Sae Hyung Jung, Founder & CEO“Necessity is the mother of invention” - this age-old proverb holds for oVice that is on a mission to make online communication more immersive and natural by replicating actual human behaviors into a virtual 2D world.
Working from home reduces emissions and office costs, and it helps employees achieve a more balanced work/family life. Nonetheless, managing a team of remote workers can be challenging in many aspects, especially when it comes to online communication. During the pandemic, oVice’s team needed a flexible tool to communicate while working from home. “Nothing could tick all our boxes, especially when it comes to a stable network; so, we decided to build our own and it eventually launched as a service called oVice,” mentions Sae Hyung Jung, founder, and CEO of oVice. The company’s solution can be used as a remote office, an event venue, and a classroom. Sae Hyung Jun announces that “oVice, a virtual office where you can bring online communication to life, prepares in-office and remote workers for hybrid remote life by building its own ecosystem”.
All-in-One Remote Workspace
At its core, oVice offers virtual spaces designed to match physical places to provide a more natural way of online communication, help people connect, build, and deepen relationships. Matching natural human-approaching behaviors online, users can virtually walk around and mingle with others by getting their avatars closer to the other party. The closer they get, the louder voices will be. This makes it easier to walk in and out of conversations and provides an environment that allows for more coincidental discussions. “The notion of calling does not exist at oVice. If you need someone to talk to, you can just go to their virtual desk,” says Sae Hyung Jung. As for hosting meetings, clients can start it on the spot without sending a link to the meeting members each time. When working at oVice remote office, team bonds are strengthened and transparency is developed. “Working in a virtual office setting creates a feeling of belonging for teams and makes it easier to collaborate on tasks and keeps everyone posted on things going around at work,” adds Sae Hyung Jung.
oVice provides full support to help people get familiar with the virtual space functions. Further, the company also offers tips and assistance on better utilizing the space depending on the purpose of usage.
OVICE, A VIRTUAL OFFICE WHERE YOU CAN BRING ONLINE COMMUNICATION TO LIFE, PREPARES IN-OFFICE AND REMOTE WORKERS FOR HYBRID REMOTE LIFE BY BUILDING ITS OWN ECOSYSTEM
Since more companies are now turning into a hybrid work model, and to this end, oVice is developing new systems and devices to help ensure equity for both remote and on-site working teams. Not forgetting to mention that office spaces are being reduced significantly due to the new remote normal, the firm features creating virtual buildings for big companies with multiple floors for each department with much fewer expenses than actual tall buildings.
As a communication service, oVice focuses on prioritizing two core elements, a stable network, and high-resolution audio, to ensure a smooth communication experience for clients. oVice encrypts all data to prevent the risk of information leakage and falsification that could occur on internet-based services using SSL/ TLS. The firm does not keep any communication data, including multimedia, on its server; instead, they are safely encrypted through the service. It applies to meetings, screen sharing, video calls, among others. The service obtains the international standard ISO/IEC 27001, which major security companies also register, and it operates per strict security standards.
oVice is free for the first 30 days, and there is no limitation when it comes to functions or support. The firm offers four different pricing plans from basic to enterprise. Each paid plan comes with a distinct set of features. The price of each plan differs based on the size of the layout and the number of maximum simultaneous users. “If users want to buy a plan, they will be charged depending on the size of the space they choose and not the number of people they let inside,” repeats Sar Hyung Jung.
A Virtual Space for Everybody
Each client faces varying problems, and to those, oVice suggests tailored solutions that they can utilize to overcome their issues. “Our team does more than just support for our customers, but it also provides customized solutions to assist new users to adapt to the better remote work life,” states Sae Hyung Jung. Also, because oVice offers huge flexibility when it comes to customization, the company can support a wide range of use cases. With every case, the firm’s customer support is always on the go to enable a successful online experience. Featuring customizable elements, oVice virtual space can easily be turned into any place one has in mind. From remote offices, academic campuses, party venues, or even a cat cafe, oVice users can personalize the space however they like.
"Going Forward, Ovice Will Build A Virtual Real Estate World To Help Bridge The Gap Between The Real And Digital World"
In another interesting scenario, due to the pandemic situation and the sudden shift to remote work, NTTPC Communications struggled to maintain communication as effectively as in the real office. Adopting a virtual office at oVice helped create a deeper relationship within the team and made it easier to collaborate, similarly resembling real-life interaction at the office. "Communication inside the virtual space was better, and the more people got accustomed to the service operation, the more they established an enhanced way of communication. With time and practice, their employees understood that they could interact openly and engage in genuine conversations, unlike the meetings held with video conferencing tools," states Mr. Nezu from the NTTPC infrastructure department.
Adding the case of En-Japan, one of the biggest recruitment companies in Japan who started using oVice to solve online communication within their team. After months of using it, the whole firm moved to the virtual office and switched to fully remote, not only for work but also for hosting events like virtual happy hours, dinner banquets, and even invited famous entertainers to introduce oVice to the world.
To enhance its ease of use, oVice has been carrying out a renewal project for several months now in collaboration with Goodpatch, Inc. The design has been changed to convey the outline and concept of the service to those who are new to the virtual space. oVice is also currently building its ecosystem and planning to integrate third-party apps by releasing open API and creating new systems and devices for a better hybrid remote future.
In 2020, oVice was exhibited in TechCrunch Startup Battle Online and LAUNCH PAD SaaS. More than 10,000 virtual spaces have been created in 1 year after its release. “Going forward, oVice will build a virtual real estate world to help bridge the gap between the real and digital world,” declares the CEO. With the mission of moving beyond remote and building a virtual real-estate world, oVice will keep developing natural features that offer users a close-to-reality online experience.
In another interesting scenario, due to the pandemic situation and the sudden shift to remote work, NTTPC Communications struggled to maintain communication as effectively as in the real office. Adopting a virtual office at oVice helped create a deeper relationship within the team and made it easier to collaborate, similarly resembling real-life interaction at the office. "Communication inside the virtual space was better, and the more people got accustomed to the service operation, the more they established an enhanced way of communication. With time and practice, their employees understood that they could interact openly and engage in genuine conversations, unlike the meetings held with video conferencing tools," states Mr. Nezu from the NTTPC infrastructure department.
Adding the case of En-Japan, one of the biggest recruitment companies in Japan who started using oVice to solve online communication within their team. After months of using it, the whole firm moved to the virtual office and switched to fully remote, not only for work but also for hosting events like virtual happy hours, dinner banquets, and even invited famous entertainers to introduce oVice to the world.
To enhance its ease of use, oVice has been carrying out a renewal project for several months now in collaboration with Goodpatch, Inc. The design has been changed to convey the outline and concept of the service to those who are new to the virtual space. oVice is also currently building its ecosystem and planning to integrate third-party apps by releasing open API and creating new systems and devices for a better hybrid remote future.
In 2020, oVice was exhibited in TechCrunch Startup Battle Online and LAUNCH PAD SaaS. More than 10,000 virtual spaces have been created in 1 year after its release. “Going forward, oVice will build a virtual real estate world to help bridge the gap between the real and digital world,” declares the CEO. With the mission of moving beyond remote and building a virtual real-estate world, oVice will keep developing natural features that offer users a close-to-reality online experience.
Ovice News
oVice Announces Business Partnership with Zoom Video Communications, Inc.
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Mark Badal, CIO, IT&E
Jason Blackman, CIO, Carsales.Com
Marc A. Hamer, VP & CIO, Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc.
Kevin Soh, CIO and Director, e-Strategies, BH Global Corporation
Sal Cucchiara, CIO & Head Of Wealth Management Technology, Morgan Stanley
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Shirin Hamid, CIO, & CTO, Asian Development Bank
Linda K. Lannen, CIO & Sr. VP, Kleinfelder
Sumit Puri, CIO, Max Healthcare
Brett Raven, CIO, Big Red Group
Mark Ohlund, CIO & Sr. V.P., Armada Supply Chain Solution
James MacLennan, SVP & CIO, IDEX Corporation
Background of the Alliance
In response to the new coronavirus outbreak and the need to renew the work-life, various “ways of working” are being explored as a new norm. Telework, which eliminates the need to go to a physical office, is becoming a more common way of working.
A virtual space “oVice”, has been used as a virtual office in telework environments by many companies, local governments, and educational institutions, with more than 10,000 users achieved in 1 year since its launch.
Despite oVice being equipped with a video meeting function, many online meetings with non-oVice users are held using Zoom (due to a larger user base). oVice, Inc. has received many requests from users to integrate Zoom, thus the company decided to form a partnership. oVice has joined Zoom’s ISV Partner Program and will be able to provide services and solutions powered by Zoom that will support hybrid work styles.
Benefits of Zoom Integration
With the Zoom integration, oVice users can now have a seamless meeting from oVice without having to move between both tools.
They will also have the ability to view which users are in which Zoom meeting, making it easier to shuffle between multiple Zoom meetings at once. This will also encourage more interactive collaboration between users.
Comments on the Alliance From Representatives of Both Companies
Paul Magnaghi, Global ISV Partner Program Leader, Zoom Video Communications, Inc.:
“We are excited to have oVice join our ISV Partner Program. Zoom has been partnering with multiple virtual office and virtual events solutions through the ISV Partner Program. Having oVice join us from Japan is great news for our international expansion. We look forward to providing a better online meeting experience to oVice’s customers through this partnership.”
Sae Hyung Jung, Founder & CEO, oVice, Inc.:
“oVice has been used as a virtual office for many companies, but these companies use Zoom for web conferencing, and many have asked for service integration. Through this partnership, we hope to make it possible for many people to work online comfortably, and to create an environment that will encourage hybrid work styles in the future.”
Future Prospects
oVice is a two-dimensional virtual space where people interact as avatars and can freely move on the web and easily talk to others by bringing their avatar closer. Since its launch in August 2020, oVice has been used on more than 10,000 occasions.
Featuring a wide variety of use cases, including virtual offices for telework, online event spaces, and virtual campuses for education, etc, an increasing number of companies have connected their virtual spaces into "buildings" where employees from the entire company work.
In order to further develop as a "virtual real estate" company, oVice will not only acquire more users and raise awareness in remote work, but also develop technology that can be used comfortably in hybrid work and work with third parties to enhance the scalability of the service.