Second Life

OPIM 5165 Group 6 Eric Kruger Linda Sakdi Solomon Darko Yuko Ueki Yan Xu

Introduction
Technology

Business application and

justification

Economy Organizational complements Barriers to the adoption of the technology Potential risks

Technology Functional Perspective

Select your Avatar

Communication
Public or Local chat

Private text chat

Group chat Voice chat (similar to Skype)

Note Cards (like e-mail):

Creating snapshots and
videos

Streaming audio and video

Content Creation
Building Scripting

Business application and justification

Economic
Increase efficiency : Participation; Connectivity
Collaboration; Sharing

Reduce expense Training program; Online conference

Organizational complements
Marketing and Advertizing Healthcare Manufacturing and Retail Banking Communication Architectural and Design

Education and Research

Consulting

Organizational complements
Incentives to encourage participation:

Open Source

Third party grid options

Better integration with internal information systems
(such as Enterprise Resource Planning systems)

Improve service availability to 100%

Reduce downtime for system maintenance and
upgrades.

Barriers to the adoption of the technology

Learning Curve could be extensive

Company computer usage policies could become very
grey and easily violated.

Traditional or conservative Senior Managers may not

see the benefits Wheres the productivity?

Hardware requirements could present some limitations.

Barriers to the adoption of the technology

Network communications capabilities of the company

could be challenged during high use periods.

Employees progress or involvement could be difficult

to monitor.

Hang ups or glitches seem to be more prevalent than in

conventional web meeting programs.

Security Threat

How it affects business

Hosting conference or office in virtual world

How should business react?

IBM established guidelines that prohibit employees from discussing commercial-in-confidence information w/in SL

Confidentiality
Text chat and voice chat are not encrypted.

Computer Virus & Malwares

Copybots, Grey Goo applications, malicious objects disrupt virtual world events or crash sites Avatars that squat at location sending out unsolicited advertising materials. Credit card information and other financial details of residents are breached.

Educating company residents to be wary of virtual object interactions. Need to spend money to constantly monitor the location to keep out uninvited hawkers and encourage genuine visitors and customers. Resort to third-party services like PayPal

Cybersquatting

Customer Financial Data

Security Risks

Conclusion
Strong evidence that productivity may increase, while
costs decrease

Benefits vary

Technological options vary, as do risks associated with

these options

Emerging technology is an evolutionary process

Some day, the real world work environment may
interact with its virtual world counterpart

Questions?