It’s where the money is

James Mabbott, partner in charge at KPMG Futures, has recently recruited a ‘head of metaverse futures’ with the aim of finding multimillion-dollar business opportunities for the firm by 2025.

“I think the really interesting applications are going to be in the business-to-business context,” he told Cointelegraph. “I think that’s where the money is going to be, [even] more so than the consumer-driven participation.”

That assessment is partly based on experience from the past couple of years, when Covid-19 lockdowns accelerated the use of video communications platforms. But these lack an emotional component, he argued – and that’s what the metaverse will eventually bring. Users have “that sense of being in the room and being able to read [other people’s] body language and feel like you’re there”.

Teething troubles

Mabbott is unconcerned by reports of poor user experiences and falling user numbers, pointing out that things are still very much in the experimental phase, with new business models and ways of creating value in gestation.

“Off the back of that, I think there will be an explosion, actually, in terms of uptake and use, and applicability of these technologies as well,” he predicted.

Internal and external 

• KPMG is exploring the possibility of building its own metaverse for the company’s internal business operations and B2B services.
• It’s also assessing public metaverse platforms and the potential they could have for clients.