Here are several excerpts from an article by Mary K. Pratt, a Computerworld contributing writer, Have your avatar call my avatar – Doing business virtually. Check out the complete source article and the related reader comments for much more:
The real world and the virtual one — in which people represented as avatars can interact with others as well as virtual representations of real and imaginary objects — are beginning to blur in professional settings, as companies explore how virtual environments and technologies can bring value to their businesses.
Don’t worry if you don’t have an avatar yet. It’s still early. But be warned:
Many think it’s just a matter of time before being “in-world” becomes as important for business as having a Web site and standard teleconferencing equipment is.
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It was just two years ago that Second Life, the virtual world created by Linden Research Inc. and the clear leader in this arena, starting making headlines, says Stephen Prentice, an analyst at Gartner Inc. And even though SL is the best known of the virtual worlds, it’s not really that big. It claims about 12 million residents, but Prentice says that number refers to the 12 million people who have downloaded the free software. The actual number of users who have been in-world in the past 30 days is closer to 850,000.
That’s not a huge target audience, yet some companies were still eager to jump into Second Life and other popular virtual worlds during the past two years, Prentice says.
Although the virtual world and its expected future evolution into the 3-D Internet are clearly emerging technologies, analysts, business executives and industry leaders say the push to explore their use in business often comes not from the IT department but rather from others, such as marketing or human resources.
But IT can’t afford to take a back seat. Tech professionals need to offer their own ideas, insights and services as their business colleagues seek information.
They need to look at virtual worlds as they look at any other technology and understand how they can improve business functions and processes, how they can help the company reach its internal and external goals, and how they can be implemented to do all that.
Even when companies opt to outsource the work, IT has to be prepared to evaluate providers and manage the relationship.
The main message for IT: Get involved and see where all this leads.
Even champions of virtual worlds don’t see them as a replacement for the real thing. There are times when face-to-face interactions are the only way to go. And, yes, there are times when a simple telephone call or e-mail exchange will suffice. But there’s a growing list of advantages to working in-world, too.
