There is no denying the fact that remote working proved to be the best resiliency tool for businesses during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. It was through remote working capabilities that businesses were able to resume operations despite the disruptions that the pandemic brought.
While many businesses already had remote working capabilities, a significant portion of companies with an on-premises work infrastructure switched to the cloud for online collaboration. All in all, the global COVID-19 pandemic sure increased the switch to cloud-based remote working.
And now with the rise of the metaverse, remote working is headed for a culture shift, one that’s going to be exciting with opportunities galore. With adoption, further developments, and the expansion of the metaverse, remote working will never be the same.
A significant rise in newer wearable tech for remote working
With the adoption of remote working, home office supplies such as work desk and chair, laptop stands, and external web cameras so a huge surge in sales. After all, most businesses and employees embraced proper office ergonomics in home office. But now that remote working is headed for a significant change within the metaverse, there will be many new wearable techs available for remote workers to access the remote working metaverse.
Many technology companies are already launching augmented reality and mixed reality smart glasses that serve as a portal to the metaverse. And virtual reality glasses are already available which also serve as a gateway to the virtual reality in the metaverse.
However, it is speculated that there will be more iterations of smart glasses based on augmented and mixed reality. More wearable tech will be available that will help remote workers have control over their digital avatars, access and share immersive holographs, and manage metaverse-based work tools.
Remote workers will not miss out on social interactions
Although remote working is great for cutting down commute time, lowering commuting expenses, and having more family time, it isn’t so great for socially active people. According to one Airtasker report, the importance of social interaction comes on par with working for 70% of the people.
But it seems cloud suite giant, Microsoft, has thought of this as it is set to make significant changes to Microsoft Teams and make it ready for metaverse-based remote work collaboration. It goes without saying that Microsoft Teams is already one of the best cloud collaboration tools that’s a part of the Microsoft 365 online ecosystem. But now, Microsoft is revamping Teams with Mesh for Microsoft Teams to make it possible for remote workers to work as their metaverse-based digital avatar.
With Mesh for Microsoft Teams, remote workers will be able to work in holographic environments and experience immersive work spaces that can be more exciting than real office spaces. Microsoft 365 users will be able to join regular Teams meetings with their customized digital avatar. At the same time, companies will have the capabilities to build and customize immersive virtual workspaces within the Microsoft metaverse and share access to all the capabilities of Microsoft Teams with employees.
By embracing metaverse in Teams and later on across the entire Microsoft 365 ecosystem, Microsoft will offer businesses a competitive advantage over others in the new normal of online collaboration. This basically means that businesses planning to migrate from traditional cloud storage platforms such as Dropbox to OneDrive for Business can benefit from Microsoft’s metaverse in Teams and beyond.
And for extensive business migration requirements, a third-party migration tool such as CloudFuze plays a crucial role in migrating high-volume company data along with every minor data attribute such as sharing permissions, timestamps, version history, embedded links, comments, and internal and external shared links.
Virtual and mixed reality will boost productivity
One of the biggest benefits that metaverse-based remote working will bring is improvements in productivity and operational efficiency by leaps and bounds. Cloud suite companies such as Microsoft will build holographic tools based on mixed reality which will create an immersive work experience. With more capabilities built around holographic business tools, companies will be able to help their operations team take productivity to new heights.
For example, monthly or quarterly reporting based around holographic representations will help remote working teams get better actionable insights. Mixed reality-based cloud work tools will also play a crucial role in streamlining project onboarding for clients that are in pipeline. Apart from operations and sales, other departments, including human resources, public relations, business process outsourcing, and post-sales teams will also benefit from improved productivity with holographic metaverse-based work tools.
Also, with the availability of new types of mixed reality-based work tools, businesses will be able to consolidate processes that are internally segregated, such as training processes, and customer/client relationships.
Remote working in metaverse will attract more millennials and generation z workers
Experienced working professionals and newer workforce belonging to the millennial and generation z demographic cohorts are all about leveraging newer disruptive technologies and co-working through dynamic social interactions. This essentially means that the global adoption of metaverse-based remote working will attract millennial and generation z workforces in more numbers.
And businesses (small, medium, and large) having a younger workforce will be able to capitalize on every new opportunity and technology trend. Many companies will also benefit from a technology-first culture shift with millennial and generation z teams onboard. With a technology trends-first work culture, non-technology companies based on non-technical industries such as healthcare, finance, real estate, etc will also be able to use disruptive technologies to their remote working advantage.
For workforces belonging to these demographics, remote working in the metaverse will create more work flexibility which, in turn, will help them have a good work-life balance. Also, articulate and scalable mixed-reality work tools will help the young workforce deliver better results within their KPIs in efficient and cost-effective ways.
To sum up, metaverse-based work collaboration will disrupt the remote working domain and pave the way for newer work culture shifts which will benefit employers as well as employees and freelancers.