7 in 10 professionals believe metaverse will become part of existing work practices

Employees say they would prefer meetings on metaverse over video conferencing tools.

Soon, work meetings may no longer be held through video conferencing tools like Zoom but in virtual reality spaces.

According to a survey from software company, Ciena, 71% of professionals believe metaverse will soon become part of existing work practices, and 56% think their business will move away from the static collaboration environment to a more immersive environment in the next three years. 

Employees are very open to the idea of work collaboration in the virtual space, with four in five (80%) saying they would prefer participating in work meetings in the metaverse instead of existing video conferencing tools.

Employees (88%) said they would feel comfortable conducting more formal, HR-type work meetings in a virtual space.

If and when their companies shift to the metaverse, 28% of employees want themselves to be represented with an avatar that reflects their real-world self, whilst 25% want an avatar that looks like a more idealistic version of themselves, and 10% will choose a  pop culture figure. 

Whilst professionals showed great interest in enhanced reality tools, they also think it will be difficult to use such due to their inability to read in-person expressions and emotions (35%). Others cited unreliable network performance (34%) and virtual meeting fatigue (31%) as the main drawbacks to using virtual-collaboration tools at work.

To add, professionals said immersive applications and tools are not yet widely available (43%).

“Singaporean businesses are ready to move to the metaverse,” commented Dion Leung, regional managing director, of Ciena ASEAN. 

“As businesses and employees here opt to retain their present hybrid work arrangements, enhanced reality tools will provide a whole new dimension for collaboration and innovation in the new world of work. But its exciting use cases can only be achieved with a robust and always-on underlying network,” Leung.