAL, 2022. 

Read more from the NTT Group about the opportunities in the Metaverse:

• Exciting Metaverse Business Use Cases for 2023 and Beyond – NTT DATA Business Solutions

• NTT Docomo Moves Into the Industrial Metaverse – Nikkei Asia

• XR Proves its Value in the Enterprise – NTT DATA Americas