Survey Shows How Manufacturers Plan to Leverage Metaverse

GridRaster Inc., a provider of cloud-based XR platforms that powers high-performance and scalable AR/VR/MR experiences on mobile devices for enterprises, has shared results of its latest survey addressing where and how enterprise-level businesses and manufacturers have an interest in leveraging the Metaverse for their operations.

IT leaders are building the Metaverse—knowledge workers and things being represented by “digital twins”—a virtual world where people, consumers, workers all gather to communicate, collaborate and share through a virtual presence on any device. This means companies will build immersive virtual spaces, aka “metaverses,” and it will allow employees to virtually collaborate using their digital twin through chats, emails, video calls and face-to-face meetings.

GridRaster commissioned an online survey to more than 3,000 business leaders and manufacturing executives across a number of industries from February 14-18, 2022. The purpose of the survey was to gauge activity in using AR/VR in their operations, as well as their interest and plans for leveraging the metaverse in their operations.  

According to trends observed from survey respondents:

• Just over one-third of manufacturers polled said as much as 20% of their operations used some form of AR/VR in 2021.
• Just over one-half of those polled said close to 50% of their operations would incorporate some form of AR/VR in 2022.
• Nearly two-thirds (67%) said they are researching ways to leverage the Metaverse in their operations in 2022.
• Nearly one-third (29%) said they would be interested in leveraging the Metaverse BUT they need more innovation to build custom solutions.
• 45% either strongly agree or somewhat believe the Metaverse will be beneficial toward their operations.
• Mmanufacturing executives and business leaders feel they will get the most out of the metaverse through AI and software (57%), marketing automation (48%), workflow/BPM (39%), AR/VR (27%), project collaboration (23%) and robotics (17%).

“For businesses, the metaverse as it now stands will require heavy investment and a shift in numerous modes of business as well as an understanding that there will be a fundamental change in the way business is conducted in the future,” says Rishi Ranjan, CEO of GridRaster. “The power of simulation will be an exact game-changer for enterprises and businesses throughout the metaverse in a variety of industries, such as optimizing production planning in the automotive sector, accelerating design in the aerospace industry, improving overall production efficiency for manufacturers, and increasing accuracy for consumer packaged goods companies, many companies are poised to leverage virtual simulation to make better business decisions and generate the greatest return on investment.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.