BP,ABN AmroandDiageohave revealed details of the
ways they are working in virtual worlds.
Joe Little, who works in BP's chief technology office, said the
company has identified 3D interactive web and virtual worlds as the
breakthrough technology for 2008.
The company is using virtual world environments for strategy
planning, global collaboration and anonymous counselling for
staff.
Speaking at the Virtual Worlds Europe conference this month,
Little said, "BP is engaged in virtual worlds because of our
dispersed workforce, team members working on several global
projects, periodic travel restrictions, an ageing workforce with a
lot of knowledge to impart and a tough graduate market."
By mid-2008 BP executives hope to increase the use of virtual
worlds, especially for collaboration, marketing public education,
mentoring, learning and development and refining business
processes. Other opportunities include using virtual worlds for
process safety training and educating consumers in alternative
energy concepts, Little said.
Dutch bank ABN Amro is using the virtual world Second Life for
recruitment and for one-to-one meetings with prospective
employees.
Daan Josephus Jitta, ABN Amro's senior vice-president, direct
channels and innovation, said, "The 2D internet is excellent for
simple human-machine interaction, but the 3D social internet
enables ready human-to-human interaction, or anonymous
avatar-to-avatar communication."
He said future uses of virtual worlds would include customer
contact, consulting and financial planning. However, financial
services would not yet be offered through virtual worlds because of
the need to resolve regulatory, ID management and security
issues.
Drinks manufacturer Diageo has piloted a Second Life
events-based programme to boost creative productivity among its
global research and development teams. The teams are using the
technology for brainstorming, co-development and training, said
Dele Alanda, Diageo's global digital marketing business
partner.
However, Dutch drinks group Heineken backed out of Second Life
following regulatory uncertainties over the ability of people aged
under 21 in the US to view drinks advertisements.