By Darach Beirne, Vice President of
Customer Success at Flowroute,
now part of Intrado,
and Julien Chavanton, Voice Platform Architecture Lead at Flowroute, now
part of Intrado
As technology evolves, the way
consumers prefer to interact with businesses also changes. In order to stay
ahead of these changing demands, businesses continue to identify ways to
personalize communication options for their customers to deliver the next
generation of customer experience.
One way businesses are differentiating
themselves is by tailoring their customer support and contact center
communications using real-time communications tools like Web Real-Time
Communication (WebRTC).
WebRTC Explained
WebRTC is a technology that enables
cross-platform and context-based support to improve interactions between
customers and support services. Introduced in 2011, WebRTC has been used to
enhance deployment of voice and video tools within browsers and apps. Enterprises
that leverage WebRTC can deliver personalized experiences to customers because
they gather the relevant data and context on a customer's interaction with the
business. For example, a customer service representative can see which platform
(i.e. via a phone call, web browser or in-app) the customer prefers to use when
interacting with support. Armed with this data, enterprises are better equipped
to resolve questions and issues quickly, while also feeling more engaged and
connected to their customers.
Since WebRTC is an open source
standard, it helps browsers and mobile apps communicate directly with others in
real-time, from any device, without extra plugins or CSPs. Using WebRTC, developers can create contextual apps that
provide the information to users through the right channel.
WebRTC is also a proven way to
simplify and enrich direct communication and collaboration. As it becomes more
deeply enmeshed in the landscape, WebRTC will someday take the place of most
native apps on mobile phones and tablets. This shift would take it beyond a
web-based application and anything that would apply about connecting web users would
be true when connecting mobile users.
Outlined below are two ways developers
and IT departments can deploy WebRTC to give customers better control over
browser behaviors for web-based telecom tools.
Improve Browser Experiences with
WebAssembly
One way developers and IT teams can more deeply customize
WebRTC is by integrating WebAssembly.
WebAssembly boosts media applications on the Web and is powering
the next generation of rich web and mobile client applications.
WebAssembly increases the power of WebRTC by enabling integration
of features like new codecs, audio controls and image recognition into
browsers. WebAssembly also allows for the creation of media processing features
by running code as fast as compiled C/C++ with hardware optimization allows. As
developers work to enhance voice and call capabilities through WebRTC,
WebAssembly will be one of the primary methods to improve browser experiences
and generate more powerful customer communication platforms.
VoIP & SIP: Where Does WebRTC Fit?
While WebRTC is becoming more widely recognized as an
important component of technology, SIP has risen to become the default telecom
standard. SIP is fairly easy for developers to integrate given that it shares
many concepts with HTTP.
WebRTC is related to other VoIP
technologies like SDP/RTP in SIP/SDP/RTP, though it is important to note that SIP
is complementary to WebRTC, rather than comparable. While VoIP is often the
choice for voice communications, SIP can include data such as video and other
media. Though WebRTC and SIP can operate independent of one another, uniting
them can open the door for great enhancement of communication
possibilities.
Some of the benefits of joining WebRTC and SIP together include
upgraded user experience with one-click audio contextual communication and the option
to receive inbound calls over the internet without crossing the PSTN. By doing
this, developers can connect legacy PBX equipment with more modern web users by
using one efficient protocol.
Using SIP/WebRTC instead of PSTN can also improve HD audio
quality. In some instances, it can result in more reliable audio transmission using
codecs that come with WebRTC like Opus (an offshoot of Skype/Silk). This codec
is already well integrated and tested in PBX such as FreeSWITCH, Asterisk and many
modern softphones. Users can get even more benefits by using SIP like chat or
registration/NAT traversal.
With customers increasingly gravitating toward
personalized experiences, there is a growing need for tools, such as enhanced
WebRTC, that will improve digital engagement and communication. By implementing deeper customizations of WebRTC, enterprises
can improve web browsing experiences to align with what customers want, while also
developing cutting edge communications tools. As they do so, businesses will
see value added to their bottom line and increased customer retention and
satisfaction.
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About the Authors
Darach Beirne is vice president of customer success at Flowroute,
now part of Intrado.
With more than 25 years of experience building and
leading B2B customer success, Darach leads Flowroute's dedicated customer
support team, driving strategy for customer success and improved customer
satisfaction. Prior to joining Flowroute, Darach lead professional service and
sales engineering teams for providers such as Contenix, Huawei/3Leafsytems,
InQuira, Siebel/Scopus and Ingres. He also has assisted high-tech companies
develop strategies to improve the customer experience and increase scalability.
Julien Chavanton is the voice platform architecture lead
at Flowroute,
now part of Intrado.
As a voice software engineer, open source/free software
enthusiast Julien has spent the last 20 years hacking and engineering. He
started his career in computer and telephony integration in 2000 contributing
to GNU/Bayonne, where he became an active contributor to a variety of other
open source projects like Kamailio, FreeSWITCH and Linphone, etc. Outside of
his work, Julien enjoys reading and studying open source software to
continuously improve his skills.