A glimpse of the metaverse in the enterprise was offered by Microsoft recently with the announcement of Mesh for Teams and Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces.
Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces, which was formerly known as Dynamics 365 Connected Store, combines the mixed-reality capabilities of Microsoft Mesh to help people in different physical locations to combine collaborative and shared holographic experiences, with Teams, Microsoft’s online meeting, chat and collaboration product. It can be leveraged to collect data about the physical spaces of an organisation. Furthermore, Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces can also be used to gain invaluable insights from the data using artificial intelligence. For instance, Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces can track foot traffic through a retail space, gauge interest in special displays, or minimise checkout lines in real-time.
“The metaverse enables shared experiences across both the physical and digital worlds,” Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President for Communications Frank X. Shaw explained in a company blog.
“As enterprises accelerate their digital transformation, the metaverse can help people meet up in a digital environment, make meetings more comfortable with the use of avatars, and facilitate creative collaboration from all around the world,” he wrote.
Darin Stewart, a research vice president at Gartner, said Mesh for Teams is a very early, very crude manifestation of the nascent metaverse. Darin added that the whole point of the metaverse is to evolve the internet into an immersive and inclusive environment and this requires a neutral playing field that allows platforms from multiple vendors and developers to interact seamlessly.