Nth Floor

The Accenture Nth Floor is a concept created by teams across Microsoft, AltspaceVR and Accenture that enables people to meet, interact & collaborate in virtual offices leveraging Virtual Reality. The term “Nth Floor” relates to the infinite amount of virtual floors a company can spin up, in comparison to the physical limitations of real-world offices.
The concept was originally developed and tested in 2019 by a team led by Ben Holfeld (Accenture), Katie Kelly (Microsoft) & Jason Warnke (Accenture CIO). It came to particular prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic as more employees began to work remotely, being featured in the Wall Street Journal in 2020 and presented at the 2021 Microsoft Ignite Keynote.
Summary.
The Nth Floor concept was originally presented at Microsoft Ignite 2019 but the need to work remotely during the 2020 pandemic accelerated the demand for new ways of virtual interaction. Thanks to new hardware as Oculus Quest and developer tools by Unity Technologies, Oculus and Microsoft, the concept became reality and has been announced at multiple events and conferences.
In 2021, during the announcement of Microsoft Mesh, the Nth Floor was highlighted and the concept of virtual offices and collaboration were shared across news media The concept and several solutions have been used for immersive virtual Town Halls, Summits, Conferences, Recruiting Events and Social Events avoiding high costs and carbon-emissions through significant travel which is usually necessary for these types of global events.
The Chief Leadership & Human Resources Officer of Accenture shared how through this concept and technology, a unique immersive experience is provided for the yearly 100K+ New Joiners at the company, to experience through new ways the culture, learn in immersive environments, and connect in meaningful ways.