With the metaverse market in the Asia Pacific expected to contribute US$1.04 trillion to the region’s GDP by the next decade, the scale of conversation and appetite for the metaverse has been enormous, this is despite not having a universal consensus around what exactly and how this innovative technology works.

This speaks to an interesting question, one that is perhaps more pertinent than defining the metaverse, do businesses necessarily need to fully understand the metaverse before moving to tap its potential?

Perhaps not, as the journey towards the metaverse is more of an evolution rather than a revolution. The APAC region, in particular, steering the mobile-first gaming paradigm with its estimated 1.62 billion gamers, is well-positioned to capitalise on this trend as gaming is often thought to be the centre of today’s metaverse.

Beyond gaming, the COVID-19 pandemic has also hastened the shift online, and to mobile for that matter, across sectors like work, payments, retail and even our day-to-day communications. The metaverse in that regard seems like a logical next step, where the real and virtual worlds become more intertwined.

In APAC at least, it is clear that accommodating the metaverse does not require a complete overhaul of the business. With the pandemic driving digital transformation to the top of many business priorities, most organisations here already have digital strategies in place and are actively seeking to capture the opportunities within the digital paradigm, and these same opportunities serve as the perfect gateway into the metaverse.

Attempting to exactly and fully define the metaverse before integration plays into the view that metaverse adoption is a sweeping, once-and-done initiative. We know from experience that this is not true, given how quickly technology advances.

Also Read: How the metaverse opens new opportunities for education

Cases in point: 4G is very quickly giving way to 5G and now 6G, while cloud adoption has heralded the rise of organisations born and built on the cloud. Instead, an iterative approach that uses a series of small steps, each with practical deliverables, can help an organisation benefit expediently from the metaverse, tapping the digital foundation that has already been set.

Here’s how to get started:

Step 1: Understanding how the metaverse fits into business needs

As with any new business undertaking, research is key. Organisations should not launch a metaverse initiative simply for the sake of jumping on the bandwagon, but rather ensure that the initiative will address a specific business need and provide a return on their investment.

This can range from returns like new revenue streams, improved customer experiences, or better employee training.

For example, organisations often find opportunity in the real-time interaction and immersion offered in the metaverse, characterised by second-to-second reactions and feedback loops that provide instantaneous insights about their audiences.

With these insights, businesses can then better understand the interests and intentions of their customers, partners or even employees, and continually provide a hyper-personalised experience tailored to what they seek.

While such returns might not always be easy to measure financially at the get-go, metaverse enthusiasts in the region might be glad to know that a recent study found nearly half of those surveyed in Singapore and Australia are interested in socialising, working and shopping in a 3D virtual space, a prospect that business leaders are hard-pressed to ignore.

Step 2: Translating the data generated into long-term outcomes

Keeping in mind that it is data that will fuel the digital future, the next step is for organisations to find ways in which metaverse data can be funnelled to support user experience requirements in the long term.

It is a two-way street: on one hand, the ability to continuously track what users are doing in the metaverse provides an in-depth understanding of user context, which is key to driving ubiquitous and spatial computing such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies forward.

On the other hand, the enhancement of these technologies, in turn, facilitates the collection of data in the virtual world. The more data an organisation has, the more effectively it can generate meaningful user experiences highly relevant to each individual user.

At this stage, organisations may need to stop and consider how to integrate the metaverse into existing legacy systems in a way that translates to maximal long-term value, even if it means reshaping their business models to accommodate the metaverse.

Step 3: Putting in place metrics centred on user experience

80 per cent of APAC consumers reported that the quality of customer service they receive impacts their purchase decisions in 2022, underlining the importance of placing users at the centre of all decision-making. The metaverse should be no exception.

Also Read: How luxury brands are experimenting with the metaverse

This means that users should not be the core metric organisations apply to evaluate the success of their metaverse initiatives, but rather how they facilitate an experience that is both relevant and meaningful to each user.

Data privacy and trust also becomes increasingly important as a metric for user experience in the metaverse’s approach to digital identity, as data detailing users’ contexts and intentions is essentially free for the taking.

With a recent study revealing that most APAC businesses will outpace the global average in terms of investing in customer experience management and customer data technology in 2022, it seems that organisations in the region are primed for metaverse success.

While capitalising on this advantage, it remains critical to acknowledge that the integration of the metaverse necessitates constant re-examination, updating, and improvement over time. After all, new metaverse technologies will continue to be introduced, business conditions continually evolve, and competitors may eventually catch up.

With the APAC region already leading the pack, what’s there to wait?

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