The Banking Executive Magazine - June 2022 Issue

The Metaverse THE BUSINESS SHIFT TO THE METAVERSE According to V-Soft Consulting, busi- nesses are shifting to the Metaverse for the following reasons: • Enhanced Social Networking: Ac- cording to Zuckerburg, the Meta- verse is a lot more than Virtual Reality and by the end of this decade, it will transform busi- nesses, work, and connections. • Customer Experience: With the Metaverse, businesses can engage with their customers, explore new opportunities, and stay up to date on the latest technologies. • New Business Ventures: NVIDIA has already capitalized on the rise of the Metaverse by creating Om- niverse to connect worlds within the Metaverse. According to NVIDIA, Omniverse is an easily extendible, open platform built for virtual collaboration and real-time physically accurate simulations. It allows designers, researchers, and creators to collaborate and sell their products in virtual spaces. • Enhanced Advertising Opportuni- ties: The Metaverse will be a golden opportunity for businesses to advertise their products. Just like the physical world, the virtual world will have spaces to promote products and services. • New Digital Products: The Meta- verse is a space where everything is simulated from the real world. Users can create their own avatars and decide what the avatar wears and looks like. Metaverse spaces usually resemble physical loca- tions to feel more connected and businesses can leverage this to sell ‘digital’ products starting from clothing to software applications. Businesses entering the Metaverse can open their stores to augment their market share. • Remote Work: Remote work capa- bilities have become a necessity since the beginning of 2020 and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Some organizations have shifted com- pletely to remote work. Although the remote work transition has been pretty smooth for most organ- izations, some issues are still prevalent. The Metaverse can be used in training new employees, organizing meetings, collabora- tion, and team building. In the Metaverse, employees will have their own virtual workspace where they can attend meetings, work, and collaborate. Users can make virtual presentations and take part in brainstorming sessions. The Metaverse creates a more interac- tive environment than just virtual meetings, connecting users from all over the world to attend global summits, meetings and cater to an international audience. TECHNOLOGIES POWERING THE METAVERSE Various technologies are used to aug- ment the Metaverse and make it more immersive. These include: Blockchain and cryptography: Blockchain or decentralized technol- ogy is essential for the mass adoption of the Metaverse across major indus- tries. Blockchain technology powers cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, and Dogecoin. It can also function as a distributed ledger for recording peer-to-peer transactions and supports the creation of digital assets called non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and dApps. Blockchain tech- nology is crucial for the development and constant evolution of the Meta- verse. With blockchain, enterprises can build decentralized and trans- parent solutions to provide digital proof of ownership, digital collec- tability, value transfer, and interoper- ability. 3-D reconstruction: The implication of 3-D reconstruc- tion has increased in many industries, especially real-estate busi- nesses. Due to long shutdowns and social distancing practices, people missed in-person visits to the proper- ties they wanted to buy. As a solu- tion, real-estate agencies adopted 3-D reconstruction technology to take potential buyers on property tours without forcing them to come in person. 3-D reconstruction facilitates the cre- ation of a natural environment where the users can navigate using their avatars to check out the replica of a physical building or object. Artificial intelligence: Artificial intelligence (AI) is widely applicable in our day-to-day lives, business automation, strategies and planning, facial recognition, faster computing, and much more. Like- wise, AI has enabled the creation of immersive virtual spaces. Regardless of the project (gaming, commercial, or general niche), AI is adding value to the Metaverse in many ways: • Data processing and management have become easy and faster with AI. • For gaming in the Metaverse, AI improve players actions and inter- action. • AI technology can generate more realistic avatars. • AI make the entire Metaverse process more dynamic. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) Mixed Reality (MR) and Extended Reality (ER): • Virtual Reality (VR) is a technology that substitutes one’s vision of the physical world with a digitally pro- duced scene using software and headgear devices. • Augmented Reality (AR) is a tech- nology that blends the digital and real worlds. • Mixed Reality (MR) is a hybrid of augmented reality and virtual real- ity. • Extended reality (XR) is a new col- lective term encompassing all im- mersive technology. Internet of Things (IoT): IoT, as a system, bridges the gap be- tween our physical world and the in- the BANKING EXECUTIVE 42 ISSUE 162 JUNE 2022