Game consoles to aid business deals

30 December 2008 11:41am

Computer game consoles could be the key to business savings by removing the need to travel to meetings.

Nipan Maniar, of the University of Portsmouth, is leading the project to create a virtual business environment using the Sony Playstation 3 console.

It would allow people from different companies, as well as home workers, to meet in a "virtual world" over the internet.

The aim is to allow companies facing the current economic crisis the chance to reduce their travel costs as well as reduce their impact on the environment.

The research has been commissioned by consultancy Advanced Workplace Associates which has clients including Microsoft, Merrill Lynch and Ernst and Young.

Dr Maniar said: "There is no doubt that business life of the future will include a greater use of virtual world technologies.

"In the current economic climate, where renting office space is often the second biggest overhead, it makes good business sense for companies to explore the opportunities and benefits of workforce mobility and using virtual worlds as places to get business done more effectively and at a lesser cost than in the physical world."

Andrew Mawson, managing director of Advanced Workplace Associates, said: "We advise some of the world's biggest companies on how to tap into the idea of workforce mobility.

"The idea of one-person, one-desk and fixed office space is constantly being challenged by innovations in communications technologies and, more recently, the fallout from the global financial collapse."

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