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Companies must design a five-year strategy for the metaverse

Naushad K. Cherrayil
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Companies must design a five-year strategy for the metaverse
  • The recent rise in metaverse investment is driven by the progress in underlying technologies such as AR, VR, digital twins, and cloud computing, among others.
  • Gaming, apparel, and social media sectors are driving the popularity of metaverse.
  • Technologies for the future of work such as AR, VR, wearable tech, 5G and collaboration tools are driving the development of the metaverse.
  • Apple and Google are well-positioned to influence the development of the theme in the long run as they are strong in key metaverse technologies and have massive partners and user bases.

Every company must start exploring the metaverse now and must design a five-year strategy as it is being touted by leading tech companies and emerging Web 3 companies as the next internet, industry experts at GlobalData said.

GlobalData defines the metaverse as a virtual world where users share experiences and interact in real-time within simulated scenarios, which could transform how people work, shop, interact, and consume content.

Companies investing in the metaverse will increasingly focus on themes, including artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), 5G, and cloud computing.

David Bicknell, Principal Analyst at GlobalData’s thematic team, said that metaverse means different things to different people at this stage of maturity. 

“Most companies can make the metaverse whatever they wanted to be.”

The driving force

Rupantar Guha, Project Manager at GlobalData’s thematic intelligence team, said multiple factors are driving the popularity of metaverse. 

“The recent rise in metaverse investment is driven by the progress in underlying technologies such as AR, VR, digital twins, and cloud computing, among others. But many of these technologies are still under development and are maturing steadily,” he said. 

However, he said that companies from sectors such as gaming, apparel, and social media are driving the metaverse’s popularity.

Gaming metaverse involves communities built on “highly-engaging content”. 

The two factors, content and communities, Guha said are driving the video games market to be worth more than $450 billion by 2030. 

So, he said that gaming is an idle “starting point” for the metaverse.

“Several social media companies are seeing user growth decelerate due to a rise in awareness of data privacy issues, advertisement and increased competition. Metaverse will combine several aspects of the social media that we know, including content sharing, collaboration, e-commerce and live events with immersive experiences based on AR and VR,” he said.

Metaverse will be an extension of social media, adding a more immersive user experience, he added. 

Leading apparel brands – Nike, Gucci, Palencia and many others are legitimising the metaverse in the eyes of the general public and have set up virtual worlds, platforms like Roblox and the sandbox to improve brand awareness and consumer engagement while some are investing in non-tangible tokens (NFTs), realising it has a new revenue channel as well as a gateway into the metaverse, Guha said.

Future of work framework

Guha said the future of work includes five main categories – visualisation, connectivity, collaboration, interpretation and automation.

Technologies for the future of work such as AR, VR, wearable tech, 5G and collaboration tools are driving the development of the metaverse.

Big tech companies such as Microsoft, Nvidia, Meta and startups like Varjo, Virbela and Spatia, especially, view metaverse as the next stage of this collaboration. PixelMax and NextMeet are developing virtual workplaces in the metaverse while Hour One and SoulMachines are creating technologies for enterprises that can be used in the metaverse.

“While most enterprise metaverse platforms focus on collaboration, some use digital twins to replicate physical places, for example, factories. In terms of adoption, large companies from different sectors are entering the metaverse with a focus on the future of work while some are in the wait and watch approach. Interestingly, startups are creating technologies for the enterprises that can be used in the metaverse,” he said.

Guha said that the strategies for companies investing in the platform can include three different phases.

Exploration

  • A company needs to understand what the metaverse is and how is it developing.
  • How does the metaverse fit into the company’s long-term vision and revenue targets?
  • What are the existing capabilities that the company has that can be used for the metaverse?
  • How well poisoned the company is to build a strong partner ecosystem that can help it achieve the desired results and objectives.
  • Emphasise safety, data protection, and data security strategies before launching the platform.

Education

  • Inform the workforce and the clients about the metaverse and its possibilities.
  • Learn the language of the new-age start-ups, especially those in the Web 3 space.
  • Communicate the value of the metaverse offering to customers as opposed to existing services.
  • Track the progress of metaverse-related and adhere to local laws where the platform is offered.

Execution

  • It is going to redefine the way brands or companies communicate stories with consumers.
  • Focus on the core target consumers but include uses for broader consumers.
  • Monitor return on investment at regular intervals of the planned timeline.
  • Incorporate maturing technologies, especially in terms of connectivity and interactivity.
  • Focus on evolving the metaverse and use cases, so consumers are compiled to return to the platform.

Steven J. Schuchart Jr., Principal Analyst for Enterprise Networking at GlobalData, said that the metaverse is relevant both to B2C and B2B.

“The metaverse is an emerging mega-theme involving a variety of companies across the value chain. Some companies are taking early positions, while others have yet to enter the metaverse,” he said.

However, he said their competencies are a natural fit for this developing theme.

Apple and Google are examples of those who have yet to make official entry into the metaverse, he said, but they are well-positioned to influence the development of the theme in the long run. 

Both Apple and Google are strong in key metaverse technologies (e.g., AI, AR, user interfaces, and experiences) and have massive partners and user bases. 

“It is unknown if they will launch competitive platforms to Meta’s offerings, but the companies will certainly benefit from the maturity of the metaverse theme,” Schuchart Jr. said.

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Cloud spending to drive IT spending by 3% to $4.5tr this year

Naushad K. Cherrayil
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Cloud spending to drive IT spending by 3% to $4.5tr this year
  • CIOs’ investment plans are not expected to be deterred by inflation or currency volatility.
  • Spending on data centre systems is forecast to experience the strongest growth of all segments at 11.1%.
  • Critical IT skills shortage being felt across the globe is expected to abate by the end of 2023 when the corporate drive to complete digital transformations slows down and there has been time for upskilling and reskilling of existing staff.
  • This year’s IT spending will be at a much slower pace than 2021 due to spending cutbacks on PCs, tablets and printers by consumers, causing spending on devices to shrink five per cent.

Worldwide IT spending is projected to increase by three per cent to $4.5 trillion in 2022 compared to $4.4 trillion a year ago, fuelled by demand for cloud services.

Not only is cloud service demand reshaping the IT services industry, but it is also driving spending on servers to 16.6 per cent growth in 2022, as hyperscalers build out their data centres.

Cloud spending to 18.4 per cent growth in 2021 and expected growth of 22.1 per cent in 2022.

While IT spending is expected to grow in 2022, research firm Gartner said that it will be at a much slower pace than in 2021 due to spending cutbacks on PCs, tablets and printers by consumers, causing spending on devices to shrink five per cent.

John-David Lovelock, Distinguished Research Vice-President at Gartner, said that inflation is top of mind for everyone and central banks around the world are focusing on fighting inflation, with overall inflation rates expected to be reduced through the end of 2023.

However, he said the current levels of volatility being seen in both inflation and currency exchange rates are not expected to deter CIOs’ investment plans for 2022.

 “Organisations that do not invest in the short term will likely fall behind in the medium term and risk not being around in the long term.”

Spending on data centre systems is forecast to experience the strongest growth of all segments in 2022 at 11.1 per cent.

Digital transformation drive

Cloud consulting and implementation and cloud-managed services are expected to grow 17.2 per cent in 2022, from $217 billion in 2021 to $255 billion in 2022, helping to drive the overall IT services segment to 6.2 per cent growth in 2022.

The research firm said that the critical IT skills shortage being felt across the globe is expected to abate by the end of 2023 when the corporate drive to complete digital transformations slows down and there has been time for upskilling and reskilling of existing staff.

However, in the near term, CIOs will be forced to take action to balance increased IT demand and dwindling IT staffing levels.

Software spending is expected to grow 9.6 per cent to $806.8 billion in 2022 and global spending on IT services is forecast to reach $1.3 trillion.

“Additionally, CIOs are using more IT services to assist in the lack of skilled IT staff. Tasks that require lower skill sets tend to be outsourced to managed service firms to alleviate staff time, while critical strategy work, which requires high-end skills unobtainable by many enterprises, will increasingly be fulfilled by external consultants,” said Lovelock.

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Omooma bags $2.5m funding from E20

Naushad K. Cherrayil
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Omooma bags $2.5m funding from E20
  • Platform’s educational content to equip Arab women with the knowledge and information they need throughout their motherhood journey, from the comfort and privacy of their home.
  • Platform offers women a library of in-depth blogs and 250 high-quality video courses featuring scientific advice by a roster of 29 Arab medical, lifestyle, well-being and financial experts from across the region.

Dubai-based Omooma, the world’s first Arabic-language online content producer and provider dedicated to pregnancy, maternity and motherhood and tailored for the Arab culture and religious norms, has secured $2.5 million in initial funding from E20 Investment LTD.

E20 – a newly-born well-resourced and strongly supported UAE-based investment company will remain the sole investor in the startup and has committed to further funding for future growth.

“Omooma’s educational content equips young Arab women with the knowledge and critical information they need throughout their motherhood journey, from the comfort of their home,” Romain Ollivier, Co-Founder & CEO of Omooma, said.

Moreover, he said that the platform helps women better deal with topics that they are embarrassed to discuss with family and friends and prefer to receive from a professional.

High-quality video courses

The Omooma platform offers access to a stream of at-your-pace learning on motherhood-related courses that offer experts’ advice and information on a multitude of concerns and questions, from the first menstrual cycle to parenthood to menopause and everything in between.

Content can be consumed at the user’s convenience and pace in complete privacy or together with trusted family members or friends to encourage insightful discussions.

The platform offers Arab women a library of in-depth blogs and 250 high-quality video courses featuring scientific advice by a roster of 29 Arab medical, lifestyle, well-being and financial experts from across the region.

Omooma aims to increase its experts to over 40 by the end of 2022.

The startup’s roster of experts includes Obstetrician-Gynecologist, Endocrinologist, Paediatrics, Paediatric Dentist, Dermatologist, Lactation consultant, Psychomotor, Nutritionist, Psychologist, Midwives, Doula, Music Doctor, Sleep consultant, Physiotherapist, Financial advisors, Yoga teacher, Beautician and Fashion consultant.

Pierre Gillet, Co-Founder of Omooma, said that the platform isn’t only relevant to pregnant women or young mothers.

“It is also appealing to parents of teenagers who want to understand the changes to their children’s bodies. It will also feature parenting courses not just for babies but also for bigger kids, young adults and so on. We want to be the go-to platform when it comes to motherhood and parenting topics,” he said.  

Currently, the platform features over 15 hours of video content that includes 21 courses and 250+ videos with an average duration of between 2-8 minutes. Omooma plans to double the volume of its exclusive content by the end of 2022.

The price for the courses depends according to the topic, length of the video and other variables and ranges from $28 to $165.

Target 10,000 paid customers

Charles Dalle, Co-Founder of Omooma, said: “In addition to the educational content, Omooma will also act as a community for Arab women who want to exchange ideas, get answers and raise queries regarding conception, pregnancy, labour, baby care, motherhood and any other aspect of their health and lifestyle impacted by the birth of a baby. Members of the community get access to live webinars hosted by field experts to discuss the various topics related to motherhood in the Arab world.”

The startup also plans to offer its high-quality motherhood video courses for use by hospitals, clinics and medical practitioners as well as companies and organisations that want to add value to their female patients or employees.

Omooma plans to target 10,000 paid customers by the end of 2022 out of a potential pool of 300,000 active users.

Identifying problems in inventory data stream can forecast accuracy and improve inventory management

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Identifying problems in inventory data stream can forecast accuracy and improve inventory management
  • Incorrect inventory data can negatively impact other areas of operation, including store KPIs, customer availability, spoilage, and sales.
  • Implementing an effective planning solution lets retailers record when stock measurements change and also evaluate key performance indicators. 
  • Investing in automated methods of maintaining stock record accuracy (such as advance shipping notices or other electronic tracking mechanisms) can help.

A planning solution can be a great asset in helping to optimise inventory levels and availability. But what happens if the data coming into the system is inaccurate and leaks into other areas of operations? 

Data-based solutions are ultimately only as useful as the data that comes into the system. Identifying where there are problems in the inventory data stream can help maximise a solution’s usefulness and improve inventory management and accuracy as well.

Accurate data is vital

As well as preventing a planning solution from performing at its best, incorrect inventory data can negatively impact other areas of operation, including store KPIs, customer availability, spoilage, and sales.

Data discrepancies aren’t restricted to negatively affecting store operations. Minor inaccuracies across a network of multiple stores all add up and can escalate into far more significant losses. A costly item such as steak with a recorded stock count of 100 for £700 versus an actual stock number closer to 200 can cause budgetary inconsistencies. 

Mike Holmes, Solutions Consulting Manager at Relex Solutions.

Multiply that inaccuracy by 50 or 100 stores, and the damaging financial impact of irregularities on financial control is obvious. 

The worst-case scenario for a retailer with inaccurate inventory is financial loss from spoilage, and lost sales. Re-inputting these numbers by hand may help fix the problem but it’s time-consuming and negates the benefits of having an optimised inventory planning solution in the first place. 

To avoid this, identifying where initial data collecting can go wrong is the first step.

Here are the four most common causes of inaccurate inventory data for retailers to look out for:

1. Merchandising considerations

When products of a similar nature and appearance are placed next to each other, it’s easy for in-store staff to scan the wrong labels or count the same item multiple times when taking inventory. Products with different varieties, such as soups, often have similar labels that could be mistaken for one another and counted incorrectly. 

Robert Jenkins, Regional Programmer Director at Relex Solutions.

Scanning these item types at the checkouts can also result in items being scanned more than once or rung up as a completely different product. Monitoring or preventing the use of multiplication keys during the checkout process can ensure that similar products are accurately recorded as well.

2. Product locations

Products situated across multiple locations throughout the store can confuse inventory counts, with staff unsure whether all the products in the store have been counted. 

Problems often arise when one assumes that all stock is in its proper location. Larger pallets and loose items such as eggs and soft drinks can be overlooked or miscounted. 

A consistent unit of measurement across these different products during counting can help remove the complexity that might result in errors.

3. Delivery timings

The timing of both stock counts and deliveries can impact the data reflected in inventory levels. A store with standard opening and closing times and delivery schedules might not have any issues. 

However, a 24-hour store or a store with irregular delivery hours is likely to miss inventory numbers in their morning or evening counts.

Attempting to make decisions throughout the day on live data can cause uncertainty, so any actions regarding inventory counts must take place in a proper sequence. 

4. Unrecorded use of stock

The internal consumption of store stock, such as in-store cafes or bakeries, needs careful documenting. For example, if an in-store restaurant uses 15 packs of sausages for meals across the day and does not accurately record those numbers, the sausages are missed from the stock count. 

This extends to baking ingredients, salad bar options, and to-go meals, which can all pull from otherwise stable inventory numbers.

How to improve inventory accuracy

What appears as minor discrepancies in stock data can become significant problems in inventory accuracy. 

Implementing an effective planning solution lets retailers record when stock measurements change and also evaluate key performance indicators. This in turn helps them identify scenarios where input data might be incorrect.

Investing in automated methods of maintaining stock record accuracy (such as advance shipping notices or other electronic tracking mechanisms) can help. However, they can be expensive and take a long time to implement. 

Once installed, retailers can analyse their inventory data to identify patterns that indicate a stock record error. 

Building a report to find items with a positive stock record but with no recent sales, helps to identify cases where the stock record is too high. 

On the other hand, reports for an item with sales larger than the stock record would show the opposite, driving the stock to show a negative or zero. Monitoring areas with stock adjustments gives retailers a chance to catch inaccurate data early.

Proper retail planning can use available data to create views and alerts for users. Retailers should maintain a steady measurement of changes and inconsistencies in inventory levels to avoid the pitfalls of inventory data collection. 

They also need to ensure their planning system is proactive, not reactive and that their inventory plans are accurate and optimised.

Monitoring product areas with consistently poor inventory accuracy helps retailers identify the root causes of the inaccuracy and gives them the insight they need to alter their supply chain policies early enough to avoid disappointment and a poor experience for customers.

  • Mike Holmes is the Solutions Consulting Manager at Relex Solutions and Robert Jenkins is the  Regional Programmer Director at Relex Solutions.

Crypto fraudsters skyrocket despite a huge crash in cryptocurrencies

Naushad K. Cherrayil
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Crypto fraudsters skyrocket despite a huge crash in cryptocurrencies
  • Money stolen from crypto frauds soars over 158% to £226m in the year to May.
  • Feedzai urges customers to ignore any advert that creates a ‘too good to be true’ proposal like guaranteed huge returns on investments and free coins as a sign-up bonus.

The money stolen from crypto frauds has increased more than 158 per cent to more than £226 million in the year to May 2022 compared to over £142.9 million a year despite the huge crash in Bitcoin and other currencies.

According to a report by cyber security company NordVPN, cybercriminals have pounced on their victims despite a “crypto winter” gripping the market amid prices of major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether are down over 55 per cent and almost 70 per cent this year. 

“With inflation skyrocketing and traditional savings rates failing to keep up, bogus crypto investment schemes offering the prospect for high returns are the perfect bait for scammers,” Marijus Briedis, CTO and digital privacy expert at NordVPN, said.

“These frauds are thriving, despite the huge crash in Bitcoin and other currencies, and worryingly the clear rise in the amounts stolen per fraud shows the scammers are getting better at fleecing their victims.”

Falling prey

Although the crypto industry is seeking change – in recent times, Daniel Holmes, Fraud Prevention SME at Feedzai, said that crypto popularity has been predominantly fuelled by the potential to make fast, sizeable gains from the volatility of markets. 

“It is this consumer desire to make money quickly, combined with the fear of missing out on growth opportunities that fraudsters are now savvily using to their advantage. The intricacies of crypto scams can vary wildly, but ultimately the macro-level convincer is always the same – the promise of something for free.” 

The Martin Lewis bill

However, Holmes said that consumers can follow some simple guidelines to avoid becoming victims of these scams, including ignoring any advert that creates a ‘too good to be true’ proposal like guaranteed huge returns on investments and free coins as a sign-up bonus.

In addition, he said that thoroughly checking out any crypto advert that uses a celebrity endorsement, as it is likely fake. There has been some progress on this front with ‘The Martin Lewis bill’ (driven by personal finance guru Martin Lewis to prevent tech giants from publishing celebrity-based ads without explicit consent) making its way into the Online Safety Bill. 

“It’s worth knowing that banks will do all they can to block transactions where they suspect a customer is being scammed – the technology that enables this is extremely sophisticated and passive to the consumer, so they don’t know it is happening,” he said.

No silver bullet

However, Holmes said that despite best efforts it will never be possible to stop them all, but do heed extra warnings from banks in the form of “in-the-moment” education and awareness and overt warnings. 

“If in any doubt whatsoever about a call you have received or a payment you are making, call your bank and seek immediate advice. Finally, the consumer also has a responsibility to keep their assets safe – this isn’t purely down to the bank. 

“On this basis, consumers should be encouraged to regularly educate themselves on the latest scam trends.”

Struggling consumers, during an economic downturn, he said tend to become more emotionally and financially vulnerable, and the lure of making high returns from investments like crypto creates a heightened susceptibility to scams which fraudsters prey on.

Briedis said that young people are the most likely targets, and added that such scams are often advertised on social media and use fake celebrity endorsements, with phishing emails and texts also used by crypto thieves.

“Aggressive malware is also spreading,” he said.

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Five security tasks DevOps teams should consider when shifting left

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Five security tasks DevOps teams should consider when shifting left
  • By shifting security left, organisations can identify misconfigurations and other security risks before they impact users.
  • With automated code testing, developers are alerted to security issues as they are working so they can correct issues long before software goes to production.
  • Developers must be careful to keep all their software — operating system, application framework and third-party libraries — updated to the latest versions to ensure all security patches are current.

Speedy delivery of applications is not the enemy of security, though it can seem that way. As businesses continue to adopt cloud services and infrastructure, forgetting to keep security top of mind is not an option — especially since the continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline represents an attractive target for threat actors. 

It is not enough to only scan applications for security flaws after they are live. A shift-left approach to security should start at the exact moment that DevOps teams begin developing the application and provisioning infrastructure so that vulnerabilities can be addressed before they become bigger and more expensive to fix. This is the core tenet of DevSecOps. 

By shifting security left, organisations can identify misconfigurations and other security risks before they impact users.

Scott Fanning, Senior Director of Product Management, Cloud Security at CrowdStrike.

Given the role that cloud computing plays in enabling DevOps, protecting cloud environments and workloads will only take on a larger role in defending the CI/CD pipeline, your applications and ultimately, your customers. 

Below are five key security tasks DevOps teams should consider as their organization shifts left.

  1. Connect and collaborate with your security team: Shift left is a cultural change. In addition to putting the proper processes and tools in place, organisations must rethink the way they operate to bring software testing processes, tools and expertise earlier in the CI/CD pipeline. DevSecOps isn’t simply about pushing security responsibilities onto developers, but about changing roles and expectations, combined with the right tools, to achieve a balance in secure development. Security should be a priority from the start — not an afterthought tacked on to the end of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
  • Implement frequent automated testing: Shifting left requires testing early and often. With automated code testing, developers are alerted to security issues as they are working so they can correct issues long before software goes to production. Automated tools that scan for vulnerabilities reduce the chances of human error that may occur in a manual test and expand coverage to check more of the software. The code is scanned incrementally so testers aren’t left with a lot to review at the end of the SDLC.

A shift-left strategy will involve bringing one or more tools into the CI/CD pipeline to look for known vulnerabilities and identify other issues. There are many tools to choose from — commonly used tools include Static Application System Testing (SAST), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST), Secret Detection and Software Composition Analysis (SCA). You should first assess the tools you have before deciding which new tools to bring into your processes.

  • Bring pentesting into the process: While automated testing is a must-have in DevSecOps, automation alone may still leave potential issues undetected. A manual security evaluation, such as a penetration test, checks the security of an application by simulating cyber attacks against it. This additional testing minimizes the risk and may catch issues that an automated test wouldn’t. Before you commit to protection, bring in a security engineer to review the software and conduct a penetration test to ensure all potential issues are mitigated. It’s better to cover all your bases and do the extra testing than learn about a vulnerability after an attacker exploits it.
  • Keep your software current: Working with up-to-date software is a core tenet of cybersecurity. Developers must be careful to keep all their software — operating system, application framework and third-party libraries — updated to the latest versions to ensure all security patches are current. Whether they come from a vendor or the open-source community, downloading software updates is among the most important steps you can take toward stronger application security.
  • Explore opportunities for security training: Developers aren’t security experts but they have a critical role in the production of secure applications and should know the basics of secure coding and testing. As the demand for software grows, developers should consider security training tailored to their specific roles and needs. Proper training and support can give you the background information needed to produce code that is both functional and secure.

When it comes to software security, there is no silver bullet to ensure your code is secure and stays secure.

By adopting these practices, you can increase the likelihood that software flaws are found and patched before code is deployed.

  • Scott Fanning is the Senior Director of Product Management, Cloud Security at CrowdStrike.
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