When we try to understand how technologies will change our lives and the new shape they will give to the world, there is the temptation to think in watertight compartments, as if the innovations looming on the horizon develop along parallel lines, rather than influencing each other.
This is the case of two technological trends that are talked about a lot these days: on the one hand, the advent of the metaverse and virtual worlds as a tool for aggregation and interaction in the digital world. On the other hand, the mobility and automotive market revolution triggered by the electric transition [v. più avanti nella sezione “Idee” ndr].
On the surface they seem to be two divergent trends, but both express the need, especially for companies, to rethink the status quo of entire sectors of the economy to meet the growing demand for experiential use by consumers.
“With the metaverse, a new way of interacting with the customer is emerging, a new way of working, building and distributing products and services”, explains Maria Mazzone, Head of Accenture Customer Innovation Network in Milan. “We coined the term Metaverse Continuum, because the metaverse promises to create just a continuum between technology and user experience.”
Although we are still at the dawn of the metaverse era, there are already many companies with a presence in virtual worlds. Coca Cola has created a new limited edition drink available only in virtual form. The American bank JP Morgan Chase & Co. has even opened a branch in the metaverse, while Accenture has created the Accenture Park, where the company’s staff participate in “immersive” learning formats, or meet and socialize in team.
The forecast is that within this year about 150 thousand new hires of the multinational will work in the corporate metaverse from their first day.
After all, the numbers confirm that the metaverse is no longer a promise but a reality. In the past year, virtual real estate transactions have grown to a turnover of $ 110 million. According to Citigroup estimates, the metaverse market will be worth more than $ 800 billion by 2024 and will continue to grow in double digits in the years to come. According to Accenture analysts, the metaverse only accelerates the evolution of the “Business of Experience”, a new holistic concept of experience that touches every economic sector.
Including the automotive market, where the transformation of the mobility experience, together with electrification and the transition to sustainable models, has triggered the greatest transformation ever seen since the invention of the internal combustion engine.
“In this context”, explains Teodoro Lio, Consumer and Manufacturing Industries Lead of Accenture Italia, “all market players need to review the strategic vision and business models”.
According to the executive, in particular, the sector must embrace a circular economy model, as many digital companies have already done. Not only because it is the right thing to do to reduce the environmental impact of the sector, but also because circularity is functional to digital business models based on services that will help increase profitability.
“The circular economy can reduce dependence on pure car sales volumes,” says Lio, “by shifting the focus to services and improving product lifecycle performance, leading to revenue growth per vehicle.”
“The automotive supply chain – he concludes – can exploit its strengths in orchestrating complex ecosystems to guide the transition towards circularity, optimizing the entire value chain and the adoption of as-a-service models”.
Integration with the metaverse can also be part of these complex systems, contributing to the revolution of the consumer experience not only in the moment of choice and purchase, but also in that of the use of the car as a new enabling platform for services. digital.