Enablo to build virtual workplaces for companies entering the metaverse
Enablo, an employee experience specialist, says it will partner with Facebook parent Meta to build virtual workplaces for companies wanting to enter the metaverse.
Enablo, an employee experience specialist, says it will partner with Facebook parent Meta to build virtual workplaces for companies wanting to enter the metaverse.
The Brisbane-headquartered employee experience firm says it will make a multimillion-dollar investment in the project and the hiring of Nathan Bazley, a former ABC and NBCUniversal specialist in augmented and virtual reality and virtual production.
Mr Bazley will head the company’s new reality labs division.
Client companies that provide images of their workplaces can have them replicated in the metaverse. Enablo wants to have the service running next year.
Enablo has worked with about 200 companies globally, including Bunnings, Officeworks, The Coffee Club, Super Retail Group and Virgin Australia, supporting their use of Facebook enterprise communications.
Enablo chief executive Daragh McGrath said the aim was harnessing the metaverse to make the future of work more accessible for organisations.
“As one of the leading Workplace from Meta partners, we’re proud to have launched more than 200 organisations onto the business communications platform,” he said. “Showing organisations how to improve communication, collaboration, and connection across their distributed workforces is what Enablo has always done best.
“We’ve demonstrated our success in delivering solutions through our partnerships with work tech platforms Workplace, Asana and Google Workspace, so investing in our own suite of products that build on the functionalities of these tools is a natural step.”
Mr Bazley said Enablo was conducting a recruiting spree for its reality labs, targeting skilled developers such as those working on multi-player games. “They are the ones that will have the skill set and the talent to bring the future into the digital space,” he said.
He said advances in 3D scanning techniques, real time technologies and game engines made it possible to build compelling office experiences in the metaverse.
“We can replicate workplaces and headquarters for businesses around the world, and allow employees to inhabit them, whether they’re physically in the office that day, or whether they’re working from a park or whether they’re working from home.”
Employees can start up casual conversations and interact with other staff as they would in the office. Mr Bazley said Enablo wanted to go beyond representing people as avatars so they could look like themselves in virtual offices. This was technically possible with tools like Metahuman, by Epic Games’ Unreal Engine.
“It’s really an incredible toolset that allows us to get realistic digital humans into digital worlds. When we’re expressing ourselves at work, we really want to be taken seriously.” He said the lack of this in the past had probably slowed adoption.
Employees can enter their virtualised workplaces on their computer, phone, or using an Oculus VR headset.
Mr Bazley said new VR headsets and devices would make experiences compelling. A virtualised office would go beyond replicating an open office, with meeting rooms, a lunch room and a kitchen where you made coffee.
“We all know a lot of work gets done in the lunch room or in a meeting room or the kitchen when you’re boiling a coffee,” he said. “Those sorts of conversations are actually really important to getting our jobs done.
“Being able to be in a digital space where you can have those spontaneous conversations and overhear something by chance using spatial audio technology allows you to get back into your work life … We want to give (employees) an equal experience, whether they’re in the office or at home or on holidays or in the park.”
Mr Bazley said Enablo clients were enthusiastic about the plan. The company employs 50 staff.
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