Accenture has reportedly developed a ‘Metaverse Continuum’ hosting numerous virtual worlds and experiences to reshape how people work and interact, the company announced this week.
Paul Daughtery, Group CEO of Technology and CTO of Accenture and David Droga, CEO and Creative Chairman of Accenture Interactive will lead the firm’s Metaverse Continuum business group.
Welcome to the “#Metaverse Continuum”, a spectrum of digitally enhanced worlds, realities and business models poised to revolutionize life and enterprise in the next decade.
It’s the focus of our #TechVision 2022 report, out now: https://t.co/OUhAjpr44y pic.twitter.com/LicgRLhaDq
— Accenture Software HCM (@Accenture_HCM) March 18, 2022
The announcement comes amid a new report, which found that several emerging technologies such as extended reality (XR), edge computing, digital twins, blockchain, and others were shifting towards newer, more unfamiliar territories.
The report also surveyed over 4,600 “business and technology leaders across 23 industries in 35 countries,” and found 71 percent responded the Metaverse would have a positive impact on their organisations, with 42 percent stating it would become ‘breakthrough’ or ‘transformational.’
Companies such as Mars had experiences enterprise successes with such technologies after working with Microsoft and Accenture. The latter two empowered Mars to employ digital twins to reduce waste, boost efficiency, and facilitate real-time decisions across supply chains, among others.
4 Trends of the Enterprise Metaverse
The report noted four rising trends along with the percentage of respondents supporting them:
WebMe: “Putting the Me in Metaverse,” or building a unified, persistent 3D environment allowing users to travel between spaces and synchronise customer data across platforms (95 percent)
Programmable World: “Our Planet, Personalised,” where emerging technologies such as virtual, augmented, and mixed reality (VR/AR/MR), 5G, smart materials, and others redefined how people engage with the virtual and physical worlds (92 percent)
Technology Vision 2022: Meet Me In the Metaverse
The Unreal: “Making Synthetic, Authentic,” where AI leads to authentic experiences for brands and businesses preparing to adopt such technologies (96 percent)
Computing the Impossible: “New Machines, New Possibilities,” tools such as quantum and biology-inspired computing will provide businesses with unprecedented computing capabilities, leading to long-term success and the tools to tackle future challenges (94 percent)
Statements on The Metaverse
According to Daughtery, the next generation of the Internet was “unfolding” and would drive a “new wave of digital transformation far greater than” previously seen to transform how people live and work.
He added,
“Our vision of the metaverse as a continuum challenges prevailing, narrower views and highlights why organizations must act today, or find themselves operating in worlds designed by, and for, someone else”
Speaking on the findings, Daugherty stated that the “line between people’s physical and digital lines” would blur further, sparking organisations to develop a “responsible” Metaverse to facilitate “trust, sustainability, personal safety, privacy, responsible access and use, diversity and more.”
He concluded: The actions and choices they make today will set the stage for the future.”
Adding to Daugherty’s comments, Droga explained his company had become an early leader in Metaverse technologies by filing 600 patents and having over 10 years of experience.
He said,
“Our new business group combines these capabilities with the creative strengths of Accenture Interactive, with teams of innovators and creators introducing new applications in the decentralized environment of the metaverse”
The news comes after Accenture became the first consultancy firm to adopt a record 60,000 Meta Quest 2 headsets in October to onboard new hires and provide continued education while in their roles.
Accenture’s Metaverse, the Nth Floor, allows new hires to onboard, offers team socials, and provides immersive learning opportunities. The company also estimates over 150,000 new hires to work in the Metaverse on their initial day of work.
The company’s pivot to the Metaverse led to it joining the Washington, DC-based XR Association in February, which includes some of the world’s top tech firms such as Google, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Unity, and many others, to guide the industry to greater interoperability, innovation, and cooperation.
Accenture also recently invested crucial funding for startups, namely immersive learning platform Talespin, to expand the global ecosystem of XR solutions, and launched an initiative in India to promote the growth and diversification of women-led businesses for female entrepreneurs in the subcontinent.
