Walmart was so impressed with the Strivr program that it is building a library in which its written manual will come with “a set of experiences to train on,” Bailenson noted. “The beauty from their perspective is that VR is magnitudes of order cheaper than setting up a physical training store that is stocked with food and customers. But price aside, it is also more consistent – every trainee gets exactly the same experience, on demand.” Create Awareness Around a “System of Systems”: Almost any technology has “a hidden set of systems and subsystems behind it,” MacDuffie pointed out, citing Stanford technology management professor Steve Barley. “We tend to look at the most visible and most dramatic manifestation of a technology, looking for the killer app, and then we want to pin all consequences on that one breakthrough, whether it's opening up new markets or job loss and de-skilling,” he said. In much the same way, the metaverse is not one technology but “a system of systems” – a confluence of various technologies with different vintages and levels of performance, he added. “Sometimes the progress of what the most visible application can do is heavily constrained by the subsystems. And sometimes, when something miraculously appears as a new technological marvel, it's only because these various subsystems have advanced to the point that suddenly it’s possible.” Look out for Integration Issues: Some of the stumbling blocks could be difficulties in critical aspects like ensuring interoperability across different technologies, and integrating software with hardware. “Most of the action is in the software, and the hardware-software integration is absolutely critical,” MacDuffie said. That is because the experience that the software promises can be frustrated by shortcomings in the hardware or annoying features such as a headset that is too heavy or bulky, he explained. Other irritants could be in slow Wi-Fi speeds and high latency, i.e. time lags, even if tiny, that lead users to perceive unnatural delays in responsiveness of the virtual worlds they are in. Writer: Shankar Parameshwaran | Design: Quantent