The future of work is an exciting and uncertain unknown, with organisations investing skills and money into developing the best solutions for their people and their clients. Deloitte Tech Foundry lead partner Jon Calvert takes us on a journey through virtual reality and the innovative ways they are bringing their clients back together. 

Engineering is my background, and innovation is what drives my interest. The Tech Foundry is a hub developed within Deloitte with the purpose of pioneering technology advancements, and ensuring those enhancements reach our clients. In late 2021, I was given the opportunity to work with Deloitte’s innovation team to trial a truly remarkable virtual reality environment, bringing our leaders together in a ‘virtual room’ to discuss the technology, its meaning for our clients and of course, our future of work.

The setup and experience

Naturally, there were a number of questions about introducing virtual reality (VR) in the workplace; from its usability and functionality, to purpose. However, our experience was very positive. 

Our profiles and ‘avatars’ – the digital representations of ourselves – were created based on our headshots before the meeting (we were understandably all very pleased to see the ageing process doesn’t seem to take effect in VR). Each member of our leadership team was setup in a different physical location and spent around just 10 minutes being briefed on the controls and experience before being transported into a virtual meeting room.

Donning our VR headsets, we found ourselves seated around a desk alongside each other in a spacious room surrounded by beautiful vistas, as if in the heart of the New Zealand countryside. To our north was a large interactive whiteboard waiting to host our ideas and to the south we were startled to find two of our colleagues waving at us from a floating video screen, having joined without need for headsets, perhaps alluding to the hybrid experience of the future.

Our meeting was a success. We were able to collaboratively capture our opinions through use of a handy interconnected whiteboard found on each of our desks, with our usual discussion points being screenshared directly within the virtual room.

The most remarkable thing though was the true-to-life spatial sound, something I simply hadn’t expected when so used to today’s recurrent video calls. I knew exactly which way to look when someone was speaking as their voice would be directed from their avatar in the virtual space. This led to completely organic in-room breakout discussions in little groups, in a way that today’s calling platforms simply don’t offer.

It felt familiar knowing who was who and being around us, even the sense of presence from being able to see body language and actually face one another when speaking was truly refreshing. We had fun, the team was engaged, and we’re very excited for what’s to come.

And the conclusion?

Combining expertise from our Tech Trends and Predictions teams, and continuous focus on digital transformation, we bring the very best to our clients to enhance their experiences. Throughout the pandemic, we have seen organisations adapting to a new future of work. It’s vitally important that we don’t lose sight of the more personal elements of work; the human interactions where we discuss new ideas, the nuances of body language and significance of presence. 

Virtual reality is one of the more transformative innovations that may take unprepared organisations by surprise, having a role to play in bridging the space between our colleagues and contributing to real business outcomes in an increasingly remote yet connected world.

Note:

Technology in use

In this story, Meta’s Quest 2 VR headsets were used alongside their Horizon Workrooms remote collaboration application. Headsets, applications, and environments from other providers are also available to support a range of different requirements and use cases.

For further information on the future of work please see the Deloitte 2021 annual report.