According to a report by Everest Group, the metaverse industry is expected reach $679 billion by 2030. The report further notes that as the enterprises apply their best creative and strategic thinking to take advantage of the metaverse, organisations should also address the heightened risks the metaverse will pose to employees, customers and corporate assets.
Further, as per the report, while the metaverse is still at a nascent stage, it is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years, opening new possibilities for enterprises, including trade in digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), immersive marketing, enhanced customer experience, improved employee training, and live virtual events. That said, the study also cautions that as the metaverse expands, enterprises will have to deal with new trust and safety (T&S) challenges, such as the abuse of virtual avatars and the safety of virtual assets. To this end, organisations will need to come up with risk mitigation policies to make the metaverse a safe space for users.
Commenting on the study, Rajesh Ranjan, partner, Everest Group, said, “The metaverse is attracting large investments from technology giants such as Google, Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia to make the virtual world a reality, and the applications hold unlimited economic and social potential for both good and bad. As organisations develop their business strategies for the metaverse, trust and safety issues need to be among their foremost considerations. Enterprises may be able to adapt some best practices of today, but they will also need to address scenarios and use cases that are unique to the metaverse. Solving for those novel challenges will require a collaborative approach among enterprises, policymakers, academia, and T&S service providers to realize the full potential of metaverse as an immersive yet safe place for users.”
