Specifically, the companies surveyed in the report entitled, The metaverse at work, are reporting capital expenditure reduction (15%), sustainability (10%) and safety improvement (9%).
“It is great to see that companies clearly believe in the power of the Metaverse for business value creation in both enterprise and industrial use cases," added Thierry E. Klein, president of Bell Labs Solutions Research, Nokia.
"This strongly aligns with our vision, informed by more than 8 years of research at Nokia Bell Labs, that the Industrial Metaverse is an extension of Industry 4.0. Consequently, those who have already implemented mission-critical communications networks for Industry 4.0 are now well placed to experience the benefits of the Metaverse that clearly some companies are already seeing.”
According to the findings, only 2% of respondents see the metaverse as a buzzword or a fad, while 58% of companies with future metaverse plans have already deployed or piloted at least one metaverse-related use case. While 94% of those who have yet to begin their metaverse journey plan to do so in the next two years.
On average, 80% of those who have already implemented metaverse use cases believe say it will have significant or transformational impact on the way they do business. While 96% of respondents say by mixing physical and virtual use cases, the metaverse enables additional capabilities that will allow them to accelerate the deployment, adoption and monetisation of Industry 4.0 for their business.
From a geographic standpoint, the US (65%), UK (64%) and Brazil (63%) lead as the markets having deployed or piloted at least one industrial or enterprise metaverse use case. The average in Germany was 53% while Asia-Pacific spanned 49% in Japan and 49% in South Korea.
“The industrial and enterprise metaverses are here, this study shows the clear appetite for these technologies such as extended reality and digital twins to achieve business goals," said Vincent Douin, executive director, business consulting and business transformation, Ernst & Young LLP.
"We are already seeing many organisations going above and beyond the planning stages and recognising tangible benefits from their initial implementations.”
Lastly, respondents placed highest importance on the key technical enablers that are truly foundational to meeting the demands of such use cases – cloud computing (72%), AI/ML (70%) and network connectivity (68-70%).
