1. VIRTUAL WORLDS
ARE THEY STILL ‘IN’ OR ‘OUT’ FOR BUSINESS APPLICATIONS?
Greenwich Team 4
Alexandra Bayet
Christina Alvarado
Atman Bhesdadiya
Anastasia Toumazou
Daniel Marczinek
Jargalan Amarsaikhan

2. Collaboration Sessions – T-Systems MMS

3. Sales – Miss Sixty

4. Recruitment- German Military
(Bundeswehr) in Habbo

5. Education – Edinburgh University

6. Corporate Training - IBM

7. Service and Product Development – Starwood
Hotel

8. Medical Training

9. Brand development, Advertising &
Customer Feedback

10. Training & Learning –
IBM Academy Of Technology

11. Hybrid Virtual and “Real World” Events -
CEBIT

12. Recruitment – T Systems

13. New employee orientation

14. Facilities Management- Palomar Hospital

15. Simulation

16. IBM Testimonials on Virtual Worlds
Athina Chimaridou - IBM Employee Cyprus
“You can hear live the teacher speaking, you can raise your hand to ask a question or you can text
your question . You cannot see the pictures of the participants, but there is a list with the names
of the participants. I found the environment very interesting”.
George Georgiou – IBM Director Cyprus
" In the future due to the economic crisis we might use it to manage teams"
" IBM’s motivation/innovation for second life started during the Olympics in Beijing »
" Sky is the limit”

17. One Company 6 Virtual Worlds - IBM
Platform Selection considerations Use in IBM Enterprise
Active Worlds Scalable Events
Forterra OLIVE Quick on-boarding Pilot deployment for early adopters includes team meetings
and small events
Pre-built spaces and presentation facilities
Voice integration
OpenSim Familiar interface for Second Life users Meetings and small events
Team brainstorming
Wide scope for IBM community involvement and Community building
contribution Language translation
2D-3D integration
BSD licensing means anyone can get involved in development Interoperability between regions
Data center modeling and management
Second Life Publicly accessible and familiar to some users Events and meetings
Employee orientation
Scalable Learning
Business rehearsals
Voice integration Serious games
Systems management
Interoperability with OpenSim
Torque Simple interface Remote mentoring
Quick on-boarding Small events
High fidelity Brainstorming
Low workstation requirements 2D-3D integration
Control for 2D integration Data center modeling
Unity3D Web browser based deployment Proof-of-concepts to demonstrate 2D-3D integration and
Light weight and customizable interoperability between worlds

18. ISSUES
• Technological
• unreliable systems
• incompatible networks
• Slow broadband
• slow computers
• traffic congestions
• redesign of entire information system may be necessary
• IT security
• Legal
• Confidentiality
• Ethics
• Copyright infringement

19. ISSUES
• Organisational
• Less loyalty
• Less real-world interaction
• Lack of control
• Limited target audience
• Viability
• Cultural George Kyriakoullis – Computer Scientist –
DITS Officer
• Lack non-verbal cues " It is addictive as hell»
• Identity problem
• Addiction

20. BENEFITS
• Help to establish trust
• Help to overcome geographical distances
• Increase knowledge resources and capabilities
• Enable 24 hour learning
• Help to prevent real-life errors
• Time saving
Michalis Simillis – Computer Scientist DITS Officer
" Disabled people can play as otherwise could not
experience the war!"

21. BENEFITS
• Green workplace
• Real-time
• Immersive
• Cost saving
• Efficient
• Effective
• Highly involving

22. REFERENCES
Kimble, Chris, Barlow, Alexis and Li, Feng, Effective Virtual Teams through Communities of Practice (September 2000). Strathclyde Business School
Management Science Working Paper No. 2000/9. pp, 5-13Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=634645 or
http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.634645
Seshasai, Satwik, Malter, Alan J. and Gupta, Amar, The Use of Information Systems in Collocated and Distributed Teams: A Test of the 24-Hour
Knowledge Factory (September 21, 2006). Eller College of Management Working Paper No. 1034-06. Pp, 10-32. Available at SSRN:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=935106 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.935106
OECD (2011), Virtual worlds: IMMERSIVE ONLINE PLATFORMS FOR COLLABORATION, CREATIVITY AND LEARNING.OECD
DIGITAL ECONOMY PAPERS, No 184. OECD Publishing. Available at: http://search.proquest.com/docview/874045972?accountid=78988
Centaur Communications Ltd (2007), GLOBAL TRENDS?- VIRTUAL B2B: You only live twice. Brand Strategy, 14-15. Available at:
http://search.proquest.com/docview/224179527?accountid=78988
Saggi Nevo, Dorit Nevo and Erran Carmel (2012). „Unlocking the Business Potential of Virtual Worlds“ MITSloan Management Review. Accessed in
19th April 2011at http://sloanreview.mit.edu/the-magazine/2011-spring/52311/unlocking-the-business-potential-of-virtual-worlds/
Sherman Aliza (2011) „Virtual Worlds: Immersive Training, Collaboration and Meetings“ GigaOM. Accessed on 19th April, 2012 at
http://gigaom.com/collaboration/virtual-environments-for-training-collaboration-and-meetings/
Ives and Junglas (2008). APC Forum: Business Implications of Virtual Worlds and Serious Gaming. MIS Quarterly Executive Vol. 7 No. 3 / Sep 2008. (PDF).