ThinkBalm publishes immersive software decision-making guide
by Erica Driver and Sam Driver.
Today ThinkBalm published The Enterprise Immersive Software Decision-Making Guide, a powerful tool for business decision makers selecting immersive technology for use in the workplace. To view or download a PDF version of this 29-page report, click this link or the image below.
Enterprise immersive software is a collection of collaboration, communication, and productivity tools unified via a 3D or pseudo-3D visual environment. In this computer-generated environment, one or more people engage in work activities like meetings, conferences, and learning and training. The software provides a shared, interactive, multichannel experience through presence awareness, voice chat, active speaker indication, text chat, and many other features, often including avatars.
The Enterprise Immersive Software Decision-Making Guide is a use case-based guide designed to aid business decision makers in the enterprise immersive software selection process. In this report, we present “if/then” scenarios and highlight good-fit vendors for common situations, with a focus on the most prevalent use cases: meetings, conferences, and learning and training. The report offers guidance on how to: 1) ask core business questions to frame the discussion, 2) choose a research-and-demo, do-it-yourself, or combination approach, 3) identify requirements based on your use case, and 4) filter your options based on important limiters.
The following vendors are covered in this report:
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To develop this report, ThinkBalm analysts held structured briefings with nineteen enterprise immersive software vendors and conducted interviews with fifteen early adopters who were involved in the technology selection process. Some of the briefings took place directly in the vendors’ immersive environments. We combined our insights from these discussions with our hands-on experience using immersive software and our interactions with our clients and members of the ThinkBalm Innovation Community. The ThinkBalm Innovation Community currently numbers more than 400 Immersive Internet advocates, implementers, explorers, and technology marketers.
This research was made possible by sponsorship from Linden Lab, ProtonMedia, Teleplace, and Virtual Italian Parks.
© 2010 ThinkBalm. All rights reserved.
New ThinkBalm analyst report: Crossing the Chasm, One Implementation at a Time
by Erica Driver and Sam Driver.
Today ThinkBalm published a new research report: “Crossing the Chasm, One Implementation at a Time.” We timed the research and release of this report to coincide with our opening keynote presentation at the 3DTLC conference in San Jose. To view or download a PDF of this report, click this link or the image of the report cover below.
The core question we set out to answer is, “How are early adopters overcoming barriers to adoption of immersive technology in the workplace?” To build upon the research we conducted for the ThinkBalm Immersive Internet Business Value Study, Q2 2009, in August of 2009 we conducted in-depth interviews with 16 highly-qualified Immersive Internet advocates and implementers who work for organizations like AT Kearney, Blended Solutions, City of Geneva (Illinois, USA), e426.org, groupVision AG, IBM, Microsoft, Preferred Family Healthcare, SAIC, San Diego State University, The Coaches Center, The Maids, University of Denver, and World2Worlds, along with some that wished not to be named.
Crossing the Chasm, One Implementation at a Time
In this report we provide insights into the barriers early adopters face — technological, people-related (especially time and perception-related), and financial — and offer a set of recommendations for “springboards” that can help project teams leap over the barriers.
© 2009 ThinkBalm. All rights reserved.
ThinkBalm publishes business value study
By Erica Driver and Sam Driver.
Today ThinkBalm published a ground-breaking new research report: “ThinkBalm Immersive Internet Business Value Study, Q2 2009.” The core question we set out to answer is, “What is the business value of using immersive technologies for work?” We surveyed 66 highly-qualified Immersive Internet practitioners and conducted 15 in-depth interviews. This research report contains our findings and analysis. To view or download a PDF version of this 36-page report, click the image below.
Click this image to view or download a PDF of this report.
Key findings from the study:
- More than 40% of those surveyed (26 of 66) saw a positive total economic benefit from investments in immersive technologies in 2008 and 1Q 2009. More than 50% of respondents (34 of 65) expect to obtain a positive total economic benefit in 2009. The number of respondents who expect to obtain economic benefit of $25,000 USD or more in 2009 is more than double the number who indicated they achieved this level for 2008 / 1Q 2009.
- Nearly 30% of survey respondents (19 of 66) said their organization recouped their investment in immersive technologies in less than nine months, once their project(s) launched. Almost 30% of respondents (19 of 66) said their organization did not recoup their investment. Another 38% (25 of 66) said they didn’t know if their organizations had recouped their investment. This is not an unexpected finding because many Immersive Internet initiatives in 2008 and 1Q 2009 were experiments or pilots.
- One third of respondents (22 of 66) said their project data shows success. Another 61% of respondents (40 of 66) said the project “feels like” a success, for a total of 94% of respondents.
- Over a third of those surveyed (23 of 64) said their organization will definitely expand investment in immersive technology in 2009 and 2010, and another 38% (24 of 64) indicated that they might expand their investment.
- The top motivations for investment in immersive technology in 2008 /1Q 2009 were enabling people in disparate locations to spend time together, increased innovation, and cost savings or avoidance.
- Early implementers are choosing the simplest use cases first. The most common were learning and training (80%, or 53 of 66 respondents focused on this use case) and meetings (76%, or 50 of 66 respondents). Some intend to take on more complex use cases in 2010 or 2011.
- Immersive technology won out over a variety of alternatives primarily due to low cost and the increased engagement it delivers. The leading alternatives were Web conferencing and in-person meetings, followed by phone calls. Nearly 60% of respondents (38 of 66) indicated that immersive technology was less expensive than alternatives, and 11% (7 of 66) reported that it was more expensive.
- Work-related use of the Immersive Internet is in the early adopter phase. Before it can pass into the early majority phase, practitioners and the technology vendors who serve them must “cross the chasm.” The most common barriers to adoption are target users having inadequate hardware, corporate security restrictions, and getting users interested in the technology.
© 2009 ThinkBalm. All rights reserved.
ThinkBalm publishes special issue of Storytelling Series for Virtual Journalism Summit
by Erica Driver and Sam Driver.
Historically, journalists would go to a location and take notes about the scene or event or would interview people with relevant information, perhaps writing with a pencil in a ringed notebook. They would then return to the
Click this image to read or download the report in PDF format.
office to write the story. Nowadays, journalists use computers to write and mobile devices to collect and evaluate information. They have access to a wide range of tools to help them, including Google search, Wikipedia, email, blogs, wikis, and social networking tools. How will the Immersive Internet change all this? How will today’s journalist move on to take advantage of the next generation of technology and tools?
ThinkBalm principal Erica Driver is delivering a presentation on Monday, April 6th at the Virtual Journalism Summit, being held by The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University in partnership with the McCormick Foundation. The event examines the growing popularity and influence of virtual worlds in the context of journalism. To prepare the presentation for this event, we convened 17 members of the ThinkBalm Innovation Community and conducted a 3D brainstorming session. Our objective was to generate and record as many relevant, insightful ideas as possible in an hour’s time. We brainstormed five questions for 10 minutes each, ranging from, “How comfortable are journalists with using the Immersive Internet?” to “How can journalists use the Immersive Internet to differentiate from competitors who don’t?” The two main findings from the brainstorming session were:
- The Immersive Internet presents multiple barriers to adoption for journalists
- The Immersive Internet will change the face of journalism
With the help of eleven ThinkBalm Innovation Community members – Cherisa Burk, Christopher Bishop, Christopher Simpson, Claus Nehmzow, Donald Schwartz, Ehsan Ehsani, Jan Herder, Leslie Ehle, Rita J. King, Robin Harper, and Steve Baxter – today ThinkBalm published the fourth issue in the Immersive Internet Storytelling Series, titled “Gathering Insights via 3D Brainstorming: ThinkBalm Innovation Community Looks at Future of Journalism.” The objective of this issue of the ThinkBalm Immersive Internet Storytelling Series is to paint a picture of the future of journalism, as affected by the Immersive Internet, while using the insight-gathering process as a vehicle for demonstrating how work will change. This report is both a take on the future of virtual journalism from the perspective of Immersive Internet advocates, implementers, and explorers, and a discussion about how 3D brainstorming can aid in support of development of ideas and presentation content. For a PDF of the report click this link or click the image of the report’s cover above.
© 2009 ThinkBalm. All rights reserved.
ThinkBalm Storytelling Series Issue #3: How To Give New Users A Good First Experience
by Erica Driver and Sam Driver.
One of the most significant barriers to adoption of the Immersive Internet at work is a steep learning curve exacerbated by what is all too often a often a poor first-time experience. Many peoples’ early forays into virtual
Click this image to read or download the report in PDF format.
worlds and other immersive environments are tainted by technology and user experience issues. No matter which platform an organization uses, a newcomer training program is required. Training is the key to the success of a newcomer’s early experiences in immersive environments.
Members of the ThinkBalm Innovation Community have been putting our heads together to illuminate challenges and identify solutions to enterprise Immersive Internet problems since the community was launched in August of 2008. We discuss. We experiment. And on January, 9th, 2009, fourteen community members got together for a 90-minute role-playing session to 1) focus on what the newcomer experience is like and how to improve it, and 2) document our collective expertise.
We held the session in an immersive environment that was unfamiliar to most participants: Qwaq Forums, a business-oriented immersive platform for document and process collaboration. ThinkBalm principals Erica Driver and Sam Driver and ThinkBalm Innovation Community member Cherisa Burk, a technologist with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, were already familiar with Qwaq Forums and played the role of “tour guides” (trainers). The tour guides were tasked with giving the rest of the participants, who played the role of newcomers (sometimes called newbies), the best introductory experience possible.
With the help of nine ThinkBalm Innovation Community members who attended this role-playing session — Cherisa Burk, Christopher Bishop, Darius Clarke, Ehsan Ehsani, Gina Schreck, John Kinsella, Julie Fogg, Leslie Pagel, and Ron Teitelbaum — we wrote ThinkBalm’s third issue in the Immersive Internet Storytelling Series, titled “How To Give New Users A Good First Experience.” For a PDF of the report click this link or click the image of the article’s cover above.
© 2009 ThinkBalm. All rights reserved.
ThinkBalm Storytelling Series Issue #2: "End Death-By-Lecture: Tours, Not Speeches"
by Erica Driver and Sam Driver.
Click this image to read or download the report in PDF format.
The ThinkBalm Innovation Community has been experimenting with a new form of immersive event: the “un-lecture.” An un-lecture is a 60- to 90-minute event during which four or five community members each deliver a 10-minute demo, tour, or presentation about something enterprise Immersive Internet-related that they have done or are working on. The purpose of the community’s new un-lecture event series is to spread the wealth of knowledge and experience that exists in the community, strengthen bonds among members, create opportunities for serendipitous interactions, and collectively master how to move beyond traditional, often unexciting presentations to deliver high-value interactive experiences. Participants can move their avatars around in 3D space and interact with environments and objects. They can talk with the presenter and each other via voice, group text chat, or private text chat. In our view, participants in an un-lecture event walk away with an experience, not just a few bullet points and a set of printed-out PowerPoint slides.
On December 1, 2008 the ThinkBalm Innovation Community held its first un-lecture event. We structured the event as a four-stop tour that included:
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A presentation by Claus Nehmzow, entrepreneur and advisor with Alcus International Ltd., on CIGNA’s use of Second Life for healthcare education
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A hands-on demo of Jeff Lowe’s 3D mindmapping tool project — Jeff Lowe is a project manager at University of Oklahoma Center for Public Management
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A presentation on the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI)’s use of Second Life for marketing and R&D by John Kinsella, VP in charge of educational curricula and products at PADI
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A tour of Michelin’s island for training IT pros on enterprise architecture concepts by Philippe Barreaud, chief enterprise architect at Michelin
With the help of six ThinkBalm Innovation Community members who attended our first un-lecture event — Barbara Schwarz, Claus Nehmzow, Eilif Trondsen, Jeff Lowe, Leslie Pagel, and Santi Garcia — we wrote ThinkBalm’s second issue in the Immersive Internet Storytelling Series, titled “End Death-By-Lecture: Tours, Not Speeches.” For a PDF of the article click this link or click the image of the article’s cover above.
© 2009 ThinkBalm. All rights reserved.
ThinkBalm storytelling series issue #1: "Role-play redux: 'Convince the curmudgeon'"
By Erica Driver and Sam Driver.
Click this image to read or download the report in PDF format.
On December 4, 2008, fifteen members of the ThinkBalm Innovation Community gathered in an immersive environment for 90 minutes to try to convince our curmudgeonly “boss,” a role played by community member Christopher Simpson of George Brown College, that our fictitious organization should be making Immersive Internet investments. The group met in the community’s region on ReactionGrid, an OpenSim grid. We met at “The Precipice,” a simple meeting space ThinkBalm set up atop a cliff, designed to be conducive to risk-taking. We sat around a large board room table, with Christopher Simpson at the head of the table sitting up a little higher than the rest of us. Christopher started the conversation by stating some of his objections to enterprise use of the Immersive Internet, and then the rest of us jumped in and fired off a steady stream of arguments in favor of it.
With the help of seven eight ThinkBalm Innovation Community members — Alexander Casassovici, Chris Hart, Christopher Bishop, Donald Schwartz, Jeff Lowe, Leslie Ehle, Marc Sirkin, and Robin Gomboy — we wrote ThinkBalm’s first issue in the Immersive Internet Storytelling Series, titled “Role-Play Redux: ‘Convince The Curmudgeon:’ The ThinkBalm Innovation Community Shares Lessons Learned.” For a PDF of the article click this link or click the image of the article’s cover.
© 2008 ThinkBalm. All rights reserved.
ThinkBalm releases its premier Immersive Internet report
By Erica Driver and Sam Driver.
Today ThinkBalm released its inaugural research report, titled “The Immersive Internet: Make Tactical Moves Today For Strategic Advantage Tomorrow.” This report is intended to help Immersive Internet advocates,
Click here to read or download the report in PDF format.
implementers, and explorers decide if, when, and how to invest in Immersive Internet technology. Click this link or the image of the report cover to download the PDF.
Methodology
As an independent industry analyst firm, ThinkBalm has working knowledge of the Immersive Internet vendor landscape acquired through vendor briefings and demos, hands-on experience, user interviews, consulting work with our clients, and our work with the ThinkBalm Innovation Community, which currently has about 150 members. Nearly two dozen community members reviewed and contributed to this report prior to its publication. (Membership in the ThinkBalm Innovation Community is free. For information on becoming a member please email us at info@thinkbalm.com.)
Executive Summary
The Immersive Internet is a collection of emerging technologies combined with a social culture that has roots in gaming and virtual worlds. Virtual worlds and campuses, immersive learning simulations, serious games, and three-dimensional (3D) business applications deeply engross the user and give people experiences that are perceived as real even though they take place virtually. Properly implemented, this technology promises to uncover previously unheard-of dimensions in engagement, which will in turn increase workforce collaboration, effectiveness, and retention. When the Immersive Internet is used with the extended enterprise, it will have similar positive impacts on customer, partner, and supplier relationships.
Adoption of the Immersive Internet for work is still in the “seedling” stage. We expect adoption will progress rapidly toward mainstream during the next five years because:
- A slow economy and the green movement are influencing business decisions
- Early case studies demonstrate return on investment
- We live in a video game culture
- Large business technology vendors are jumping into the fray
- Hardware, software, and networking technology have advanced rapidly
- Social networking is a way of life, allowing advocates and implementers to find each other
Investment in short-term Immersive Internet projects in 2009 is both strategic and cash-conscious. Project teams can extract tangible cost savings immediately, influence the vendors in an emerging technology market, and build the expertise needed for making sound larger investments in the future. Look for opportunities to improve business processes in seven main areas: learning and training, meetings and conferences, business activity simulation, collaborative design and prototyping, collaborative 3D data visualization, human resources management, and remote system and facility management.
The enterprise Immersive Internet technology market is made up of three main sectors: platforms, packaged applications, and custom apps. This emerging market is populated primarily by small software vendors and open source projects, making technology selection difficult and risky. The market will undergo significant change during the next five years as startups and educational institutions invent and innovate, large business technology vendors get in the game, and platforms and applications diverge. This may render some early technology implementations throwaways, though the experience gained will prove invaluable.
Long term, think of the Immersive Internet as an area of strategic investment that enables transformation of the way we work as well as business model innovation. The Immersive Internet allows organizations to connect more deeply with customers, partners, and suppliers. It enables business leaders to nourish and harvest human creativity and increase workforce and customer engagement. Ultimately, organizations will go far beyond the seven use cases we outline here and the Immersive Internet will become part of everyday life.
© 2008 ThinkBalm. All rights reserved.
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