The metaverse is heading to the workplace

The metaverse is not a passing fad; In fact, it’s likely coming to a workplace near you — and some pieces of the foundation are there already.

Ciena recently commissioned a report to better understand business professionals’ sentiments about the metaverse in the workplace. What it found was that the appetite for the metaverse was more voracious than we could have predicted. Of the 15,000 business professionals surveyed across the globe, more than three-quarters (78%) said they would participate in more immersive experiences like the metaverse as opposed to current tools such as videoconferencing.

Interestingly, 87% of business professionals confirmed that they would feel comfortable conducting human resources meetings in a virtual space; 71% of professionals can see the metaverse becoming part of existing work practices; and 40% think their business will move away from the traditional/static collaboration environment to a more immersive and virtual reality-based environment in the next two years.

This may have been driven by the pandemic, which has accelerated a shift towards working from home and meeting via teleconferencing solutions. The result has been that people once averse to remote meetings now believe in the productivity gains these technologies provide.

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