Harnessing the Immersive Future Internet: Opportunities for Organizations
There is no doubt about it: the next evolution of the internet – characterized by immersive virtual experiences – is already underway. This future internet brings many opportunities for organizations to enhance their internal processes.
Selling And Marketing In The Metaverse
The metaverse brings many new ways for brands to engage with their customers – such as immersive brand experiences, exclusive collectibles and brand content such as NFTs, virtual try-on functions, and mega-personalized digital products. Now is the perfect time to experiment with metaverse-based advertising and marketing.
For example, you can offer collectible NFTs, like Nike and Coca-Cola have done. Or use NFTs to certify a product’s ownership and authenticity–thereby boosting your brand’s exclusivity and safeguarding against counterfeit products. You can advertise on billboards in a metaverse platform, set up a retail or brand space in the metaverse, create an immersive brand-themed game, sponsor events and gigs in the metaverse, and collaborate with influencers and brand ambassadors in new ways.
You can also use the metaverse as a way for customers to carry out transactions – as an alternative to ordering on your website or through an app. Welcome to the age of metaverse customer service – in which businesses can support and communicate with customers in 3D in real-time.
Enhancing Customer Service in the Metaverse
Welcome to the age of metaverse customer service – in which businesses can support and communicate with customers in 3D in real-time. This could take many forms. One example is providing immersive instructions to help customers assemble and set up a product, replacing tome-like instruction manuals with 3D product demos in virtual reality (VR). You could also use augmented reality (AR) technology to superimpose instructions and actions over the real-world product via the customer’s smartphone.
And when products fail, problems could be diagnosed visually in real-time by remote support staff viewing the product via a video link. Then, they could give AR-enhanced instructions to help the customer fix the issue themselves – no need for the customer to send the product away or take it to a workshop or for technicians to make house calls. When it comes to customer service queries, AI chatbots or even human customer service agents could take the shape of virtual avatars that converse with customers in the metaverse.
Immersive Remote Working and Collaboration
The long-term future of working will require a much more immersive approach to remote meetings and remote working. Thanks to immersive coworking tools, it’s becoming increasingly possible to feel like you’re in the same room as distant colleagues.
Some companies are going as far as setting up a virtual office – a digital office, complete with virtual workstations and virtual meeting rooms, accessed via a VR headset. The metaverse can also provide a unique way to onboard new hires, offering a focused experience without distractions. Training and education are becoming much more immersive, thanks to VR and AR. VR can provide a highly interactive experience that simulates various scenarios, while AR can provide visual instructions and guide employees through specific actions.
Conclusion
The future of the internet is immersive, and organizations have the opportunity to harness this immersive future internet to enhance their business operations. From selling and marketing in the metaverse to providing immersive customer service and enabling immersive remote working and collaboration, the possibilities are endless. Embracing the metaverse and the technologies that come with it will give organizations a competitive edge in the digital age.
Read more about these topics in my new book, The Future Internet: How the Metaverse, Web 3.0, and Blockchain Will Transform Business and Society. And don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube for more on the future trends in business and technology.
