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Forrester -- virtual worlds analysis

Readers know I have been working on DecisionSupportWorld.com and on a Second Life headquarters for Decision Support World and 2 major in-world decision support projects. So I read with interest the executive summary of Forrester's report "Getting Real Work Done In Virtual Worlds" (1/7/2008). Erica Driver, Paul Jackson and crew are definitely optimistic about the future of virtual worlds for decision support. The executive summary reads:

"Virtual worlds like Second Life, There.com, and more business-focused offerings are on the brink of becoming valuable work tools. Major companies and public-sector organizations — such as BP, IBM, Intel, and the US Army — are investing heavily in virtual world technologies. But it's still early, pioneering days. You've practically got to be a gamer to use most of these tools — setup can be arduous, navigating in a 3-D environment takes practice, and processing and bandwidth requirements remain high. But within five years, the 3-D Internet will be as important for work as the Web is today. Information and knowledge management professionals should begin to investigate and experiment with virtual worlds. Use them to try to replicate the experience of working physically alongside others; allow people to work with and share digital 3-D models of physical or theoretical objects; and make remote training and counseling more realistic by incorporating nonverbal communication into same-time, different-place interactions."

The 24 page report costs US $279.00.

Check
http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,43450,00.html.

So how did Driver and Jackson reach these conclusions? I haven't met them in Second Life.

"Forrester interviewed 14 vendor and user companies, including Forterra Systems, Gemini Mobile Technologies, IBM, Icarus Studios, Kaneva, Linden Lab, PA Consulting, Qwaq, SAP, Sun Microsystems, Unisfair, Virtual Heroes, Vivox, and VRWorkplace." Definitely a small sample!

What did they get right? It is time for major companies with distributed operations to seriously experiment with using Second Life for decision support.

What did they get wrong? There is a learning curve, but you certainly do NOT need to be "a gamer to use most of these tools". Setup is a bit time consuming because the client is large, updates are still too frequent, bandwidth should not be a problem in most global companies. Corporate IT people can easily handle set for Second Life. Training managers to use Second Life will help and an in-world mentor is a big plus. We can do this!

Visit me (aka Leinad Meriman) in Second Life at
Decision Support World
http://slurl.com/secondlife/VIT%20World/201/63/23.

Also check Decision Support World
DecisionSupportWorld.com.

Thanks to George Kurtz aka Butch Dae for forwarding me Virtual Worlds Weekly, Volume 2, Issue 2, January 15, 2008, which had a story on the Forrester report.

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