Shriram Group’s Novac Technology bets big on metaverse

Shriram Value Services is an arm of the Shriram Group. The company has around 3,500 employees, 80 of whom are building these immersive services at its development centre in Chennai.

“We are into custom content development and the world is moving towards VR- and AR-based learning. This prompted us to get into the metaverse too,” said Pradeep B, associate vice president of Novac, as he showcased the company’s metaverse prowess at the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (Gitex) in Dubai this month.

The metaverse, popularized by Meta (earlier Facebook), is a VR space where users can interact with others who aren’t in the same physical space. Even though the metaverse is in its infancy, businesses have already begun using the concept to create a 3D-realistic digital world that allows them to buy and sell goods and services, sign and enforce contracts, hire talent and interact with customers worldwide.

In March, Novac conducted its ‘Rewards and Recognition Program’ for NOVAC learning—a digital learning team—in the metaverse in a bid to combine work from home (WFH) and work from office (WFO) employees under one roof with the creation of animated avatars. Guests can select their avatars to enter the world. Award winners‘ photographs and names were published on the main screen, and they were called to the stage to share their success stories.

Novac is focusing on catering to companies in the manufacturing sector, “where there is a pressing need for such technologies”. For instance, Novac creates ‘digital twins’ to replicate physical models in the factories for training across departments including operations, human resources and administration. “We have been doing this work for about 18 months. We are getting a lot of inquiries,” Pradeep B said, adding that the company has over 50 clients in this space.

Novac has partnered with a European VR and artificial intelligence soft skills training provider called Bodyswaps to offer VR-based training modules for companies that let their employees take up soft skills training. Bodyswaps uses immersive simulations and AI to empower learners through courses that focus on soft skills such as communication, teamwork, leadership, and job interview skills.

The company also uses mixed reality services to offer high-resolution simulations integrated with VR and AR to give learners an immersive experience. Financial services are already interested in tapping into the potential of the metaverse for branding and product development. For instance, banks are likely to have digital avatars of real bank executives alongside existing AI-powered chatbots to help out customers during and after office hours, said Pradeep B.

He said in India, many companies are asking for an independent metaverse ecosystem where one doesn’t need to buy land on public decentralized metaverses such as Sandbox and Decentraland.