Virtual Business

virtual worlds like Second Life are a new medium with many opportunities to do business and make contact with customers, yet many companies still give back. The next five years virtual worlds will be essential to brand building of large companies. Classic business models do not work in this context, companies that want to position themselves must have a long-term strategy.


An article carried out by the consultancy Deloitte has concluded that virtual worlds like Second Life, normally associated with teenagers or Internet fans are growing in popularity very quickly and that their full potential has not yet been taken into account by most companies

These virtual worlds have created a new way for people to socialize, entertain and, of course, makes economic transactions. It is estimated that some 50 virtual worlds that have already signed up 178 million people. Second Life has been that has set in among the users. And despite that is still seen by many as merely a sophisticated way to play, the truth is that business is already being done and working in Second Life.



Companies such as Coca-Cola and Sears, have created virtual shops to test there products. The prestigious INSEAD business school has developed a virtual campus to replace classroom training. In short, more and more companies use these "parallel worlds" to enter in touch with your customers or to improve their internal operations.

However, the study warns that many companies exploring these new media can be quite daunting as its traditional approach is not sustainable in the long term. Because, although such self-organized communities can be potentially a very lucrative business, the classical models can not, under any circumstances, get all your party.

Innovate

We can say that there throw imagination and innovation.

"Virtual worlds present opportunities that businesses should know sooner or later," says Kamale Lardo, the report's author, said in a statement. "The inevitable changes that will bring virtual worlds will redefine the way companies interact with their customers and facilitate more sophisticated modes of interaction between organizations," he adds.

In the past year, many executives have had to make the decision to start your business career in places like Second Life, either for business, pure and simple, either to accompany a marketing strategy. It is not easy making this decision, says Deloitte, or measure their true potential. Perhaps this is why many of them were established with great media noise, have left too quickly, even seeing their number of subscribers increased steadily.

The study predicts, in any event, within five years, these worlds will begin to dominate and lead the brand building larger companies. This means that they are already positioned there will have some competitive advantage over those who take the decision to gamble in this way in the coming years.

Having a strategy

Expand the business into a virtual world is not without risks (many of them similar to what we find in the real world), especially with regard to brand and reputation.

The dramatic fall of the dot-com "in 90 should serve as example to know what to do and what not to explore this new medium. Virtual worlds have been created, also great excitement, a lot of hype and disappointments. Deloitte is time to enter a stage of maturity and productivity.

"Although the number of active visitors of virtual worlds has yet to reach critical mass, who explore and understand this context today will win the loyalty of its customers tomorrow," says Lardo. "To develop a strategy targeted at customers in this new environment, companies must first understand the marketplace and its users," he concludes.

Deloitte recommends that companies adopt a long-term strategy based on three phases. The first step would be to decide what is the reason to bet on this medium. At this point, the company has come to know well its technology foundation to keep abreast of new trends. It is also necessary that the strategic objectives of its implementation are based on measurable outcomes, such as the number of visits or appearances in the media.

The second phase, the report says, should be conducting a pilot project selected as the best option. In this case, the technological cost and risks are lower than those supporting a pilot project in the "real world."

Finally, after six months testing the operation of the pilot project, the company should make the decision whether to fully implement and continue operations, or not.