2015 has been showing rapid change for technology and the businesses and consumers that rely upon it. Wearable technology is trending, and video chat is becoming the norm. Most of these trends are driven by consumer behavior and the tremendous changes that are occurring in the relationship between customers and companies. This year, businesses are beginning to move to a next-generation approach that can cut costs while being much more nimble and easier to run.
As consumers have become accustomed to watching and communicating via video, businesses have been, to a greater extent, offering video chat to their customers. Research shows that Generation Y prefers to avoid talking on the phone, thus making video millennials’ favorite communication method. Statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor predict that by 2015, millennials will overtake the majority of the workforce; by 2030 this hyper-connected, tech-savvy generation will comprise 75 percent of the workforce. Millennials’ growing spending power will continue to fuel the video chat trend. Moving beyond 2015, as customers continue to be the main focus, businesses will above all need to engage them in different ways, thus encouraging interaction among them, employees, and third parties. VARs that can do this successfully will be winners. Some examples of how video chat is affecting business communications include:
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Video chat allows clear, concise communication between colleagues that is close to instantaneous whether they are a few rooms or a few countries apart. Chats can be conducted from anywhere there is an available Webcam.
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Studies show that body language comprises 55 percent of communication, thus making video chat a way to communicate that allows for clarity.
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Using video chat as a corporate communications tool helps reduce costs. It allows for telecommuting for employees, which helps cut down on in-office costs. Scheduling and productivity can also be improved because meetings can happen at the click of a button.
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Technology has both improved communication for disabled people and made it possible when it previously wasn't. Video chat allows the deaf to communicate with company representatives who use sign language to communicate with their customers.
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Just like using a headset frees up the hands while talking to a customer or client, mobile video chat allows users to be mobile and doesn’t require that they sit in front of a computer.
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Using two cameras in a video chat provides the ability to show a person what they are looking at and is much better than lifting up a laptop to share the view. There many products that can be shown through video chat, and video agents can demonstrate to customers how to use products or even how to fix them.
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An often forgotten benefit of video chat is that it lowers the odds of customers needing further support after a purchase. Through video chat, the quality of the conversation provides a higher resolution rate of issues and a reduced number of unanswered questions. With the ability to view products and demos from agents, this upfront customer knowledge helps resolve issues immediately or even prevents them from originating in the first place, which saves both the company and the customer time and energy.
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In online shopping, video chat has shown to increase sales rates by up to 10 percent. One recent study shows that 67.45 percent of online shopping carts never actually make it to check out, but that more personal forms of customer service can drastically alter this rate. After all, it is much harder to hang up when you can see the person’s face rather than just know a person’s name.
These applications are just the beginning of video chat in business. Financial services, pharmaceutical, e-commerce, and car companies are beginning to engage customers with face-to-face video chat to enhance their businesses and the levels of service they can provide to consumers. Although video chat is the “next step” in communications in 2015, the odds are good that during these next few years, video chat will pioneer exciting new territory. VARs that jump on that bandwagon will find a lucrative market to sell to today and in the future.
Are there additional benefits of video chats in the enterprise that should be addressed in this forum? Please comment below.