Adobe Experience Manager in the Metaverse

Find out how Adobe’s CMS platform gets you metaverse-ready.

The world was surprised when Facebook rebranded itself as Meta in October 2021. The focus of the tech giant changed from being a social media platform to bringing the metaverse to life and helping people connect, find communities, and grow businesses [1].

Soon after Meta, there were a series of announcements from other tech giants as well on their offerings for the Metaverse.

This has definitely triggered the curiosity of many individuals on what is exactly the metaverse is and what the future holds.

What is a metaverse?

The term “metaverse” originated in the 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash as a portmanteau of “meta” and “universe.”[2]

In contemporary context metaverse can be considered as an amalgamation of multiple Technology elements such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), immersive virtual experience, etc., where a user will use their virtual avatar to interact in a digital universe.

The metaverse is being envisioned as revolutionary, potentially transforming the way we collaborate, work, play, shop, and socialize.

Why you can’t ignore the metaverse?

Microsoft has plans to get virtual avatars into their popular chat software, Microsoft Teams, and is expected to be released by the end of 2022 when we can also expect virtual avatars to be added to the Xbox gaming platform.

Meta, which already owns Oculus, provides virtual reality experiences through VR devices. The company plans to invest heavily in the metaverse and transform the way we will collaborate using it.

Many other large companies, like Nvidia, Unity, Roblox, and Snap — as well as start-ups — are building the infrastructure to create better virtual worlds that more closely mimic our physical life.

It is evident that, with tech companies betting big on the metaverse, the metaverse could become an important aspect of our lives in the near future.

I predict it will be as embedded in our lives as the internet is today.

Adobe’s strong content creation & management offerings for metaverse

For nearly 4 decades, Adobe has helped creatives and brands adapt and succeed through major technological shifts, including the rise of desktop publishing and digital imaging, the development of web and mobile interfaces, and the growth of digital marketing and commerce.[3]

For Metaverse as well Adobe already offers strong offerings in 3D content creation; personalised, content-driven marketing experiences; and the development of digital assets and artwork. For details, please refer to Adobe’s whitepaper on Metaverse.

When discussing content creation in the metaverse, it’s important to note that Adobe Substance 3D can be integrated very well within the metaverse. Substance gives user access to wide variety of tools to create, capture, and texture 3D assets, as well as compose and render 3D scenes that can be integrated very well within the metaverse.

Since the metaverse is a part of a digital ecosystem, Adobe Experience Cloud offers a host of tools that are industry leaders in their respective areas like Adobe Target, Adobe Analytics, Magento eCommerce, etc.

How Adobe Experience Manager gets you Metaverse-ready?

Related to content management systems (CMS) and enterprise digital asset management (DAM) capability Adobe again has an industry-leading strong platform known as Adobe Experience Manager or AEM for short.

In my last article, I discussed the key modules and capabilities of Experience Manager as a Cloud Service.

Please find the link to the full article here.

Adobe Experience Manager is a modern, hybrid, cloud application for experience management that accelerates the delivery of omnichannel personalised experiences throughout the customer journey, with unmatched capabilities when it comes to headless and core traditional CMS capabilities.

Below are a few key capabilities of Experience Manager that can prove to be a great fit for brands looking to create, manage, and deploy content and assets securely to the Metaverse:

1) Experience Manager headless capabilities

Structured Content and Assets from Experience Manager can be easily consumed across multiple touch-points like mobile apps, websites, and single-page apps (SPAs). Since the integrations are all API-based it offers great flexibility. Details of Experience Manager headless capabilities are available here.

2) Centralised content and asset management

Experience Manager is a powerful platform that provides all major capabilities when it comes to Asset and content management, including 3D-based content required in the metaverse. Experience Manager Sites and Assets Modules provide an easy UI to manage content and assets centrally — using them across various touch-points, but still maintaining a single source of truth.

3) Robust workflows and user management capabilities

As the number of touch-points and pieces of content increases, it becomes more important for brands to ensure that there are proper user permissions and accesses set up. Additionally, before content or assets are deployed, teams need to follow a set of key approval steps. Both of these capabilities are included with Experience Manager and come built-in.

4) Rich media content serving

Experience Manager’s Dynamic Media offering helps deliver rich visual experiences on demand, automatically scaled for consumption on web, mobile, and social sites across the globe.

Dynamic Media also supports scalable metaverse experiences with advanced delivery capabilities for image, video, and 3D content.

With smart imaging technology included, it automatically detects the available bandwidth and device type to dramatically minimize image file size by up to 70 percent upon delivery, with no loss in visual fidelity — ensuring smooth, quick loading experiences that drive conversion[4].

Experience Manger Assets and Dynamic Media natively support 3D assets

5) Security and compliance

In the metaverse, data and platform security have great emphasis, and brands are uncompromising when it comes to the security of their data. Adobe understands this very well and takes security very seriously.

Experience Manager Cloud Service (CS) uses secured data centres; additionally, all data in transit between Experience Manager CS and external components are encrypted.

Adobe also continuously releases security patches that provide complete peace of mind. Details of Experience Manager CS security are available here.

Conclusion

The metaverse is still in its initial stages and will keep evolving drastically in the years to come. We will also see increasing adoption by brands as they strive to integrate within the metaverse.

With Adobe’s strong experience and industry-leading offerings, it is certain that we will be a key player in enabling brands with the metaverse transition. Along with a host of Adobe products, Experience Manager will prove to be pivotal in getting brands metaverse-ready.

References

[1] Introducing Meta: URL

[2] Metaverse , Wikipedia: URL

[3] Metaverses and other shared immersive experiences: URL

[4] Dynamic Media: URL