Metaverse
Innovation Alphabet
Metaverse
in a nutshell
Before long we will transfer our existence to a virtual environment where interaction will be completely digital. This is the metaverse, a computerized world that seeks to reproduce real people, places, and situations by destroying the boundaries dictated by the physical limits of our bodies. An immersive reality already inhabited by 350 million avatars in search of new learning paradigms. How about you? Have you packed your bags yet?
Application Fields
• Metaverse and Meta: With the very recent name change of the social media giant, Mark Zuckerberg has moved on. He has left Facebook behind and proclaimed the birth of Meta. This is also why there is so much talk about the metaverse: one of the world’s richest and most influential personalities has decided to invest everything in the virtual universe, presenting it as the next evolution of social connections and promising a three-dimensional space where people will be able to interact, learn, collaborate, and play in ways they have never seen before.
• Metaverse and Epic Games: Another contender in the creation of its own metaverse is Sony, which has invested $1 billion for it to become a possible reality. For years, the digital universe has been the dream of Tim Sweeney, Epic Games’ co-founder. Now, thanks to this wave of funding, it could come true. However, to differentiate himself from the Meta idea, Sweeney is even more ambitious: he would like the metaverse to become a completely open place that, ideally, would also replace the internet.
• Metaverse and Zara: In the clothing industry we find Zara, the giant that has chosen Zepeto as its new world to launch its first virtual garment collection. It is a South Korean mobile metaverse including 3D avatars and more than 2 million daily users, making it one of the fastest growing virtual environments in the past year. Zepeto allows people to purchase digital items with their own currency and enriches the experience by ensuring interaction with millions of potential buyers around the world.
Industries
• Metaverse in the IT industry
Microsoft unveiled Mesh, its own Virtual Reality wager designed to be used in teams. It can be accessed through HoloLens2, Microsoft’s holographic device. The tech titan itself calls its digital environment an opportunity that “enables presence and shared experiences from anywhere, on any device, through hybrid reality applications”.
• Metaverse in the E-commerce industry
Although still in an approach phase, the Chinese colossus Alibaba has already applied for several brands related to the metaverse and has stated its intention to achieve this goal as soon as possible. The first brand would be Ali Metaverse, but Taobao and Dingding Metaverse are also joining.
• Metaverse in the videogame industry
The virtual world of the bestselling novel “Ready Player One” is another example of the forms the metaverse might take. It is a science fiction novel written by Ernest Cline and set in the year 2045, in which people find an escape from a real world destroyed by climate change, war and poverty by taking refuge in OASIS, an online role-playing game involving multiple players (MMORPG) and a virtual society with its own currency at the same time.
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Business Functions
• Metaverse in support of e-commerce: Jackie Aina
Leveraging the increased use of e-commerce, the metaverse will offer new opportunities for buyers and sellers to connect in entirely new ways. Instagram or other social networks could open their own virtual stores, where buying physical and digital products will be more engaging. The example of Jackie Aina, a YouTuber working in the cosmetics industry who presented some of her products to users during an event organized by Meta, is indicative.
• Metaverse in support of events: Fortnite
The digital universe will be able to offer even more immersive experiences for any audience: one example is the concert organized by Fortnite, a battle royale-type video game available on almost every device. Gamers are now used to these events, but that doesn’t mean they can’t become increasingly spectacular. Marshmello, Travis Scott and Ariana Grande are just a few of the names that have virtually risen to the stage.
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Check out more of the Innovation Alphabet:
Gamification
Gamification
Gamification is actually adding a game-like element to make more fun and engaging something that’s not necessarily a game. It’s all about turning a task that might be boring or difficult into a more enjoyable and motivating activity. You can also earn points, badges, and rewards for completing certain actions or challenges. Are you ready to play?
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Business Intelligence
Business Intelligence
A smart business means efficiency: Business Intelligence represents the ability to collect up-to-date data, present it in easy-to-understand formats, and deliver it in a timely manner to employees. Making data-driven decision-making and management processes leads to competitive advantage, reduces inefficiencies, and improves productivity and service at all levels.
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Artificial Scarcity
Artificial Scarcity
We often tend to desire what we cannot have. Or what we are in danger of losing: Artificial Scarcity is a strategy that flaunts a limited number of items that do not correspond to actual availability. The goal is to stimulate the perception in consumers that the stock of items is about to run out and thus create a need based on the “fear of being cut off” or the intention to buy the item in order to resell it at a higher price.
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Subscription Model
Subscription Model
A subscription model is a business tool that generates revenue by charging customers a fee at regular intervals. The company provides products or services to subscribers on a subscription basis, usually monthly or annually. In this way, loyalty has become more important than acquiring new users.
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Holacracy & Flat Organization
Holacracy & Flat Organization
A “flat organization” breaks down the traditional hierarchy and removes its negative connotation, while “holacracy” is the business tool that facilitates its formation. Flat organizations place more emphasis on communication and collaboration, aspiring to a distributed decision-making process that gives each employee a voice. But this is a model that is difficult to implement.
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Mass Customization
Mass Customization
Mass customization is an initiative adopted by companies to embrace the increasingly diversified needs of customers. By offering customizable products and services, consumers feel engaged and can bring their creativity into play. Brands gain from this a boost in perceived value and the opportunity to fuel a positive word-of-mouth marketing.
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Coopetition
Coopetition
If you can’t beat them, join them. Coopetition is a business strategy that defines cooperative and competitive relationships between competing companies in the same young or high-growth market. The goal is to travel a stretch of road together to lower initial research and development costs. Once the desired results are achieved, the companies will return to being enemies as before.
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MVP
MVP
To the disappointment of all sports fans, this is not an article about Michael Jordan. In the language of business, MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product and indicates the version of a new product that has enough features to attract customers. In this way, a team can gather the most feedback with the least effort, improve the prototype, and validate its sale.
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Agile
Agile
Agile is an approach to software development designed to respond to change. Teams quickly analyze the context in which they operate, identify uncertainties faced, and figure out how to adapt to always move forward. Interaction between individuals comes before processes and tools; collaboration with the customer is more important than negotiating contracts.
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Bounded Rationality
Bounded Rationality
The best solutions always come to mind when it is too late. This is because human beings tend to make decisions on the basis of satisfaction rather than optimization. Bounded Rationality means that we are unable to think clearly and linearly, we proceed by trial and error and forget all the possible variables that affect the process. But we are also flawed.
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