Reality check: Can the metaverse be more than the sum of its parts?

One curious question is often raised during conversations around disruptive trends: “Haven’t we been here before?”

This question came up again recently in a client discussion, while I was presenting some of the insights of our recent Technology Vision devoted to the metaverse. It's always a welcome query, though, because the most skeptical voice in the room is often the most valuable. After all, while many are enthusiastic about the potential of the metaverse for their business, you could also forgive a sense of déjà vu around some of the tech and platforms involved: isn’t this new innovation just a case of ‘new headset, old hat’?

Connecting the dots

The thing is, to some extent, my questioner was absolutely right. Their company had been working on Virtual Reality use-cases for quite some time now. That's why I like the framing of the metaverse as an evolving and expanding continuum: because it makes it clear that this is about so much more than just VR. We’re integrating the physical and virtual more seamlessly; it’s both 2D and 3D; it’s enabled by blockchain, AI, Cloud, Edge; it applies across consumers, workers and across entire enterprises. Even then, many of the building blocks of the metaverse are hardly new concepts in innovation. But I see the real difference with the metaverse continuum is in its combinatorial effect. The metaverse is what happens when everything comes together, creating an innovation that is considerably more than the sum of its parts.

Let’s take an example: A utility company line-worker, performing an essential job that often exposes them to personal risk, can now do their training safely in VR, earn a proficiency level verified on an industry-certified blockchain, and work more efficiently out in the field, with real-time support from an AI-enabled AR assistant.

Sure, we had the dots of all these technologies already. But now the metaverse is letting us fully connect them.

A clarifying moment

We are, nonetheless, at an early and sometimes turbulent stage of this journey. Recent crashes in the value of cryptocurrencies and NFT speculation tend to over-shadow the conversation about Web3 technologies, giving more oxygen to the flames of doubt. And yet, to my mind, this may prove to be a clarifying moment.

As the Freakonomics podcast recently explored, the blockchain technology underpinning crypto is as sturdy as ever, enabling much more stable business models. The co-leads for our Metaverse Continuum business group, David Treat and Mark Curtis , reinforce that with me – the foundation remains strong for tokenization of identities, money and products.?When the froth dies down, the real substance is revealed.

Just as clarifying, for me personally, was another client session in which someone well versed in the logic of the metaverse – this meeting between digital realities and earthly pursuits – simply reflected on it all and said, “I don’t know if I like this…”

It’s an understandable reaction. In fact, it’s one I’ve found myself grappling with too. After all, I don’t want to spend my life stuck behind screens or lost in digital simulations. If anything, I want to spend more of my life in reality – while at the same time getting more out of it.

Letting our causes drive us toward value

That’s one of the reasons I found it so stimulating recently to find meaningful connection with some of the people focused on improving our reality. Unreasonable CHANGE is a program run by Unreasonable and Accenture to support 12 high-growth start-ups who are all focused on sustainability. These are entrepreneurs who are each driven by a cause, creating companies that truly disrupt for good. Now this, I know I like.

As part of the group, I met Rebecca Hui of Roots Studio and Keith Agoada of Producers Trust . Rebecca founded Roots Studio to help indigenous designers in rural India digitize their artwork, then license them to international brands on fair terms. Keith’s company Producers Trust uses tech to connect sustainable food producers to providers, tackling supply chain and food scarcity issues, while bringing new transparency to what we put on our plates.

Can the metaverse play a role in such meaningful work? I certainly think so. And, again, the answer comes with its combinatorial effect. Rebecca has ignited a creator economy, preserving the integrity of indigenous creation, shrinking the distance to global markets and imbuing customer experience with more meaning. Keith is connecting climate-smart producers to responsible consumers. From the way those designs are first encountered and later enjoyed in new realities, to how those producers share the origin and stories of their foods, the metaverse can create new spaces, new markets and new communities to amplify and scale their work.

Can you revel without a cause?

Our collaborations with Unreasonable show how innovation can fuel positive change. The reason ought to be obvious: people are most passionate about the work they believe in.

Perhaps the most helpful answer to skepticism, then, and one of the strongest examples of where the metaverse is creating new and enduring business value, is to see how communities come together around their causes. And if you ever needed evidence for the motivation of a cause, just ask a sports fan.

Anybody who supports a team – whatever the sport, wherever the place – knows what it is to have a belief so strong it becomes a core part of your identity. My own affiliations come with deeper, personal connections. I’m a Liverpool fan from childhood, who found a passion for Brentford FC through my brother. I became an Eagles fan in Philadelphia where the devotion of my brother-in-law was contagious. Marrying into a cricket-obsessed family helped develop a soft spot for Sri-Lanka. These too are causes. And to a sports fan, your cause is unquestionable, unalterable. It’s who you are.

Happily, it’s also where conversations around the metaverse can really move the mind of the sceptics when they see how these technologies combine with the fan experience to create revels with a cause.

You can see it in our recent work with the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, where we’ve collaborated with Telstra and Google to create an AR wayfinding experience, or in how

the Italian football league Serie A has begun to broadcast matches in the metaverse, opening up new revenue streams, and soon in new approaches to digitized pitches that give a godlike view to every fan.

This is such a game-changer – to use an appropriate expression – because, like Roots Studio and Producers Trust, the metaverse also opens up a two-way channel of communication in a conversation that has for so long been one-sided. Before, teams and venues could rely on the passion of their fans without really knowing much about them. Now, with new ways to engage letting us understanding fan behavior and desire better than we’ve ever known them, we’re developing an even deeper connection. A profound change is already in progress, and the stadium of the future must be ready for it.

What do you stand for?

To be able to meet the demands of these fast-evolving spaces depends on something fundamental: understanding what defines a company. No less than it is with a sports fan, that definition must be a cause. My richest discussions these days with clients involve peeling everything back to understand their company’s purpose. What are they doing to make a difference? And can the metaverse help?

That answer won’t always be straightforward. Some are hesitating because, much as it was at the start of Web2, we expect Web3 to evolve far beyond what we can see now. But, if we direct the potential of the metaverse to support a company’s cause, we can still create value today. Not only that, but a company’s employees or customers will be more inclined to go with us on that journey, because our aim is true. That’s as true of banking (which we explored in How banks can enter the metaverse with purpose) as it is of all industries.

So, have we been here before? I said earlier that the real difference the metaverse makes is that now everything works in combination. I think it’s also true to say that by combining the metaverse with the causes that drive us we will make a real difference. Those collaborations can achieve bigger impact and deliver more value than we can do alone, making a metaverse with meaning while helping us make better choices for our reality.