Stephen PrenticeI speak with a lot of clients regarding the use of virtual worlds within the enterprise for a wide variety of purposes and the most frequent question is “Which is the leading platform?”. Well the answer to that depends! Are we talking number of active users, number of signups (not the same thing!), virtual space (is big better?), profitability, stability, scaleability, ease of use ….. The list is endless and the simple answer is always the same – it depends on what is important to you.
Now this might seem an obvious thing to say, but judging from the questions I get asked, it is worth saying again, and again, and again! First understand what you are trying to achieve, who is going to use the environment, from where and for what purpose. Understand what you mean by success, and how you are going to measure it. Understand your capabilities (in a technical sense) and those of your users. Understand the likely scale and growth of your requirements – is it a short term trial or a long term deployment that will grow and (hopefully) grow and grow?
Then, and only then, are you ready to start looking at technology platforms. Choose a platform too early and, since most of us find it tough to admit we made a mistake, you will end up trying to push a square peg into a round hole – with all too predictable results. Apart from anything else, the market is still evolving at a fairly rapid pace, with new products coming out of beta and existing products becoming more stable and scaleable all the time.
Do yourself a favour – leave the technology decision till last!
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Category: Behaviour technology Tags: Virtual Worlds
