March 18, 2009

ThinkBalm announces kickoff of enterprise Immersive Internet business value study

Calling all immersive technology advocates, experimenters and implementers!

ThinkBalm is pleased to announce the first-ever industry study on the business value of the emerging Immersive Internet technology sector. Our focus for this study is the business value of work-related use of virtual worlds and campuses, immersive learning environments, and 3D business applications. This research study is being conducted by ThinkBalm and is sponsored by Altadyn, Forterra Systems, Linden Lab, ProtonMedia, Qwaq, and Tandem Learning.

The research approach for the ThinkBalm enterprise Immersive Internet business value study is two-fold:

  • An anonymous online survey. We are collecting data about early implementations of immersive technology in the workplace. We are investigating what drives investment, how early adopters see immersive technology as different from existing alternatives, hurdles organizations face when attempting to bring this technology into the workplace, and the business value organizations have obtained from using immersive technology. Here is info about survey qualifications and a link to the online survey.
  • In-depth interviews. We are interviewing early adopters to gain a deeper understanding of how and why organizations choose immersive technology over other technologies, how they measure success, the hurdles they face, and their approach to developing a return on investment (ROI) model for the investment. ThinkBalm is sensitive to privacy of information and can limit disclosure to meet interview participants’ requirements. Interview participants will have an opportunity to review and fact-check the section of the report that results from their interview prior to the report’s publication.

People who work in sales, marketing, product development, or customer support for technology providers that offer immersive technology solutions for the enterprise do not qualify to participate in the survey or interviews.

We are now scheduling interviews!

  • Who: We are interviewing individuals who have had personal experience with an immersive technology pilot or deployment for work in 2008 or 1Q 2009 and have insight into the business value this technology has delivered.
  • What: ThinkBalm industry analyst interviews with adopters of immersive technology in the workplace
  • Why: First-ever in-depth research study on business value of using the Immersive Internet for work. Interviews will add color to data collected via online survey.
  • How: Phone or in-world interviews, 30-60 minutes in length. These interviews will complement the anonymous online survey.
  • When: We are scheduling interviews for the month of April, 2009. The anonymous survey will also be fielded in April. The report will be published in mid-May. The report will be freely available from ThinkBalm’s Web site as well as the Web sites of some of the study’s sponsors.
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Let the data collection begin!

Erica Driver

Erica Driver was a co-founder and principal at ThinkBalm. She is a leading industry analyst and consultant with 15 years of experience in the software industry. She is quoted in mainstream and industry trade press including the Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CIO, and Computerworld. Prior to co-founding ThinkBalm, Erica was a principal analyst at Forrester Research, where she launched the company’s Web3D coverage as part of her enterprise collaboration research. She was also the co-conspirator behind Forrester’s Information Workplace concepts and research. Prior to her tenure at Forrester, she was a Director at Giga Information Group (now part of Forrester) and an analyst at Hurwitz & Associates. She began her career in IT as a system administrator and Lotus Notes developer. Erica is a graduate of Harvard University.