Is an isolated video conferencing solution a false economy?

By Danny Baggs Director of Marketing UK at Unblu

Video conferencing solutions may present an enticing ‘quick fix’ for organizations at this time but are they really adding the value that clients seek and the businesses themselves require? For companies that are highly regulated, there is also a very reasonable question around the security risk of some vendors.

Many organizations are under pressure to implement a contingency solution as a replacement for physical in-person meetings. But to take the most literal transition of those meetings into the digital world and choose a video conferencing tool would be to miss a huge opportunity that can help the business strategically differentiate their service and deliver an outstanding customer experience. It also ignores the customer-centric path that is winning the competition greater market share.

Customers want a voice or video call to be just one possible touchpoint in how they engage in what is an open-ended conversation that includes messaging and file sharing. Video conferencing provides a solution for an isolated touchpoint but doesn’t acknowledge the broader customer journey. Unblu, by contrast, understands this and the specific challenges within the financial services industry.

Financial matters are complex

Advising and selling a financial product can be a complex task that takes multiple steps over the course of a buying journey – a voice or video call is just one. The tools used should facilitate, support and enhance the process – not get in the way. Imagine the following journey as an example:

Unblu’s messaging solutions (Secure Messenger, Live Chat, or a social messenger integration) allow a client to reach out to their advisor at their convenience and express a need or interest. A bot integration could provide realtime guidance, helping to narrow down the customer’s request and potentially route it to the appropriate team or individual. An advisor could seamlessly join the conversation, share a product brochure in response and schedule a time for an online meeting, where video call capabilities are needed. In a video meeting session, the advisor could make an offer and utilize co-browsing to compare, live with the customer, information from another website to help justify that the offer is a good one. Sometime later, when the customer is ready, another meeting session can utilize document co-browsing to collaboratively populate forms and the business could be closed with an integration to an e-signing solution like DocuSign. At any point, the customer and advisor have convenient access to all documents shared throughout the lifetime of the conversation and all interaction logs (including shared media) and recordings are securely archived to ensure the organization remains compliant with their regulatory requirements. The benefits for both parties are clear.

Video Meetings with Screen Sharing in Isolation

By comparison, how do the likes of Zoom, MS Teams, Skype for Business, or any one of the many video conferencing and screen sharing solutions perform here? The above scenario quickly becomes more disjointed. For a start, the engagement isn’t initiated through an integrated and convenient means for the customer and the transition from one touchpoint to another is not seamless for the client. A video call with screen sharing could be used to talk through a product but screen sharing (by comparison to co-browsing) may be excessive for what is required and it exposes the risk of unintended disclosure of information. The media shared within one touchpoint is not automatically available in the next, which can only serve to frustrate both parties. Closing the business may require the back and forth of various forms partially filled by each participant. This vital step in the journey quickly becomes more complex than it needs to be and may very well hinder getting that final signature.

Think Strategically

While the need is urgent, it pays to take some time to think long term. Does an isolated video conferencing solution truly provide what the organization strategically needs to remain competitive and serve the growing expectation of your customers in the way they demand? Online meetings with video and screen sharing are the baseline delivered by most vendors. Unblu gives an agile and rapid means to match this while providing a foundation from which a tighter integration to existing systems can be achieved. Taking such a strategic approach will deliver a positive and seamless experience across the client’s journey.