Metaverse tops business leaders’ list of technology trends – TechTarget
Business leaders believe the metaverse stands to be one of the most impactful technology styles for the next decade.
The metaverse is a technology that will “truly disrupt us as a brand and company, ” said Manoj Kumbhat, global CIO at manufacturing company Kimberly-Clark.
When thinking about engaging with younger generations, Kumbhat sees the metaverse — a virtual world where consumers can shop, work and play — as particularly important.
“As we think about the following generation, how do we bring consumers into the brands we’re building? ” he stated during an MIT Sloan CIO Symposium panel called “The Most Impactful Technology Trends in the Decade Ahead. ”
Though other technologies including quantum computing will also have a good impact over the next 10 years, Kumbhat mentioned the metaverse and systems enabling it, such as 5G plus augmented and virtual reality , will likely be the particular most transformative for businesses.
Although the metaverse got a lot of attention on the panel, not every company leader agreed that it will be the particular most critical challenge or important technology for improving business operations over the next decade.
The metaverse
The metaverse is the virtual globe that businesses are beginning to tap into. But building it plus learning how to operate within this will take new skills, panelists said.
Suneet Dua, products and technology chief growth officer at PwC US, said during the panel discussion that his company has clients already deeply immersed within the metaverse .
I have clients who have already purchased real estate in the metaverse, who are transacting in the particular metaverse, that are expecting us to transact with them in the metaverse. Suneet Dua Products and technologies chief development officer, PwC US
However , human skills aren’t developing fast enough in order to keep up with the development of this new virtual world, Dua said.
“I have customers who have already purchased real estate in the metaverse, who are transacting within the metaverse, that are anticipating us to transact along with them in the metaverse, inch Dua said. But he also has clients that are printing 30-page reports.
“That digital divide is a real problem, inches he stated.
Business frontrunners need in order to have their sights set on the particular metaverse, Dua said. But if tech leaders don’t push with regard to upskilling and reskilling executives and employees to drive their companies in to the digital space, Dua said it will result in a “bigger issue. ”
“Eighty-five million new jobs are coming in the next three to four years plus all of us within the room have to reskill ourselves to those brand new jobs and new abilities, ” Dua said. “We have to know what the future skills are usually. ”
While businesses should be preparing regarding new innovative technology developments like the metaverse, the effects of other technologies, such as AI and ML, are already starting to take shape.
Behind the scenes technology tendencies
Although company leaders believe technology like the metaverse is set to have a significant impact, panelist Eben Hewitt, fellow plus CTO associated with Sabre Hospitality at Sabre Corporation, mentioned advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning will certainly continue to have the greatest impact on businesses more than the following decade.
Using airplanes as an example, Hewitt said machine learning is used to dictate what seats passengers may sit inside as soon as a plane arrives at the gate.
The particular growing use of such algorithms in subtle ways in order to expedite business operations may be significant in the long-term, Hewitt said.
“This is a trend I see happening, ” this individual said throughout the screen. “[Ongoing advances in ML] can increasingly permeate our daily lives in ways that we don’t recognize, in ways that will do not grab the particular headlines. ”
Makenzie Holland is a news writer covering big tech and federal regulation. Prior to joining TechTarget, she was a general reporter intended for the Wilmington StarNews and a crime plus education reporter at the Wabash Plain Dealer .