What leaders can realistically expect out of the metaverse in 2023 - Fortune

Our proximity to 2023 has maine reasoning astir the aboriginal of the workplace and technology’s quality to alteration the mode we work. Many tech companies are eyeing the metaverse arsenic a promising improvement of the office-Zoom duopoly. But what tin employers realistically expect retired of the metaverse successful the coming year?

Apparently, not much. Although galore HR executives person been fixed some the fund and greenish airy to put successful the technology—so arsenic to not get near behind—the metaverse’s afloat capabilities are improbable to materialize wrong the adjacent year, according to a caller PwC report. Still, it’s wide that the metaverse tin heighten galore employee-focused functions similar training, onboarding, and squad building, to sanction a few.

PwC’s findings concede that employers jumping into the metaverse successful 2023 should absorption connected experimentation and utilize the exertion successful moderation. 

“With the metaverse, we ever urge a paced and risk-aware approach,” Emmanuelle Rivet, vice seat and planetary exertion person astatine PwC, tells Fortune.

That means archetypal experimenting with the exertion among a tiny radical of employees and partnering with main innovation officers, main exertion officers, and main operating officers to make imaginable usage cases. Leaders indispensable besides draught interior policies and procedures for utilizing the technology. 

For employers, the metaverse inactive holds a large woody of cybersecurity, privacy, ergonomic, and intelligence risks, galore of which my workfellow Lila MacLellan detailed successful her exploration of the metaverse successful the workplace for Fortune’s return-to-office playbook past week. While the exertion has proven to beryllium an effectual grooming instrumentality for companies similar Hilton and Walmart, she writes, galore experts caution utilizing the virtual satellite to sermon backstage topics. 

Physical and intelligence comfortableness among employees successful VR is besides a concern.

“How you volition fto your employees amusement up successful the metaverse is thing to deliberation astir earlier you conscionable propulsion a clump of radical successful there,” says Rivet. And that’s hard to assess, she says, without anterior experimentation. 

According to PwC’s 2022 Metaverse Survey, 82% of executives accidental they expect metaverse plans to beryllium portion of their concern activities wrong 3 years, meaning HR heads volition person to statesman reasoning of the real-world quality implications successful the adjacent term, good earlier the exertion is afloat developed. 

Rivet notes that it’s not excessively aboriginal to commencement snapping endowment up with virtual world skills arsenic they’re already successful abbreviated supply. 

“You privation to commencement gathering interior and organization knowledge,” she says. “If you person idiosyncratic who has immoderate expertise successful the country and tin way what is evolving successful the space, however different companies are utilizing it, and different usage cases, you person conscionable raised the IQ of the enterprise.”

Amber Burton
amber.burton@fortune.com
@amberbburton

ICYMI: Check retired our inaugural Fortune @ Work: Return-to-Office Playbook.

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