The almighty Metaverse – its Rise and Fate
This is the third part of my return of the undead series. The first two parts dealt with identifying what components or building blocks a metaverse ecosystem needs to consist of. These components basically define how metaverse can work and serve as a model for the identification of how/where participants in an ecosystem could earn their revenues. Figure 1: The metaverse ecosystem These building blocks are mainly independent of the notion of a(n open) metaverse, as described by Tony Parisi in his article The seven Rules of the Metaverse. They also apply to a more multiverse type world of a collection of closed metaverses – something that I really do not want to call metaverse. The openness, that is necessary for a “metaverse” to thrive can be achieved either by common consent or via regulation – or more likely by a combination thereof. In any case, I believe that some amount of regulation is necessary in order to create and maintain a level playing field and to avoid one or few companies hijacking the area – as this is a platform game and platform games prefer size and allow only few dominant players. Users and creators use front-end applications that enable them to create the and interact with the virtual worlds that are offered. It is here, where the experience happens.These applications run on devices that offer the necessary sensors and actuators.The front-end applications connect to one or more virtual worlds that are provided as a service and that themselves rely on technology platforms.All this gets connected by an infrastructure that includes servers, storage, networks, chips, etc, as well...
The impact of the supply chain on the customer experience
There are a couple of lessons that the pandemic taught us, apart from that there are different opinions about whether Bill Gates makes us all drones via the vaccines … The most important one is that there is a need to not only look at the demand side but to also look at the supply chain when one wants to improve the customer experience, especially when the customer intention is a purchase. You now might say that the experience happens at the touch point, which is for example the e-commerce site. However, this is only partly true. It is important to make sure that the front end provides the right information, with good performance and without too much distraction, and to have a smooth and comfortable checkout process. In other words, provide a great e-commerce site. Still, this is only half of the story. And this is, where the supply chain comes into the picture. Detour – what does the customer expect? On the base level, a customer expects that things just work, that the vendor, and information given, is reliable and accurate, and that deliveries after order are coming fast and that there is transparency about the order and delivery status. On top of that, customers justifiably expect that the overall process is easy for them and that their time and effort are valued by the vendor. This includes that the process works across devices and channels, without undue hassle. Lastly, the occasional surprise cannot harm. How about over-delivery to promise? How about proactive information? Of course, on the base level it is not possible to win a...
The Return of the Undead – Do they go B2B or B2C?
In the first part of this article, I explained why there is no metaverse (yet), although the idea is around for quite some years. Despite the current hype, it is just a re-emerging topic. Foundational technologies like VR are around since as long as the 50s although VR really entered our minds only in the 90s. The Virtual Reality Modeling Language VRML got standardized in 1994 and its successor X3D in 2004. Half Life with the first highly immersive world was released in 1998. I went into some definition and laid out a framework for a kind of an architecture that can support whatever this idea evolves into, with some emphasis on common standards and some governance. These are necessary, because the metaverse is nothing more than a platform of platforms, which means that at the end of the day it is a kind of a protocol. Or else we will see a collection of (competing) multiverses. I closed with some questions that need to be answered. Why does it need a metaverse, if at all?What are meaningful use cases?Who will rule? Startups? Existing players? Governments? So, let’s dig into it. Why metaverse? Now that the definition work is out of the way, one of the main questions is what the value that a person or organization can expect from being involved in or using “metaverse” is. After all, it is real money that is spent, whereas the whole concept of metaverse is digital and virtual. That raises several interesting questions like: Where is the link between the physical and the digital world, if any? Where is the problem that cannot be solved without the or be...