The Edge Magazine Vol. 8

than ever to educate the financial community about the metaverse and its anticipated impact on the future of the industry, given the significant efficiencies. Another company that has taken advantage of the officeverse is eXp Realty. The residential brokerage uses a platform called Virbela, which enables remote teams to be connected and productive. Through Virbela, users can meet, host events, hold classes and more, enabling the company to service an entirely remote workforce all in an immersive and engaging world. In contrast to Mesmerise’s technology, Virbela’s experience comes to life on a 2D screen—think desktop or tablet—rather than through a virtual reality headset. As an early adopter, eXp Realty has grown to over 82,000 agents and employees and expanded to 21 international markets since implementing Virbela in 2016. And by at least one metric, eXp is ten times more efficient than its peers in terms of operating costs, much in part to its use of the officeverse, according to the company.

Other companies such as Accenture, Deloitte and BCG, too, have introduced virtual reality headsets to their digital workplaces. Growing interest from leading brands such as these has spurred companies like Apple and Microsoft to invest more capital into augmented and virtual reality hardware and software. Continued competition and further development will likely create greater options for businesses and drive costs down. But already the cost barrier is relatively low. In many cases, outfitting a workforce with VR equipment and software is comparable to the cost of issuing that same population a pair of desk monitors.

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