In recent years, a concept has emerged that has gained growing importance and prominence in a wide range of forums: the Metaverse.

With the aim of delving deeper into this new world, its scope and the opportunities it offers in many aspects, Banco Sabadell organised a new meeting in our business connection space, Sabadell Company Hub, with participation from three experts in the field experts from Accenture: Carlos Molina, Metaverse Services Lead, Blanca Pons, Metaverse Industry Lead, and Esther Acharandio, Metaverse & NFTs Business Growth. Meanwhile, the meeting was chaired by Rüdiger Schmidt, director of IT & Business Operations and Network at Banco Sabadell.

Metaverse_Banco Sabadell

“Internet of place and ownership”

Firstly, Molina explained the definition of the Metaverse, developed by Accenture. They describe it as: “an evolution that allows us to go from ‘surfing’ to ‘participating’ and/or ‘living’ in an ongoing shared experience that encompasses our real world, the virtual world and the different reality spectrums that exists in-between”.

The pandemic and the advancement of technology have paved the way for a new digital landscape, and the speaker emphasised the fact that people spend many hours in different virtual environments, in which communities are growing. And the thing is that “people are committed to their digital identity and they invest in it”, he mentioned.

At this point, he stressed the economic impact that this could have, as it is estimated that the Metaverse market will be worth around $800 billion in 2024, and the virtual goods market will be worth $200 billion by 2025.

In addition, this reality generated in the parallel world is not something static and unique, but rather comprises a broad spectrum composed of:

  • Augmented reality: The real world superimposed with 3D digital objects, which allows participants to experience the connection between the physical and digital worlds.
  • Mixed reality: Intertwined virtual and real environments, enhanced with interactive 3D holograms that blend into the space.
  • Virtual reality: Immersive representations in an environment where the user has a presence within it, usually through an avatar.
  • Virtual worlds: Digital environments and objects that flood 3D worlds in a non-immersive sensory environment, which are displayed on flat screens.

Molina also explained the two future options that the Metaverse offers. The first is a decentralised vision, in which there are different environments that can be easily connected to each other. And the second is a centralised one, where the idea is to focus everything on a single platform with its own rules, economy, assets and avatar interactions.

Business opportunities in the Metaverse

During the second part of the meeting, Blanca Pons spoke on the different opportunities that this new ‘world’ can offer companies. And more and more brands are offering experiences to consumers so that they can enter the Metaverse, learn about their product, interact with the community, connect with other users and enjoy different emotional experiences or games, among many other things.

Pons pointed out that within this parallel world – in which an economy of goods and services is growing as well – companies are key, since “millions of jobs are being generated in multiple areas, and it has led to the emergence of new market players.”

For this reason, she believes that companies, especially SMEs, must experiment in the different spectra of reality to identify new key point opportunities. At this point, she highlighted that some of the options where it can be really useful are: branding and positioning, customer acquisition and development, new business models, servicing and customer experience, finding new ways of financing for companies and employee training.

Finally, Esther Acharandio took the chance to inform the audience on the fundamentals for starting the path towards this new world. In this regard, she pointed out that the steps are:

  1. Choose the strategy and goals: You have to ask yourself who the target is and what behaviours they have in the Metaverse.
  2. Look for references in the sector: Identify similar companies that have already entered the Metaverse and have interesting practices.
  3. Look for synergies and partners: Generate new interaction and relationship models with customers.
  4. Set out the roadmap: Analyse what content, products and services can be promoted in the Metaverse.
  5. Experiment and pivot: It is a space that is currently being built; it is therefore necessary to explore and experiment.
  6. The importance of data: Use it to help us connect better with traditional digital channels.

In this way, the Sabadell Company Hub meeting has been useful in discovering that the Metaverse offers a new opportunity for companies, because it allows them to expand their possibilities without imitating the real world. In other words, it makes things happen that could not happen in the real world; and this is because, in the words of experts, the Metaverse “is an extension of our lives.”

If you missed the meeting, here is the link so that you can delve deeper into the concepts explained.