South Korean Companies Transition to More Cheap, Environmentally Friendly Metaverse Offices
A South Korea-based unicorn startup is renting office space to businesses who wish to go paperless and relocate to a more sustainable and affordable space – the metaverse.
In May, Zigbang released the Soma virtual office programme. Within the 'Soma World' metaverse is the Zigbang headquarters, the main office building, a convention facility that can hold up to 3,000 people, and a networking hub. As the physical constraints of an offline workspace no longer exist, Soma employees can log in from any city or nation with an internet connection.
David Kim, business development manager of Soma, said:
"Working inside Soma is basically like meeting in the real world, but actually virtual. So there's the convenience of being far apart but still being together."
More than 2,000 people are employed in the 30-story PropTech Tower, which is leased by twenty international and domestic enterprises.
Users can collaborate with coworkers in their workplace, network with other businesses in a lounge, or even take a virtual stroll along the deck.
Zigbang is not the only business investing in a futuristic workplace. Meta and Microsoft are developing future workspaces utilising Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality technologies. Teamflow and Gather, two online world pioneers, offer a method for conducting business conversations and discussions in the virtual area.
However, according to Zigbang, Soma has an advantage over its competitors since it offers consumers the most realistic workplace environment conceivable.
Soma provides an environment conducive to employee engagement while eliminating the physical constraints of commuting. Instead of just a single click to go from room to room, avatars would walk to their workspaces. Instead of sending instant messages, employees casually talk to each other with their voices, as they would in an actual office.
Sunwoong Lyuh, Zigbang's Vice President, said:
"Soma also has great strength in ESG management, a recent global issue. It can greatly help protect the environment by implementing a paperless working environment and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from commuting."
Zigbang, which is sponsored and partially funded by South Korea's Ministry of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Startups, has also become an example of the government's initiative to assist new businesses in meeting United Nations ESG targets.
The Ministry of Environment’s global media spokesperson Minjo Chun said:
"A company based in the metaverse dramatically reduces the carbon footprint of a workplace that may include everything from transportation used during the commute to work to office supplies like pen and paper in everyday office life."
“Soma is not charging any rent to the companies leasing space inside the Soma world,” Lyuh told. “Our focus is on providing the new working experience of ‘face-to-face remote work’ to as many companies as possible.”
Source: ABC News
