By 2026, 25% of people will spend at least one hour a day in the metaverse for work, shopping, education, social, or entertainment, according to Gartner.

Gartner defines a metaverse as “a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical and digital reality. A metaverse is persistent, providing enhanced immersive experiences.” Gartner expects that a complete metaverse will be device-independent and will not be owned by a single vendor: it will have its own virtual economy enabled by digital currencies and nonfungible tokens (NFTs).

The metaverse will allow people to replicate or enhance their physical activities, and as an extension impact businesses that consumers interact with every day as well as how work gets done. Enterprises will provide better engagement, collaboration, and connection to their employees through immersive workspaces in virtual offices.

Businesses will not need to create their own infrastructure to do so because the metaverse will provide the framework. In addition, virtual events that have gained popularity over the last 18 months will offer more collaborative and immersive networking opportunities and workshops.

Other examples for consumers include buying digital land and constructing virtual homes or shopping in virtual malls via immersive commerce.

There is no doubt the metaverse will enable enterprises to expand and enhance their business models in unprecedented ways. By 2026, Gartner expects 30% of the organizations in the world to have products and services ready for metaverse, so all organizations should begin developing digital business strategies that leverage the built-in infrastructure and participants of the metaverse. At the same time, the adoption of metaverse technologies is nascent and fragmented, and Gartner cautions organizations about investing heavily in a specific metaverse.