Meta Talkz with Pieter VanIperen

Pieter VanIperen is a 20-year veteran software architect and security expert who is an industry authority and influencer. He provides thought leadership and execution to develop widely adopted processes, methodologies, and technologies that are at the forefront of digital innovation and software development. Pieter has founded or co-founded several companies, acted as trusted advisor and mentor to numerous early-stage startups, held the titles of software executive and software security executive, consultant, and professor. His expert consulting and advisory work span several industries in finance, media, medical tech, and defense contracting.

My journey to arrive today did not happen on a straight path. I have always been interested in building things, in creating, but I balked at it. Coding, software development seemed to be an obvious choice for me, but I chose to explore another industry: Theatre & Film. But even then, I was still working on projects, having never truly stepped away. After re-entering the world of technology, I spent time on both sides of the consulting relationship, both as the business and the consultant. I learned the pain points that happen from both perspectives and sought a way to mitigate those pain points. Thus, PWV Consultants and the birth of Radical Production Transparency was born.

My company brings transparency to software development. We help our clients and customers with a variety of projects that range from full-fledged data transformation and cloud migration to complex software solutions and everything in-between. The more complicated, the better, we love a challenge! Our main goal through these processes is full transparency, RPT is based on the notion that every person on a project should have access to every piece of information at any point in the process. When everyone has access to all of the information, developers, leaders, and administrative personnel do not have to chase down answers to questions, it’s all in one place. And everyone knows where the project stands at all times, why a piece of the puzzle is taking longer than expected or why a feature was removed. We have found that this transparency eases the majority of the pain points in this relationship.

The metaverse provides opportunities through technology that we have not before been able to accomplish. I am excited about the ability to have large virtual experiences. For business, large group training and conferences. For consumers, concerts and other large-scale events may have been inaccessible previously. Events that are currently pre-created will have the ability to exist in the virtual world in real-time and give cross-boundary communities the opportunity to do things that currently suffer from the limitations of a video call. To be frank, though, most people aren’t likely to hold meetings in the Metaverse. People are more likely to attend an interactive virtual talk, or whiteboard together or work through blueprints, it’s a collaborative virtual space for businesses and organizations. For consumers, it provides a virtual experience that can be accessed anywhere, giving people the opportunity to see and do things previously inaccessible. Whether it’s finances, medical conditions, or some other reason, the Metaverse gives people a new vector for business and pleasure.

The metaverse is already the next big thing. It has a plethora of uses, from virtual tours of faraway places to meeting collaboration with co-workers to shopping to having family get-togethers across continents. While it’s still new, the implications of the metaverse make it something worth your attention. Businesses can leverage it for meetings and team-building without excluding anyone – including those who work from home due to a disability or because they are a caregiver of an ill family member or for any other reason. Most businesses have already discovered how wide the talent pool is when you open up to remote work, and those previously unable to work due to an inability to get to a physical office now have the opportunity to become contributing members of society. The metaverse allows this group to gain the social aspect of being part of team-building exercises they might have been excluded from in the past. There is already technology being created to mesh the metaverse and reality, and the additional innovations that come from this will pop up for years to come. The metaverse isn’t just for businesses, though, it’s for consumers, too. There will be virtual shopping with virtual currency, think Ready Player One. We’re a long way off from being that technically advanced, but the rate that innovations in technology happen is increasing exponentially in light of the pandemic. So it might not be as far off as some think. Businesses and consumers alike should be paying close attention to the metaverse, the companies which plan to create a metaverse, and the options available with each company.