If I was writing this blog a decade ago (even 5 years ago), I would begin by explaining what VoIP is. I’d talk about SIP and Unified Communications and IP Telephony. Not anymore. You have been there and done that. You have read about it and most probably used it.
What you have probably not used yet is VVoIP: Video and Voice over IP. Yes, after voice and faxing, I see this as the third dimension to VoIP. This is a newer aspect of VoIP, but the wave is getting stronger now and is sure to hit us all sooner or later.
The obvious use of video calls for an organization is to facilitate a better way to connect to remote employees. Video conferencing is creating a big splash, as companies look to cut travel costs and provide a more immersive environment for people to work together from remote corners of the world.
Some interesting use cases of video are from the contact center industry: providing the end user the power to click on a web link and connect to an agent…but wait…they not only talk to the agent, but can see them as well. When your customer calls in for help with setting up an online account, how cool would it be to be able to share your desktop with them and show them what to do next! Or when an angry woman (my husband always hands over the phone to me when I need to shout at the cable guy for that extra charge on our bill!) calls in to the support center, you can route the call to your best looking agent to calm her a bit.
Financial sector would love to have a “video kiosk” at the ATM machines, so customers can get live help.
Yes, some of this does seem to be a stretch…the question of actual value addition to the business will get you different (and very varied) responses. But did it not seem a stretch that traditional telephony as we knew it would be replaced by software based PBX system and SIP Carriers providing phone lines over the internet?
I’m still on the fence about this 3rd dimension…should we be spending time and money to see VoIP in 3D action? What is your take on video for business?
Ritu Maheshwari.
Virtually any RFP that fall in our hands ask for it.
I don’t care about if you can get real value from it (though i think so, especially when agents have the option to quickly escalate a voice call to voice+video call to better ilustrate, for example, the beauty of the product they’re trying to sell), but what i’m sure about is that it can lead you to lose a deal because the Contact Center solution you’re trying to pitch still doesn’t support it and other vendors do.
Video enabled smartphones are ubiquitous today. Video capable deskphones are also on the rise, so video channel for Contact Center makes a lot of sense today.