OK, I know it’s Friday but I couldn’t help thinking of OSMO® as an ‘Avatar’ when I saw the movie poster again this morning.

For those who haven’t seen it,  the film Avatar is a stunning and vivid depiction of an entire fantasy world unimaginable without serious help from a visionary director, 1,000 special effects artists, a $300M budget and a pair of 3D glasses.

However, there’s one feature of the movie that’s more realistic than you may think: the idea of using avatars in the workplace. In the film, protagonist Jake Sully, a paraplegic ex-Marine, is assigned to field duty assuming the form of an alien Na’vi on the moon Pandora.

As strange as it may sound, thousands of real-world employees are beginning to use avatars as part of their regular jobs. Research has shown how employees at American companies like IBM, Accenture, Cisco, State Farm, Intel, BP and Wells Fargo log into virtual worlds and use avatars to brainstorm with colleagues, recruit employees, sell to customers, attend leadership training, manage programs, direct operation centers, and collaborate with company groups around the world.

They  occupy avatar bodies to collaborate, compete, diagnose, search, inspect, calculate, audit, analyse, schedule, organise and communicate.

So don’t be surprised to see OSMO at a virtual meeting soon!