According to Everest Group, Growth of Metaverse Increases Trust and Safety (T&S) Risks to Enterprises, Users
As organizations develop their business strategies for the metaverse, trust and safety issues need to be among their foremost considerations.
The metaverse is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years, opening new possibilities for enterprises.
Enterprises are increasingly outsourcing T&S services to match exponential growth in user content, and as the metaverse expands, the T&S services market will surge as well.
Mitigating threats to user security, increased abuse, proliferation of objectionable content and financial fraud represents big opportunity for third-party T&S services market in the coming years.
As enterprises apply their best creative and strategic thinking to how to take advantage of the metaverse, they should also address the heightened risks the metaverse will pose to employees, customers and corporate assets, according to Everest Group.
“The metaverse is attracting large investments from technology giants such as Google, Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia to make the virtual world a reality, and the applications hold unlimited economic and social potential for both good and bad,” said Rajesh Ranjan, partner at Everest Group. “As organizations develop their business strategies for the metaverse, trust and safety issues need to be among their foremost considerations. Enterprises may be able to adapt some best practices of today, but they will also need to address scenarios and use cases that are unique to the metaverse. Solving for those novel challenges will require a collaborative approach among enterprises, policymakers, academia, and T&S service providers to realize the full potential of metaverse as an immersive yet safe place for users.”
While the metaverse—an interconnection of virtual worlds providing immersive social experiences—is still at a nascent stage, it is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years, opening new possibilities for enterprises, including trade in digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), immersive marketing, enhanced customer experience, improved employee training, and live virtual events. However, as the metaverse expands, enterprises will have to deal with new trust and safety (T&S) challenges, such as the abuse of virtual avatars and the safety of virtual assets. Organizations will need to come up with risk mitigation policies to make the metaverse a safe space for users.
Everest Group has shared its research and recommendations in “Taming the Hydra: Trust & Safety in the Metaverse.” In this study, Everest Group explores the potential trust and safety challenges that enterprises face in the metaverse and recommend metaverse risk mitigation strategies to help tackle them. The report also explores the impact of the metaverse on the third-party T&S market.
Everest Group offers metaverse risk mitigation strategies for T&S risks, including:
Abuse of virtual avatars, including invasion of personal space, impersonation, harassment, assault, bullying, stalking and spying.
Concerns around data privacy and user safety, including personal and sensitive information such as user habits and physiological characteristics.
Safety of virtual assets from financial crimes and identity theft.
Well-being of content moderators who may face physical and mental health hazards from prolonged exposure to VR headsets and content.
Regulatory ambiguity, especially policy gaps with respect to the definition of ownership, data privacy and user interactions.
Implications for the Third-Party T&S Services Market
Enterprises are increasingly outsourcing T&S services to match exponential growth in user content, and as the metaverse expands, the T&S services market will surge as well. Currently, T&S services is among the fastest-growing segment of the Business Process Services market, expected to reach US$15-20 billion by 2024. The market is expected to grow 35-38% through 2024 and accelerate to 60-68% growth beyond 2024 as technology and infrastructure advances beyond the nascent stage.
In this dynamic market, T&S service providers have the opportunity to leverage their expertise to proactively help enterprises develop risk mitigation strategies. The growth potential of the metaverse T&S market will attract new service providers, spur specialization, and give rise to ecosystem partnerships to address the complexity of policy advisory, technological expertise, process acumen, and localization of services that the evolving metaverse will demand.
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