Most CSPs, developers and organizations see Web real-time communications (WebRTC) as being fully adopted in the next couple of years. The platform is an open source solution that gives anyone the ability to implement an audio and video communication application on their website so their customers can use it without a plugin. All a user has to do is just open a browser that is enabled with WebRTC and start an audio, video or text communication with one or more people. As a result, the technology is ideal for rich communication suite services.
While many have touted the disruptive technology of the platform to video conferencing and services such as Skype, the question is: who will be the first to capture the most revenue from WebRTC?
Dialogic (News - Alert) has conducted its second annual WebRTC Impact Survey, in which it asks key experts in the industry the effect the technology will have on their business models. According to the survey, WebRTC has seen an uptake because two-third of the respondents believe it is better than Adobe (News - Alert) Flash and Java alternatives, and the majority of the interaction is social, meaning human to human instead of machine to machine. This fact makes it the ideal platform for organization to adopt if they want to interact with their customers.
In the study, three verticals are highlighted as being the biggest beneficiaries of this technology, and they are education, healthcare and adult entertainment, but 93 percent said the impact on customer service application will be significant. But an incredible 90 percent of the respondents predicted WebRTC will be part of our lives in some way, "whether we all realize it today or not."
The answer to the question of who will generate the most revenue from WebRTC was:
- 32.2 percent from WebRTC development tools and infrastructure vendors, including hosted services, network APIs, Infrastructure and Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and others
- 29.9 percent from website providers as WebRTC's value will be realized indirectly through better applications and services that embed real-time communications
- 28.7 percent from communication service providers who already use real-time communications such as telcos, Skype (News - Alert) and others
- 9.2 percent from developer services vendors through outsourced development
A key metric in the study also reveals 90 percent of telecom experts predict within five years WebRTC will be universal in nature, which according to Dialogic will transform social experiences through new Webco business models
"This year, we've seen communications leaders heralding WebRTC's ability to simplify the delivery of rich media communications, and that enthusiasm echoes in the survey feedback from our customers,” said Andrew Goldberg (News - Alert), senior vice president of marketing and strategy for Dialogic. “We see enormous potential for entrants to disrupt the communications market with browser-based multi-party voice and video services powered by WebRTC, especially as wireless telcos look for ways to out-maneuver the new, social-media driven Webco model."
Edited by Alisen Downey