EY was the first of the big consultancies to embrace permissionless blockchains. Today it announced it is expanding EY wavespace, its existing team collaboration offering, into the metaverse. Additionally, EY US has launched a metaverse lab.
“I am seeing a lot of interest in the metaverse from clients in all sectors and industries,” said Edwina Fitzmaurice, EY Global Chief Customer Success Officer. “At this stage, the metaverse is about creativity and opportunity, not certainty, and I am excited for EY teams to continue shaping a road map for how clients can anticipate and transform for this next frontier of human experience.”
The metaverse offers more immediate or long-term potential, depending on the industry. Fashion and luxury brands are sectors that are embracing it quickly, given the lucrative opportunity to outfit avatars in the metaverse. Morgan Stanley predicted that metaverse revenues for the luxury sector could reach €50 billion by 2030.
Banks also see plenty of opportunity, not least in helping to facilitate metaverse payments. In the short term, there’s potential for staff training with the future possibility of virtual branches. A broad array of other sectors are getting involved, ranging from INTERPOL to UPS and sports franchises.
“EY teams are committed to helping businesses understand what the metaverse means for them and how to strategically adapt new business models for the transition to a decentralized economy,” said Jay Nibbe, EY Global Vice Chair – Markets.
We’ve also heard about significant business enthusiasm for the metaverse. It was not dissimilar in the virtual world boom when Second Life started. The challenge is getting users to stick around, something that Meta is struggling with at the moment, despite investing billions.
