There’s a lot of excitement around the metaverse right now, with a growing number of businesses and brands entering this space and considerable investments being made. Perhaps most notably, Facebook’s parent company Meta planned to invest $10 billion in metaverse components last year.

You’re probably more familiar with examples of what the metaverse could be – such as Fortnite and Facebook Horizon, while some may also remember Second Life from almost 20 years ago. All are examples of a persistent, shared universe, within which you can interact with others in a multitude of ways. More examples, away from gaming and into the corporate world, are either under trial or development.

Yet it remains to be seen when and where exactly the hype will be matched by utility in reality and how much of the buzz around the metaverse may translate into concrete value for companies. In this early adopter stage, businesses – especially those that aren’t in the tech space – are likely to have some reservations about the virtual reality platform, and will opt to watch industry leaders and trailblazers pave the way and learn from any pitfalls they encounter.

The current challenge is to make all existing iterations of the metaverse interoperable with each other, at which point the metaverse will truly come into existence.

Click here to read the full article by Phill Brown, Global Head of Market Intelligence, for Finance Digest to discover the different factors to consider when approaching the metaverse, as well as the opportunities that it could unlock for businesses and their employees.