A CEO’s guide to the metaverse

“It’s too big to ignore—yet its future is far from certain. Companies need to dip a toe in the water and plan to take the plunge should developments warrant.

Suddenly, the metaverse is in the zeitgeist, for better or worse. Investment more than doubled in 2022 powered by big moves (such as Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, now under antitrust review) and small ones (about $12 billion to $14 billion of venture capital and private equity investment). Everyone has heard about the successes racked up by some big gaming companies: Roblox reported more than 58 million daily active users in 2022, while Fortnite had more than 20 million in 2020 and generated more than $9 billion in sales between 2018 and 2019. And others are investing; Meta continues to spend at least $10 billion annually on metaverse development. Yet investors are asking questions of metaverse companies about when they can expect tangible, near-term results from these companies’ investments.”

Photo from Micheal Ogungbe on Unsplash

“How should CEOs view the metaverse? Is it a big opportunity or a big risk? Our answer: the opportunity is enormous—and the risk is not what you think it is. (…)”

What CEOs could do now

  • Start with the “Why?” – not what
  • Now the next step comes – get practical and find the “what”
  • Champion the cause – the “how”

“With the real world beset by problems (such as war, COVID-19, inflation, and inequality), the metaverse offers an escape. That’s probably part of the attraction for the millions of customers who are flocking to early-stage metaverses. CEOs should ensure they are meeting their customers where they live—both virtually and IRL.”

Read the complete comprehensive post here on McKinsey

Innovation Strategy – Innovative Strategies in Business

On Digital Leadership Stefan F.Dieffenbacher has written an awesome packed article focusing one of the most important aspects for every company that (wants to) do(es) innovation!

Photo by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash

An aggregated view on innovation – especially for corporates dealing with the following aspects:

  • What is Innovation Strategy?
  • Innovation Strategy Importance
  • Importance of an Innovation
  • How to Develop an Effective Innovation Strategy?
  • How to Implement an Innovation Strategy?
  • Innovation Strategies Examples
  • Types of Innovation Strategies
  • Conclusion
  • Frequently Asked Questions

Follow this link to the extensive original post!

Why digital identity will make or break the Metaverse

I found this post rather interesting – about why identity matters. Especially looking at the wild-wild-west-cowboy-anarchy several areas of the web are (still) in. Looking forward this is needed – identity, authenticity, KYC, etc. Otherwise the “Metaverse” will be a place with limited trust and no peace of mind, which would certainly hamper a scaled mass adoption.

Photo by benjamin lehman on Unsplash

“Amid the hype and potential, there’s a lot of work to be done to establish the fundamentals that will make the Metaverse a safe experience for all. In particular, access must be underpinned by verified identities. Without verified identities in the Metaverse, anonymous bots can wreak havoc. For businesses, business people and celebrities, impersonators can cause damage to their brand and reputation, not to mention the new opportunities it creates for scammers and fraudsters. Ensuring trusted identity will therefore be fundamental to the safety and success of the Metaverse.”

Got interested? Follow me here in order to read the full post from Matt Peake on onfido.

Tech at the edge – Trends reshaping the future of IT and business

“With technological change accelerating, companies need to make four fundamental shifts.”

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash
Four interconnected tech trends shaping the future of IT
  1. Innovation at the edge
    • What incentives will best encourage engineers and domain experts to develop, maintain, and tap into their networks?
    • What processes are in place for tracking and managing VC activity at the edge?
    • What capabilities do you need to identify innovation opportunities and “industrialize” the best ones so they can be shared across the organization?
  2. A perpetual-learning culture
    • Do you have a list of the most important skills your business needs?
    • What is the minimum level of learning needed for advanced users of analytics and manipulators of data?
    • How do you track what people are learning and whether that learning is effective and translating into better performance?
  3. IT as a service
    • Do you have a vision for how the role of the IT organization will change to enable democratization of technology?
    • How will you elevate the role of the technology product manager, and do you have a road map for developing that role?
    • What systems will you need to put in place to manage and track the use, reuse, and performance of code?
  4. Expanded trust boundaries
    • Who is responsible for the enterprise-wide trust and risk landscape?
    • How have you integrated your efforts around customer trust with overall cybersecurity processes?
    • What privacy, trust, and security processes are in place to manage the entire life cycle of your data?

It is inevitable that the pace of technological change will continue to accelerate. The successful technology leader of the future will not simply need to adopt new technologies but to build capabilities to absorb continuous change and make it a source of competitive advantage.”

Much more information and details can be found in the original post at McKinsey here.

Reshaping retail banks – Enhancing banking for the next digital age

“The current model of universal retail banking is unsustainable over the long term. To thrive, banks need to reinvent themselves, focusing on businesses where they can achieve and extend market leadership in the new digital world.”

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

“Today’s retail banking market is vastly different in shape and structure from the old environment, in which the traditional model of universal banking was economically sound. In the new world, the winning banks will be those that carefully choose the businesses in which they can lead and commit to building a value proposition, core technology, and operating model fit to win on the digital battlefield.”

Got interested? Then read the original and complete post on McKinsey.com here.

Embedded finance: Who will lead the next payments revolution?

“Winners are already emerging in the race to provide banking and payments infrastructure for embedded finance, but incumbents and new entrants still have time to claim a share of this dynamic market.”

Photo by Stephen Dawson on Unsplash

“Winners are already emerging among the financial institutions that manufacture embedded finance. However, tech-savvy banks, fintechs, and payments companies that are willing to invest and partner still have time to claim their share of this fast-growing market.”

Follow this link to read the the original and complete insightful post by Andy Dresner, Albion Murati, Brian Pike, and Jonathan Zell at McKinsey.

Growth in periods of uncertainty

“Every business leader and CEO aspires to deliver growth, but for many, growth remains elusive. In times of uncertainty, growth is an important facet of resilience; leaders who adopt a growth mindset are better positioned to thrive under disruptions and other challenging situations–and outperform their peers. Outperformers take risks, understand their customers, favor action over perfection, focus on the long-term, and give control to others, according to McKinsey.

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

Explore these insights to understand how to make sustainable, inclusive growth a reality, and dive deeper into topics including:

  • how companies can seize green growth opportunities as we look toward a net-zero future
  • the importance of resilience as disruptions and crises arise over time
  • the ten rules for creating value-generating growth
  • how CFOs and other business leaders can deliver sustainable, inclusive growth”

Got interested? Follow this link to read the original post on McKinsey followed by a collection of topic-related articles and posts on McKinsey’s Website!

 

 

Elements Paving The Path To The Metaverse

Thomas has been attending the Munich TechDays this year as Rainmaker from Metacity and gave a speech on the upper mentioned topic.

“What a great and awesome day at #MunichTechDays it has been! WoW! Totally overwhelmed meeting all the old and new friends – and on top chatting with outstanding inspiring industry megastars! Thank you Peter Moehring and the overall team that made this event happen this year! I truly enjoyed sharing my view on #Metaverse in my presentation for #MetaCity “Elements Paving The Path To The Metaverse”. “

“Good to see the brave and strong traction, which is being generated in this field – really, really happy to see that!” The full presentation can be seen here:

Another extreme pleasure and honour it was to be on the same stage in the #AI and #Metaverse slot – talking about the #MetaVerse with Kevin Niekrawietz today at the #MunichTechDays. For sure we will follow on a dozen of super-creative (and most probably very tangible) topics for the #future.

In the meantime we are wrapping our minds around the challenge on how to beam and morph bikes into the #Metacity … probably #NFT is a viable solution? Paid with #MetaCity #TOQNs?!”

Looking forward to next year!!

#Metaverse #metacity #metabusiness #metalifes #metasociety #metaspaces #metaart #trecos #growth #shiftgears #team #nft #vr #ar #digitalid #digitalasset #blockchain #smartcontracts #dapp #DeFi #DAO #web3