Scanning the headlines these days, it’s easy to get the impression that the Metaverse winners will be firms offering the best extended reality (XR) hardware or even the killer apps that enable such experiences. But this may not be the case.
Hardware and software are critical, but they are still only part of a solution. Services are going to be a major differentiator in the XR industry. Why? Because speed-to-solution is going to separate firms that accelerate in this new business reality by arming them with first-mover advantages from those who get lost early in the uncharted waters of the Metaverse.
The competition for leading in the enterprise Metaverse all boils down to making it easier to build, deploy and manage enterprise XR solutions at scale. Enterprise XR customers need solutions that are reliable, flexible, able to address the most popular use cases and help simplify the rolling out of new cutting-edge technology into businesses’ workstreams to do things they’ve never done before. if the enterprise customer can’t manage the solution with ease and confidence over the entire life cycle, then you can’t achieve scalable results with the desired ROI.
Enter the model of Metaverse-as-a-Service (MaaS). Amid the current enterprise environment's focusing on digital transformation, technology stacks are getting larger, and workers’ experiences and expectations are highly dynamic. Firms need trusted technology partners that either build on, or vet and collaborate with, the best technology. Firms will look to open XR solutions and be reluctant to building their presence in the Metaverse behind the ‘walled gardens’ of proprietary technologies and platforms.
Enterprise customers are also looking for XR partners that can help plan, deploy and manage technology so solutions that accelerate business today don’t become roadblocks tomorrow. This requires open solutions to always make the best hardware and software components for the use case available to customers.
Most firms and their IT decision-makers are first-time buyers in the metaverse. They know how to kick the tires and evaluate the technology. But evaluating technology partners for a multi-year, multi-solution relationship that could transform a business or its operations is going to prove much more complex.
As you start the journey of scaling your enterprise into the Metaverse, make sure to qualify the technology partners at your side, as they may be with you for the long haul. From hardware and software to the services supporting them, the enterprise will need the technology and team that can grow with you. Who knows what the future may have in store? We have only just begun to see the potential held by this next era of enterprise computing.
Created with business managers, developers, and IT managers in mind, the Lenovo ThinkReality portfolio of XR solutions is ready to support your enterprises as it scales into the Metaverse. Let’s start this journey together.
Meet the Lenovo ThinkReality team at Immerse Global Summit in Miami (or virtually) on Dec 5-7