We always knew that the future of video was more than just us sitting at one table talking to you sitting at another table.
Much like the telephone that started out putting you in a 3 foot by 3 foot confined space and then tethering you to a desk, eventually the chord was broken and soon you could walk around the house on the phone and now with mobile technology we are free to roam and talk anywhere and everywhere. The same is happening for video.
In the past couple of years enterprise video solutions have come fast and furious with mobility rich applications. Cisco Jabber for the iPad is one example of the chord being cut and collaboration being opened up to the masses.
While the infrastructure to securely unhinge employees in a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) friendly environment is still quite an undertaking, it is at this point a proven technology that the enterprise can leverage in rolling out more flexible solutions that drive improved productivity for business and lead to happier customers.
Esurance on the Leading Edge of Video Proliferation
There may be nothing more frustrating then getting into a fender bender, especially when you were just minding your business and it was “the other guy” that decided to get intimate with your bumper. However, once the accident happens, the real work begins.
Between filing police reports, potential court appearances and having to have your car in the shop for a prolonged period of time, car accidents regardless of fault are a pain in the rear end. Not to mention waiting for the insurance adjuster to come in to let you know exactly what is covered by insurance. The whole thing is a drag.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could help take just a little bit of the sting out of the car accident experience by making the claim process completely real time? What if you could add video to a mobile application so people could press a button, get an agent on video and allow them to visually capture the damage, enter a claim and even approve repairs in real time?
This is what Esurance did with their most recent application. It is an amazing look into the window of what could be for video communication.
What Else is Possible with Video?
For the longest time we have heard about advances in video for mobile meetings and telemedicine, but with examples of video deployments like that of Esurance it goes to show an entire new possibility of what could be done with video.
Perhaps we can coin a term, ‘Mobile Video Customer Service’?
How many companies could benefit from an application that allows their customers to quickly get on video with a customer service rep? Maybe a better question is how many ways could video be incorporated into mobile applications and devices in ways where businesses can do more than just meet with video, but truly change the interaction between a business and its customers (and suppliers).
What Esurance is doing is just one example of what is possible. What do you think is possible with business video, mobile and BYOD?
