Friday, June 5, 2015

Virtual Preparer?

It’s estimated that more than 40 million people filed their taxes the week of April 15th and that includes yours truly.

Since the mid-1990s, my filing procedure has been relatively unchanged. I collect all pertinent paperwork and of course, my W-2s and drop them off with Rocco, my faithful preparer since 1993.

While it may seem routine, it’s a system that has worked for me and what’s the saying about if it isn’t broke…?

Counter to that relatively mundane process, I read recently where H&R Block is testing state of the art technology that employs the Oculus virtual reality equipment from Facebook to provide “avatars” of tax preparers for future customers.

And I’m not even sure if I understand all of the above even though I just wrote it. Sure I have a Facebook page (as do roughly 1 billion others around the globe) but somehow virtual reality and tax preparation seem like one gargantuan non-sequitur. 

Apparently, the mammoth tax preparation company is deploying the technology as it experiments with new office designs and tests them on customers before laying out the huge capital expense to reconfigure its current architecture.

Block customers are reportedly fitted with the Oculus Rift head mounted displays and subsequently engage a Block avatar who guides them through the preparation process.

Since it’s virtual reality, I wonder if the Block preparers get paid in Linden Dollars like in Second Life?

After doing a bit of research I learned that Facebook acquired Oculus VR last year for roughly $2 billion. While I’ve seen VR in interactive games, I had never envisioned its use in the corporate world – a lack of vision which probably goes a long way towards explaining the difference in bank accounts between myself and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Contrasting my Luddite philosophy when it comes to VR, Zuckerberg however sees the Oculus VR technology wading into other potential platforms such as classrooms, medical consultations and perhaps even sporting events. That last one would go a long way in my opinion by virtue of not interacting with obnoxious fans that’ve made far too many visits to the beer stands.

But tax preparation?

No thanks, I’ll stick with Rocco at least for the near future.

I can’t imagine what his avatar would look like anyway.

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