Aliens, 1984
I didn’t realize it at the time but when Paul Reiser (aka Carter Burke, in the 1984 film Aliens) answered his videophone in the dead of the night, running his fingers through his hair trying to compose himself, that, despite his awesome performance, he likely killed the idea of videophones for years to come.
More recently, the 2005 movie The Island attempted to portray video calling in a more glamorous light. Ewan McGregor was seen calling in as a customer to a business to complain that his ‘policy’ was sitting on his sofa. In this case, the receptionist was pretty, poised, and polished, suggesting in typical Hollywood fashion that businesses of the future will have to hire attractive personnel to take customer calls.
The Island, 2005
Back in the real world, who wants to worry about what they look like each time they answer a random call? There are some calls you just don’t want blaring across the room for everyone to hear. Picture your teenager calling — the one who doesn’t have a driver’s license — and dropping the bomb on you that they just wrecked the family car. Are you sure you want those in neighboring cubicles to hear that? Let’s face it, when it comes to personal communications, community is generally not part of that equation.
That being said, there are plenty of good reasons to have video calls. Families separated by great distances, far from home, often delight in the opportunity see one another via Skype or Facetime. Having a business-related video conference is certainly a respectable use of video, especially if you have a moment to run a comb through your hair before you start. However, these are usually planned events and participants are prepared that they will be “on camera.”
Audio Only Calls are Here to Stay
In spite of all the advances in bandwidth, video compression, and peer to peer technology, there will always be a robust market for audio only calls. No one would argue with the idea that participating in a video call while driving a car would be a recipe for disaster. Having an option to enable video on a specific call will always be a perk, but day to day, person to person, run of the mill communications will always be audio only.
So where does that leave a business that wants to enhance their customer experience? How can a business become more effective when most calls are and will continue to be audio only? How can a business incorporate video calling when it is appropriate for the context? How can a business better incorporate WebRTC, SMS, click to call, automated voicemails, Android Apps, Apple Apps, and data driven teleintegration into their business practices?
VoiceElements Platform
Our team at Inventive Labs have been a driving force in answering these questions for businesses worldwide for close to 20 years. Your business will thrive with our common-sense approach to providing a best in class telephony solution that meets your specific requirements. As many other platforms diverge into the dark complexity of the Linux world, our VoiceElements Platform runs entirely on Microsoft Windows and allows you to develop your solution using the popular and highly acclaimed .NET framework using C#, and/or Visual Basic.
VoiceElements Platform was developed for scalability. You can quickly develop your own customized application and test it on our Secure Telephony Bank. When you are ready to grow, increasing density is a snap with little to no changes to your code. We provide both cloud based and premise based solutions to meet your specific requirements.
Teleintegration
Teleintegration is one of our specialties. When calls arrive or are placed, we can integrate with your data to provide you with a complete picture of who you will be speaking to before the phone is answered. Account balances, ordering profiles, next scheduled appointments, all at your fingertips. Having the data you want exactly when you need it is what we can do for you.
Our Invitation to You
Give VoiceElements a test drive. See for yourself how powerful an audio only call can really be.