The Amazon Mayday button on select Kindle e-readers made a big splash recently. But if you think that’s interesting, hold on to your hats, because it looks like we’re poised for a plunge into more video-based customer service. This expansion of real-time video communications is likely to be enabled in large part by WebRTC.
WebRTC is a disruptive new technology being driven forward by none other than Google, among many others. Already, WebRTC is supported on more than 1 billion endpoints, says Google, and Disruptive Analysis expects that to grow to 3.9 billion by 2016.
Not only does WebRTC enable browser-to-browser communications without the need to download plugins; it also simplifies application creation for developers on the back end. And the contact center, and customer interactions in general, are expected to be one area that will benefit from WebRTC.
Indeed, WebRTC could finally make video calling ubiquitous across devices and endpoints – dramatically enhancing web advertising and the ability for businesses to build customer loyalty by providing real-time new product demonstration or set up assistant, since a user could simply click on an ad, connected product interface, or website to launch a video session with the organization.
Some early adopters are offering their customers these kinds of capabilities. For example, just last month retailer Toy Genius went live with a website through which shoppers can communicate in real time with clerks that can tell them about products, answer their questions, and trigger videos showing those products in action. The clerks appear live on video to online shoppers.
This experience leverages WebRTC and other technology from GENBAND, but there are many companies that now offer or are planning to introduce solutions that allow for easier development of WebRTC-based video customer service solutions.
AGNITY’s ACONYX Unify is a mobile contextual communications and collaboration solution built on the latest WebRTC and mobile technologies that empowers video contact centers. Unify Web Smart Client embedded on any B2C website enables customers to have a video/audio call with contact center agents to seek assistance with their online purchase or support. They can do this using their regular desktop/laptop without needing to install anything or through their smartphones/tablets through intuitive mobile applications. Businesses may also place Unify-enabled video kiosks at self-service stores, ATMs, etc., to expand their customer service reach.
Apizee offers IzeeChat, a contact center solution that can handle WebRTC communication between web visitors and enterprises.
The BrowseTEL Cloud Contact Center provides companies with integrated customer interaction management, combining the handling of all incoming and outgoing marketing campaigns through various communication channels (voice/video, fax, e-mail, SMS, web chat) on a single platform. WebRTC has not only added new communication channels where customers can initiate calls from a Click2Call button on a web page or by scanning a QR code on a product or promotional material, but has also added a new level of interaction where customer browsing history can enforce skill-based routing. The company notes that high-quality video calls have brought another much more personal level of communication, which can be applied for more demanding services and customers.
Sajeel Hussain (News - Alert), vice president of marketing and partner development at CaféX Communications says his company is seeing “intense interest” in its CaféX Fusion Live Assist solution. CaféX Fusion Live Assist integrates WebRTC voice and video plus much more with existing business web and mobile applications, enabling customers to initiate personal interactions with enterprise representatives at the touch of a button.
Web developers using CaféX Fusion Live Assist can access easy-to-use client-side toolkits to light up applications with voice and video chat, screen sharing, drawing on screen, file push and remote control of applications to facilitate an in-person experience between customers and enterprise experts. Real-time collaboration functions can be extended to business applications with just a few lines of code using native iOS, JavaScript and Android (News - Alert) platforms.
Combining WebRTC technology on top of it Kamailio SIP server with its presence module, a company called Commodisee enables retailers to provide their shoppers both a private (one-way only video, no UserID or login) real-time video experience.
Elsewhere on the WebRTC front, CreaLog (News - Alert) is among the company’s leveraging Dialogic technology to deliver WebRTC-based video to contact center customers. The Dialogic solution involved is a software media server called PowerMedia XMS. It efficiently mixes diverse media streams, enabling any-to-any network connectivity and cloud-based services. It connects legacy networks, mobile and Internet endpoints and WebRTC to simplify multi-party communications and collaboration. Business logic of applications deployed on SIP application servers and Web application servers control PowerMedia XMS to execute high-density, multimedia functions including inbound and outbound session and call control, audio and video play and record, transcoding, transrating, transizing of video streams, conferencing, content streaming and advanced supporting functions for communication sessions.
LiveOps (News - Alert), which provides cloud contact center and customer service solutions, is also among the company’s leading the adoption of WebRTC in the next-generation contact center. WebRTC extends LiveOps’ traditional customer service support by integrating real-time voice, text and video. LiveOps Engage, an integrated multichannel (voice, chat, e-mail, social media, and SMS) agent desktop, also provides native integration with Twilio (News - Alert) Client.
These are, of course, just a few examples of companies offering the tools to build, or the turnkey solutions that enable, video in the contact center via WebRTC.
Edited by Peter Bernstein