Businesses can harness potential of immersive tech: Capgemini study

Companies expect immersive experiences to turn important not only for interacting with customers, but also for improving the work experience of their employees, the study found. Seventy per cent believe immersive experiences and the metaverse will be important applications to differentiate themselves in the marketplace, especially in terms of the customer journey.

Sixty-six per cent of the companies surveyed have already developed a road map for immersive experiences for the next one to two years. Fifteen per cent plan to establish an initial presence in the metaverse within a year, and 45 per cent believe it will be mainstream within three years. However, many companies are currently still taking a cautious approach.

The study, titled ‘Total Immersion: How immersive experiences and the metaverse benefit customer experience and operations’, examined the extent to which immersive experiences and the metaverse improve the customer experience and operations.

It surveyed 8,000 consumers 18 years or older in 12 countries in Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific in July and August this year about their immersive applications, including the metaverse.

The institute also surveyed 1,000 companies from the consumer goods, retail, discrete manufacturing, life sciences, media, telecommunications, banking and insurance sectors to find out how companies are using these immersive technologies for their internal operations.

In addition to external factors such as immature technology or a lack of connectivity infrastructure, there are also a number of internal challenges for companies to meet and expand consumer demand.

“In particular, there is a lack of strategic planning: 40 per cent of companies still see immersive experience initiatives as one-off projects, not as the first step in a series of continuous improvements. Nearly two-thirds (62 per cent) of companies say there is no management commitment to immersive experiences, and more than half (56 per cent) have no clear roadmap for adopting such technology," finds the Capgemini study.

The interviews conducted as part of the study revealed that companies have already successfully implemented various initiatives internally, using immersive experiences and the metaverse, such as digital prototyping in the automotive industry with VR design and construction testing, training medical professionals in surgery and planning retail spaces. In the latter case, the virtual viewing of a space allows the design team to plan a store without having to physically be on site.

More than three fourths (77 per cent) of consumers surveyed by Capgemini expect immersive experiences to influence the way they interact with people, brands and services. Only 4 per cent of them are metaverse-literate. However, three quarters of them said they currently used the metaverse and would continue to do so.

Consumers are most interested in using the metaverse as a place to interact with family and friends (43 per cent) and colleagues (39 per cent). The brands they would most like to interact with in the metaverse include retailers (78 per cent) and consumer goods companies (77 per cent).

“This shows that consumers particularly want to improve their shopping experience for products with high experiential value, such as cars, furniture and household electronics,” the study added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)