The innovative company VRworkplace recently opened its virtual gates in Second Life. A full service stop for businesses wanting to enter the realm of Virtual Worlds. VRworkplace provides a wide range of services such as consulting, training, event hosting, building, maintenance and then some to optimise business communication. Its mission statement is: “VRworkplace aims to render physical distance obsolete by using virtual worlds technology, virtual offices and virtual social environments, to bring global enterprises, businesses and clientèle together in virtual reality, as if in person.”
One of the strongest assets of VRworkplace is ability to to ‘translate‘ digital opportunities in the Metaverse to the CEO and other decision-makers of today. Talk in lines of efficiency, innovation and experience rather then immersion, Metaverses and 3D feedback. As Dave Elchoness, CEO of VRworkplace states:
“A different language, a different approach, an understanding on what will fly and what is “pushing the envelope.” An understanding on where virtual worlds will work in business and where they just represent gratuitous use of technology. … bridge the gap between the traditional early adopters and others (like me). Sometimes a creative, advertising, marketing, gaming type needs someone to help present the message to a corporate client. This is our specialty.”
Applications of Virtual Workplaces
There are different reasons and approaches to enter a virtual world for business communication innovation, and making your company run more effectively. Here I’ve listen 4 of the most commonly used reasons why businesses seek to enhance their current communication channels with a virtual world applications:
Company Communication: Companies that have multiple offices can obviously benefit from virtual meetings. Avoiding traffic, expensive business trips, cost of transportation, or the general loss of time when travelling can be seriously reduced when meeting in Virtual Worlds. There are a number of companies already deploying communication systems in Virtual Worlds and save time and money by meeting Virtually.
Remote Working situations: Working at home leaves you disconnected from the work culture. You can call or email about information you need, but answers can be time lagged or impersonal. To involve ‘remote employees’ in your company a Virtual World offers a social platform, to interact and brainstorm with colleagues more easily, and casually.
Business to Client Communication: Inviting a client to your real world office can be tedious and inefficient. With the globalisation of business its hard to ‘meet’ with potential clients. Virtual Workspaces allows you to show your clients the environment you work in, allows interaction with your employees and create a stronger relationship when compared to email conversation.
Virtual Companies: Some companies have chosen to not take a physical presence office at all. The insurance company Midwest Family Mutual Insurance has completely virtual. This didn’t only reduce their costs dramatically, it also allowed them to focus the communication on reaching their target market a lot more efficiently on-line.
Virtual Workplaces Versus Video conferencing
Currently one of the ‘hot topics’ within corporations in terms of communication innovation is the use of video conferencing. One could argue the Virtual Workplace competes in this field, both creating visual experiences of communication. However, Virtual Worlds add much more then just 2-way communication. Virtual Worlds allow to ‘experience’ a meeting, it can be used for interacting on multiple levels such as co-creation, fast prototyping and gaming, where as the Video Conferencing is more like a phone - getting your message from one place to the other.
VRWorkplace’s corporate facility includes office and meeting space, an amphitheatre, a coffee house and an amusement park. It can be found on the Second Life grid at the Virtual Workplace sim. To visit VRWorkplace on the web, view video demonstrations of the VRWorkplace proposition and subscribe to the VRWblog, go to VRWorkplace.com, or read the full press release here.
Posted on: January 16, 2008 | Share on:
Sophie on 
Join the conversaton!