SYDNEY – A new global study commissioned by Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) has revealed that 70% of Australian business professionals surveyed would participate in work meetings in the metaverse, trailing the global average of 78%. According to the study, concerns around the associated costs and reliability of the underlying network needed to support these new work environments were cited as key reasons behind the trepidation.

The study, which surveyed 15,000 business professionals across 15 countries, found that only 25% of Australian respondents believed their workplace will move from static tools such as video conferencing towards immersive platforms like the metaverse within the next two years, below the global average of 40%. In addition, more than half (54%) of Australians surveyed said they could imagine AR and VR being introduced in their workspace, trailing the global average of 71%.

These findings came despite 58% of Australian workers seeing virtual meetings as more convenient than in-person meetings, which beats the global average of 44%. In addition, the majority of Australian respondents (80%) are comfortable conducing formal work meetings, like for HR, in a virtual reality environment and more than half (53%) indicated an appetite for personal shopping in the platform.

Barriers to adoption of the metaverse in the workplace

Australian respondents cited a handful of barriers to business adoption of virtual reality platforms. For example, 38% have concerns with the associated costs, 36% worry that the technology is not readily available, and 33% feel their organizations do not have the reliable network required to support these virtual experiences.

Read the full press release here.

Ciena