The WebRTC standard has been embraced by companies of all sizes, from small startups to the largest of telecommunications and networking companies. Large players have been quick to recognize the benefits of WebRTC, a standard that allows for easy browser-to-browser voice, video and collaboration sessions with no need to download plug-ins.
One of those large players is Avaya, which for the last several years has been integrating the standard into the company’s existing suite of customer experience software, notably around online interactions. At the recent WebRTC Conference & Expo event held June 17-19, 2014, at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta, Carl Ford of Crossfire Media took a moment to speak with Avaya Senior Director Dr. Val Matula, who is in charge of company’s emerging products organization. View the video below:
“For a supplier like Avaya, which already has a suite of solutions, we see WebRTC adding to capabilities we have and filling some very important niches in what we have not been able to supply to the market as easily before,” said Matula. “We’ve had experience with thin-client voice and video using Flash technology – we call it Avaya One Touch video. What WebRTC allows us to do is to do that very seamlessly to any Android device that supports Chrome. It allows us to do it without browser download at all – not even Flash. And it allows us to help customers, especially customers serving consumers, to communicate with them right when they’re on a Web site, right when they’re on the point of deciding to buy a product.”
This is critical in today’s customer support environment, since customers expect to be able to communicate with companies seamlessly across a variety of media. Using WebRTC, solutions providers can allow clients to reach out to customers right when that customer’s product is in the Web basket, which increases the chances that the purchase will be processed.
“Being able to help the at that point should help to preserve sales, increase that satisfaction and quite frankly, increase businesses,” said Matula, who notes that the earliest applications for WebRTC are likely to be in the contact center side of Avaya’s business.
WebRTC adds another dimension to contact center business, allowing customers to reach out from a Web site, simply clicking to call, rather than picking up a phone and initiating a contact that may require time and work to get routed to the right person and be “connected” to the browsing session already in progress. It’s another way to make it simpler and faster for customers, who are always looking for the path of least resistance. With WebRTC, contact center solutions provider seem to have found an ideal path.
For more information about WebRTC Conference & Expo, visit the Web page here.
Edited by
Maurice Nagle
