This article was originally written by Avanade alum Chanelle Schneider.

Being prepared for disruptors in an organization’s technological infrastructure is a solid strategy. The key in this case is “preparation” and not “implementation”. With government organizations seen as laggards in the digital space, employees and citizens are often demanding new tools that empower productivity and make access to services easier and more trustworthy. Typically, the advice is to assemble your team, devise a plan, and implement the solution swiftly. Now is not the time, however, for governments to jump into the latest digital disruptor, the metaverse; but it is the right time to start preparing. Here’s how government organizations can be ready for metaverse public sector services:

Prepare for the digital transformation challenge
To prepare for the digital transformation challenge of the metaverse, your organization needs to explore emerging technologies and then secure the implemented technology from the start. My colleague Cristy Stone, Research Lead for Emerging Technologies at Avanade, believes in using strategic foresight to help organizations ask and answer the questions they have around adopting emerging technologies. She says many people in strategic foresight leverage sci-fi novels from the ‘80s to get an understanding of where technology is going. Hence, the metaverse and its emergence from sci-fi author Neal Stephenson’s novel “Snow Crash”. Extended reality technologies for the public sector to consider include Digital Twin and HoloLens. These XR technologies enable digital replicas of physical environments and 3D remote solutions. Public sector organizations, such as transport departments, will find Microsoft Hololens 2 and Microsoft Dynamics 365 useful for hands-on, immersive technician training. To secure the chosen technology, Avanade’s relationship with Microsoft can provide you with a custom solution that closes security gaps.

Prepare for the workplace experience challenge
To prepare for the workplace experience (WX) challenge, government leaders need to address the skills gap by increasing employee expertise with the metaverse. To do this, organizations need to use metaverse collaboration themselves in both virtual and physical spaces. This can be achieved by starting now to transform the WX to enable remote/hybrid work. The metaverse workplace will give workers the ability to work from anywhere, which workers were asking for and the pandemic pushed forward. To take advantage of the metaverse within the workplace, organizations can pilot a launch with a select group of workers, training employees to use the headsets and software for team meetings and other applicable uses. Training presents an opportunity to fill any talent gaps. You can, essentially, hire from within to determine whether existing employees can be upskilled.

Prepare for the citizen trust challenge
The public sector must begin preparing for citizens’ lack of trust with metaverse-based services now. To do this, leaders can ensure trust using their own experiences to inform a communication strategy around the ‘new government in the metaverse’ services. Today, we see declining trust from citizens, in part, due to failing, outdated systems. The employees who must work with these tools become ineffective at efficiently responding to citizen requests, citizens vent their frustrations, and the cycle repeats itself. To avoid this in a metaverse world, lay the groundwork by doing the following:

• Keep abreast of the latest developments with metaverse public sector solutions to be ready with answers to citizens’ questions, such as how their data will be kept private if they engage with your organization through the metaverse.
• Keep a competitive advantage by doing agile work when developing your metaverse strategy. This allows your team to flexibly respond to changes in the metaverse space that may impact strategic planning.
• Use the model of digital transformation in the Virtual Courts where intelligent automation replaced legacy workflows, allowing more rapid documented administration of justice, which serves to inspire viability of services and citizen trust.

Avanade Advisory will help your people make sense of the metaverse to make it applicable for your organization. To learn more, visit this page, read our full perspective or contact us to start your journey into the metaverse.