WebRTC – real-time communications directly in Web browsers – is coming. The standardization in IETF and W3C (News - Alert) is being finalized, and telecom companies, other service providers, and product vendors are accelerating their development and offerings.

We have earlier in this column outlined how WebRTC, implemented in the E-SBC, can be the future of SIP trunking. The most valuable application may very well be replacement of 1-800 numbers, as millions of dollars are spent by call centers on toll-free number fees, for customers to get in touch.

With a minute price around 4 cents for a 1-800 number call, the cost is:

For 60 minutes = $2.50/hour

For 8 hours = $20/day

For 20 days = $400/month

For 12 months = $4,800/year

For three years = $14,400

Since a good WebRTC and SIP E-SBC product interfacing directly to IP PBXs, UC solutions, or call centers can handle a thousand simultaneous calls, a single box may change the revenue stream of $15 million. Carriers and vendors (of PBXs, UC solutions, and call center solutions) are developing solutions to be able to offer the context-sensitive, feature-rich website click-to-call function.

1-800 numbers are most often found on organizations’ websites, where it is natural to click-to-call rather than finding a telephone and dialing the number. In addition, you can get hi-fi voice, video, screen-sharing, and chat. Additionally, context information (i.e. the customer’s number, what the customer was looking at on the site, or what the caller indicated was his or her reason for calling) from the website can be conveyed to the call agent.

WebRTC will transform how we communicate in real time between users, but it will also widen the role of the service provider. This was a theme of one session at TMC’s (News - Alert) recent WebRTC Conference in Miami. You can find the presentation on the Ingate website.

Karl Stahl is CEO and CTO of Ingate Systems.