How we're going boldly into the metaverse using virtual reality

You may have seen some of the news coverage?last month?about William Shatner being the oldest person to go into space aboard the Blue Origin capsule. Aside from enjoying how the?media coverage?relished new ways to use Star Trek’s well-known?phrase?“to?boldly go” again, I was reminded about how?“going beyond”?the universe is playing out in my own?role focused on global?digital experiences.?

As I mentioned in an earlier blog,?extended reality is helping us to discover new worlds.?With an?increasing online presence?that embraces?virtual?reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) and extended reality (XR),?we’re?opening?up?new kinds?of workplace experiences.?

These breakthrough technologies are enabling companies such as?ourselves?to co-create and prototype solutions—transforming the enterprise?as we know it. In fact, we believe the future of meeting, learning and working together will combine physical and virtual experiences—and we’re already?creating?those experiences.?We are embracing VR?technologies to upend our traditional?onboarding, learning and collaborative practices.??

New normal experiences?

I was?excited to?share the stage?last week on this very topic?with Accenture’s Chief?Leadership?and?Human?Resources?Officer?Ellyn Shook?and?Satya?Nadella?at Microsoft Ignite. We talked about?our work together and how we’re bringing immersive experiences to life—which included some avatars and a?“show and tell”?of how?and where?our people can collaborate and learn in new ways.??

Having hosted more than 11,000 people in these immersive experiences already,?I thought?it might be timely to update you how we’re?“boldly going”?beyond the universe into the metaverse with cool tech solutions that are good for our people and our business:?

?·??????Working closely with Microsoft and?AltspaceVR?over the last few years, we’ve devised?a vision for how our people can, and should be able to interact, regardless of geographic separation—a concept we call “The Nth Floor.” Today this concept has been hyped up as “the metaverse” – but for us, it’s how we want to host a virtual coffee break, conduct training, or host important all-hands meetings.?The Nth floor is a versatile, customizable and scalable solution for bringing a geographically distributed workforce together. In short, it helps our people to be there without physically being there—even when we return to our own offices.??

·??????One of the realms of the Nth floor is?a?new?employee onboarding experience?called?One Accenture Park; it’s a shared virtual space that enables immersive onsite experiences, interactive showcases and hands-on demonstrations.?Teams of new joiners are introduced to “Global Coffee,” a fictional client that has many opportunities to improve?its?business.?They?explore the park separately?and?review several stories about how Accenture has helped real-life clients. The teams then reunite to share what they learned with each other?and determine how Accenture can best help Global Coffee.?New joiners can experience metaphorical interactive experiences, such as?“climbing”?a?leadership mountain?or?visiting?a?skills fountain?to “collect”?skills coins.??

·??????We?believe VR experiences will help improve?health and wellness?for our people. Workouts through VR experiences like?Supernatural?will offer a new way to enhance their fitness, both physical and mental through an immersive experience.?It’s just the start of new game-changing approaches to?providing more wellness opportunities for our people.??

It may surprise you to learn that research has shown learners forget 70% of training content within 24 hours and nearly 90% in a month—that?doesn’t bode well for?a return on?your training investments.?And yet?the C-suite believes?that?immersive learning?can add far more value—saying that?they’re going to back that belief with their budgets. More than half of?our research?respondents (59%) expect to make significant (more than US$10M) to moderate (between US$1M and US$10M) investments in XR learning initiatives in the next two years.?

I’m looking?forward to what’s coming next?in our organization?because the conversations don’t stop here on this?fascinating?topic.?

We are excited to be a part of demonstrating at scale the value XR and the metaverse can have to people within our organization and are thankful to all of our partners that have helped us get this far. We also know it’s important for us to be a part of shaping the responsible development of this technology and are excited for Accenture leaders like Dan Guenther, our Global Extended Reality lead, who has recently joined the Future of XR Advisory Council steering committee.?

Stay tuned as we?share?more on improving?experiences for our people?to help them develop a sense of community and enhance our culture.?Let’s do it right and all go boldly—whether that’s into the metaverse or the final frontier.?