Accenture Rolls Out Metaverse-Focused Consulting Practice

The metaverse is continuing its explosive growth, attracting the attention of investors, developers, and users alike. Not only are users all over the world embracing the metaverse’s potential as a digital playground, real estate speculators are driving a hot market for virtual property, with lots in the metaverse trading for tens of thousands of dollars. As corporations begin to venture into the latest evolution of the internet, it’s inevitable that they will need specialized guidance, and one consulting firm has risen to the occasion and launched a practice focused exclusively on the metaverse.

Global consultancy Accenture announced the start of the new business group in a March 16 press release. Dubbed “Metaverse Continuum,” the group is set to be jointly led by Paul Daugherty, the Group Chief Executive - Technology and Chief Technology Officer at Accenture and David Droga, the Chief Executive Officer and Creative Chairman of Accenture Interactive.

The new venture fits with the firm’s ongoing embrace of metaverse technology. Accenture already operates its own metaverse, known as “the Nth floor,” which is used for new hire onboarding, immersive learning, and team socialization. The firm expects that 150,000 or more FY2022 new hires will work in its metaverse on their first day.

Despite the relative youth of metaverse technology, many in the business world seem ready to embrace its potential. Accenture recently surveyed more than 4,600 corporate leaders across nearly two dozen industries, with seven in 10 executives reporting a belief that the technology will have a positive impact on their organization, and 42% expecting the metaverse will lead to significant changes in technology and industry.

Accenture is also clearly ready to embrace the metaverse, envisioning a transformation in the next decade of how businesses interact with their customers, how they produce, market, and sell the goods and services they offer, and even how everyday work is performed.

“The next generation of the internet is unfolding and will drive a new wave of digital transformation far greater than what we’ve seen to date, transforming the way we all live and work,” said Daugherty. “Our vision of the metaverse as a continuum challenges prevailing, narrower views and highlights why organizations must act today, or find themselves operating in worlds designed by, and for, someone else.”