The Metaverse: What Does It Mean for Businesses?

There’s been a lot of noise since Facebook rebranded itself as Meta. Although the dust seems to have settled down for now, it is useful to dig out the opportunities that Metaverse can create for the business world in the future. Therefore, everyone who does business in the digital world should set their eyes on it.

However, new and exciting technology is often introduced with cybersecurity solutions offered in hindsight. Therefore businesses should be aware of the new cybersecurity risks along with the metaverse.

In this blog post, we will first look at what metaverse is, its impact on gaming, virtual ownership and NFTs, and how it can shape the business world. Finally, we will consider the new cyber risks that Metaverse can create.

What Is Metaverse?

The Metaverse is the network of social virtual 3D worlds where virtual and real come together.

The word metaverse is a portmanteau word of the Greek term meta and the English word universe. Meta in Greek is popularly used as a prefix to mean after or beyond, a use that continues in the English language.

As a term, metaverse first showed up in 1992 in the science fiction novel Snow Crash. However, it has only been a few years since it started to be considered the future of the digital world.

Basically, the metaverse suggests online experiences just like virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and interactive video but in a more immersive way.

Many things are possible in this virtual environment: socializing, running a business, having fun and much more. Metaverse has three main features that can open up wide opportunities to the business world:

1. Gaming

Gamers will take their adventures to the next level in the Metaverse universe, where they don their avatars and immerse themselves in virtual reality with their VR headsets. Imagine that you come across a compelling ad in a universe that offers you such an experience. Metaverse is sure to be a breakthrough in advertising for the gaming industry.

2. Virtual Property

It may sound strange, but people are already starting to buy virtual land in the Metaverse. Of course, this is not simply an owner’s instinct: if you own virtual property, it means you can open a virtual shop, rent it out, and sell it.

3. Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT)

In our age where almost everything is a replica, the economic value of unique assets is increasing day by day, such as a work of art, logo, or photo. NFTs, which are digital assets, have started to emerge.

The distinguishing feature of NFTs is that they cannot be duplicated and have a unique identification code. NFTs are usually purchased with cryptocurrency and can be very valuable.

Benefits of the Metaverse for Your Business

These three areas may seem like galaxies away from your business for now. However, when the digital transformation was not gaining much speed, many businesses thought that their businesses were not suitable for the digital world either. There are numerous benefits Metaverse can offer your business:

Increase Your Sales

With the rise of virtual commerce, Metaverse will unlock new opportunities for buyers and sellers to connect in a new way. Imagine your shop on Instagram becoming more immersive. Get involved in virtual real estate and seize new sales opportunities.

Besides, we’ve already seen businesses use AR to allow customers to virtually drop furniture in their home to see how it would fit, or use AR to let people try on makeup or glasses right from their Facebook feed. Regardless of sector, there will be opportunities for businesses that seek to leverage mixed reality and physical-world experiences.

Enhance Productivity

We have all been living in a hybrid world of online and offline, especially over the last few years, with the ongoing pandemic. From video calls to messaging, we are more connected than ever. However, the Metaverse aims to simplify these with less friction and by enhancing physical-world experiences.

In this way, you can increase the interaction of your employees, and therefore the productivity, with a working method that is close to the physical reality in the near future.

Gamify Your Brand

The importance of humanizing brands, whether B2B or B2C, is no longer a secret. At this point, you can humanize your brand by gamifying it. Because people will always love to play.

Whether you’re a gamer or not, you can research possible ways to set up your own game. For instance, Nike generated its own virtual world, called Reactland, to go with the release of a shoe called React.

As with NFTs, it’s now easier to create games than ever before even if you’re not a programmer.

Business Security Risks of Metaverse

Although Metaverse is still an advancing technology, information security experts can forecast some security concerns based on their experience. There are inferences that fraud methods, such as phishing, will continue to be a threat in the virtual world.

Along with the normal phishing, malware, and hacking we are familiar with, the Metaverse will likely bring entirely new cyber crimes because of its infrastructure.

The Metaverse is heavily centered on the use of cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTS), which can be attractive targets for cybercriminals for a variety of reasons.

Threat actors can see the Metaverse as an opportunity, and you may be exposed to some security problems as follows:

• NFTs will be the building stone of the Metaverse economy. This raises the likelihood of an increase in NFT fraud.
• Data breaches and malware may become chronic with the increasing use of virtual reality glasses.
• There will be an increase in blockchain-related scams and threats to financial institutions.
• Social engineering methods will be facilitated with the 3D environment of the Metaverse.
• Augmented reality devices that collect large amounts of data, including users’ biometrics, can become an ideal medium for attacks.

Although there are many benefits, it is true to say that we don’t fully know the extent of the Metaverse as of yet.

And it seems many businesses are reluctant to spend their budget on the Metaverse as they aren’t fully clued up on its ROI and engagement with leads – perhaps even its longevity.

However, this seems to be the inevitable fate of emerging technologies. That’s why you should consider moving your business to the Metaverse as part of digital transformation and incline your ear for its developments–don’t forget: the sooner the better.