KPMG’s US and Canada businesses have launched a so-called collaboration hub in the metaverse as it seeks to help clients develop strategies within the space.
The private hub is a place where employees, partners and clients can conduct virtual team meetings and share ideas — using virtual whiteboards, for example, a spokesperson told Blockworks. They will also be able to conduct training sessions, job interviews and employee evaluations in the metaverse, as well as meetings to demonstrate KPMG’s services and capabilities.
“The metaverse is making it possible for us to experience the ‘phygital’ world, where physical and digital worlds collide,” Armughan Ahmad, president and managing partner of digital at KPMG in Canada, said in a statement. “The metaverse is a $13 trillion market opportunity that could boast as many as five billion users by 2030.”
KPMG International, a global network of firms headquartered in the Netherlands, reported roughly $32 billion in revenue for its 2021 fiscal year. The companies offer audit, tax and advisory services.
The KPMG representative did not name specific clients the company is working with but said “they are diverse in size, sector and scope.”
The company’s US and Canada businesses have formed dedicated teams of members with technology and innovation experience to offer support around metaverse design, use cases of NFTs, cryptoassets, community engagement and broader Web3 integrations.
These teams will assist KPMG clients during the implementation and operationalization stage of their metaverse journey. This includes services such as vendor selection, business and technical requirements design, systems integration and program governance for different metaverse activations.
KPMG is testing Web3 capabilities to institutions and regulators to increase their understanding of the space and its underlying technology.
“We’re exploring working with Web3 companies that offer staking services, decentralized borrowing and lending, for example,” the spokesperson said. “KPMG is committed to invest in both technology and people to address the increasing market demand for metaverse-related services.”
The move comes after KPMG in Canada added bitcoin and ether to its corporate treasury in February and bought a World of Women NFT later that month.
KPMG’s US arm has integrated NFT- and crypto-related trainings into the process of onboarding new employees.
Despite a number of firms in the crypto space choosing to pause or slowing hiring efforts due to the space’s recent drawdown, KPMG is seeking to add more people with skills in blockchain technologies and DeFi.
“While the competition for top talent has been fierce,” a spokesperson said, “we are seeing signs of more skilled talent becoming available due to recent changes in Web3 and the broader tech industry.”
