Make up the word first. The rest will come later…if it comes. And if not, tell the prophets of the metaverse, one of those promises that could mark a before and after in the history of technology if at some point they materialize not only in something tangible (there are some experiments), but above all and more importantly, in something that consumers and companies are willing to use.
And it is that for those of you who think that the metaverse already sounds “old”, and “Web3” is a term very late in 2021, now a new word arrives that wants to sneak into the technological-business vocabulary: inverse.
The term, as we read in an article in «The Register» was heard a few days ago at a Gartner conference and according to the experts of this consultancy, it would be «an interactive space that merges an intranet and a metaverse».
If you are not very clear about how something like this is possible or even if it makes sense, of course you are not the only ones. We are sure that the face of bewilderment that some of you have when reading these lines is very similar to that of the professionals who had the opportunity to attend this conference.
Gartner’s premise is that hybrid working, while a great idea on paper, doesn’t work in practice. They assure from the consultant that as it lengthens, it becomes more and more difficult to maintain an adequate balance between remote work and the need to spend time in the office to develop synergies with the team.
And here, according to analysts, there are two forces pulling in opposite directions: on the one hand, it’s difficult to put pressure on the staff to come back or spend more time in the office. And even beyond that, more and more professionals rule out continuing in a selection process or even give up applying for a job offer, if they are not guaranteed the ability to work remotely most of the time. But on the other hand, it is true, as companies like Google say, that innovation and the best ideas arise when not only work as a team but also when those spaces that facilitate the development of knowledge networks and synergies are shared.
An “intraverse” according to Gartner would therefore be a “bridge” between both worlds, since it would allow people who work remotely to maintain a certain virtual presence in the company, while sharing information and working together with those who work remotely. physically located on the company’s premises. And so far of course, the theory.
In practice, Gartner did not explain what technology companies would need to launch such a project. And more than a metaverse of the company itself, it was stated that in any case, the future would go through the development of a “collection of technologies” such as augmented reality and others, which could respond to different use scenarios, such as training, customer service, etc.
If this seems vague to you, what follows only improves. And it is that the consultant logically explained that launching an intraverse is risky and that “it could fail”, mainly because its use would probably be relegated to that of a few enthusiasts who would defend this way of working against any evidence about the impractical and unproductive what it looks like right now.
This being the case, and without saying it openly, Gartner does suggest instead that what does not work technically can do so through marketing and company image. “Companies can show that they have made a serious attempt at a time when organizations are struggling to attract and retain workers, as workers tend to avoid companies they perceive as old, bad or frustrating in their technology environment,” they say.
Or what is the same, the definition that the consultancy itself makes of this concept could not be clearer: the smoke of smoke.
