3 Steps to Optimizing Your Business Processes by Embracing the Metaverse Still seeking ways to embrace the metaverse so that it optimizes your business processes and brings great outcomes? Here are the three steps to follow.
By Slava Podmurnyi Edited by Chelsea Brown
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There has long been endless discussion, debate and controversy about whether the metaverse appears to be a true solution for business. However, there are striking cases backed up by real outcomes showing that companies have successfully taken advantage of virtual world solutions.
A great journey of metaverse implementation starts with taking a step-by-step approach. This involves the development of so-called metaverse-powered applications — digital twins, interactive platforms or decentralized smart contracts. By creating one metaverse-powered app, companies ensure whether or not it's worth further investments. For example, Boeing has achieved up to 40% improvement in the quality of certain airplane parts and systems by using digital twins. So, now the company can scale and move toward a business metaverse ecosystem creation.
Related: The Metaverse Is the Future of Business. Here's How to Prepare.
What are the metaverse-related technology applications?
Internal logic, user-engaging content and robust infrastructure … it takes lots of time and effort to develop a well-thought-out metaverse. At the same time, business process optimization and high performance of teams are needed right away. Based on metaverse technologies, such applications operate as parts of a potential business virtual ecosystem.
Digital twins: Digital twins are virtual copies of the company's products. Their main feature holds in the capability of testing functionality and studying performance issues. This helps to get valuable insights and come up with the next improvements for the original physical product.
Renault Group considers digital twins as an essential part of their vehicle development process. They use 3D copies of cars to run immersive simulations and check literally every part of the future car — from design to engine performance. Moreover, vehicle digital twins are put through certain virtual car crashes and road driving scenarios. That allows for getting an ideal virtual car prototype moved to the production stage.
Interactive platforms: A web-based corporate space offers a great variety of applications for businesses, establishing efficient production workflow and enhancing marketing and sales efforts. It also assists in organizing corporate educational activities — namely, competency-based training, hard skills quizzes and competition games to enhance employee performance.
Henkel actively employs their own interactive learning platform to help the team keep its skills up to date and thus make the company's performance better. The Henkel Learning Hub includes 4,000+ educational modules dedicated to presentation training, remote leadership and agile working methods.
Decentralized smart contracts: These digital contracts allow companies to automate the workflow of agreement execution. Powered by blockchain, they ensure secure and clear processes of different transactions.
Thanks to smart contracts, Home Depot has created an efficient vendor management system. Transparent communication and improved supply chain visibility accounted for having better relationships with vendors. This led to a time reduction that used to be spent on discussing invoice management issues.
Different businesses, different metaverse solutions. But as far as they're implemented, these apps can emerge in one big business ecosystem that will cover all business needs.
Related: What You Need To Know About How the Metaverse Will Affect Business
3 steps for successful metaverse ecosystem development
Innovation is important, but what's even more essential is the way a company approaches these emerging technologies. By embracing new tech gradually and smartly, a company ends up being advanced and high-performing. So, to create a business ecosystem powered by the metaverse, consider the following:
1. Define a way to get business improvements
Audit the current state of business, and observe the most critical challenges a company faces these days. Then, consider all possible metaverse-related technology solutions: digital twins, interactive platforms and smart contracts. Go for the one that perfectly links the company's existing capabilities with metaverse power.
2. Gain your first-time outcome, and move forward
By incorporating only one metaverse-related technology solution, it's possible to evaluate whether this particular one positively impacts your business by optimizing processes. If the whole effort proves to be effective, then scale.
3. Link all metaverse assets, and build an ecosystem
To cover the needs of all business units and establish an efficient workflow within them all, create an interconnected solution — a metaverse ecosystem. Connect all metaverse-related technology solutions, and manage business processes from a wide perspective.
A great case in point showing how a gradual approach towards the metaverse benefits a business is Mars, which created digital twins to avoid packages overfilling. The technology allowed the company to observe the production lines from a birds-eye perspective. Thereby, line production managers could monitor performance in online mode and control the filling process.
Having achieved great results by using virtual twins, Mars decided to scale. The company is aimed at creating the "Factory of the Future" — a cutting-edge platform. It will include automation and AI features that are going to help with the issues such as waste reduction, water stewardship and greenhouse emissions.
Related: Increase Your Brand Value Online By Venturing Into the Metaverse
The world is transforming, and digital solutions seem to be pretty handy. They provide many tools for automation, performance improvement and discovery of insights. As proof, 71% of tech leaders consider the metaverse as helpful and truly bringing positive changes in the business.
So, what makes the metaverse that worthwhile? Being one of the business ecosystem types, the metaverse helps save costs and establish efficient workflows within a company. Though it's not always about 3D, it's more about immersive experiences and user-generated content. That leads to building a strong community around a particular business.