When COVID-19 forced workers home, companies quickly shifted communications strategies to videoconferencing platforms like Zoom and Microsoft.

But as the pandemic lengthened, companies realized that they needed to take more than daily planning virtual. Even factories that stayed open had to update training procedures for people who would normally travel to learn about new equipment.

Enter the metaverse. Companies and organizations in Minnesota took immersive technology used in gaming to create new onboarding and training materials with computer-generated environments made to look and sound real while changing the way people communicate.

Now they say the technology is here to stay and are working on even more ways to use it — with both employees and customers.

Experts around the Twin Cities view the metaverse as the next iteration of how human beings leverage and interact with internet-based technology. This follows the introduction of the personal computer, dial-up internet, mobile phones, and browser- and app-based videoconference platforms, said Amir Berenjian, CEO of Rem5, a St. Louis Park-based virtual reality studio and development company.

source: https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-companies-enter-the-metaverse/600228184/