Accenture launches consulting practice dedicated to the metaverse

Professional services firm Accenture has launched a new metaverse advisory business line, which will support clients with everything from strategy through to metaverse world-building.

Backed by its new survey finding that close to half of business leaders across industries believe the metaverse will have a significant impact, professional services firm Accenture is gearing up its work dedicated to the unfolding technology.

Dubbed ‘Metaverse Continuum’, the new business group will be jointly led by technology group chief executive Paul Daugherty and Accenture Interactive boss David Droga (the founder of Droga5).

 

“We are recognised as an early leader in metaverse-related capabilities, with 600 patent filings and more than a decade of experience,” said Droga, who took the helm of Interactive last year. “Our new business group combines these capabilities with the creative strengths of Accenture Interactive, with teams of innovators and creators introducing new applications in the decentralised environment of the metaverse.”

The firm envisions a coming decade where business will be completely revolutionised, the metaverse transforming how companies interact with customers, the products and services they offer and how they’re produced, and even how work is performed. It contends that as technologies such as extended reality, digital twins and blockchain converge, businesses face a future that is far removed from the one they were designed to operate in.

“The next generation of the internet is unfolding and will drive a new wave of digital transformation far greater than what we’ve seen to date, transforming the way we all live and work,” commented Daugherty. “Our vision of the metaverse as a continuum challenges prevailing, narrower views and highlights why organisations must act today, or find themselves operating in worlds designed by, and for, someone else.”

Despite still being early days, it seems most businesses tend to agree to some extent with the metaverse’s potential. In a global survey of more than 4,600 business leaders across almost two dozen industries, seven in ten believed the technology will have a positive impact on their organisation, while 42 percent of the executives expect the metaverse will lead to breakthroughs or potentially even reshape entire industries.

With a team of 800 specialists, Accenture’s new Metaverse Continuum practice will offer a range of services, from strategy consulting, including on brand and marketing, customer experience, and digital identity among other areas, through to the design, build and operation of clients’ metaverse capabilities, for example as to world-building, engagement, content management, marketplace development, 3D commerce, and trust & safety mechanisms.

The last point the firm believes is a highly important one. “As the line between people’s physical and digital lives further blurs, organisations have the opportunity and obligation now to build a responsible metaverse – addressing issues like trust, sustainability, personal safety, privacy, responsible access and use, diversity and more,” Daugherty concluded. « The actions and choices they make today will set the stage for the future.”