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The world is slowly yet steadily recovering from the havoc unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the beginning of the outbreak, businesses and people had to identify new ways to sustain their day-to-day activities during difficult times. The blessing in disguise were technologies, including cloud communications, which kept us connected and enabled remote working. Even as there is a strong hope today, that humanity will leave the deadly virus behind, one key learning for businesses is to be future ready by adopting communication technologies, which allow a contactless engagement with customers.
Given the scenario, businesses are increasingly inclined to deploy live high-definition video interactions with their customers and other stakeholders. Traditionally, the live video experience in India has faced issues, such as bandwidth crunch, inconsistent connections, etc. However, with the growing demand for faster network speeds and reliable connections with stronger bandwidth, there is a strong pull for the 5th Generation of telecom standards, aka, 5G, in the country and around the world. In fact, all the major telecom operators in the country have already expressed their readiness to test their 5G networks, subject to Government approvals.
Based on some global experiences, 5G will usher in a new, no-buffering era of data consumption. It does so by providing a 10x reduction in end-to-end latency. This gives the consumers the ability to enjoy seamless, immersive VR experiences, ultra-low latency live broadcasts, high-speed mobile video communications and so on. Furthermore, 5G also leads to a lower cost per gigabyte consumed, thus, making video calls more cost efficient.
With 5G capabilities, cloud communications service providers have the opportunity to create rich experiences in live video communication between a business and its customers. Whether it’s a retail environment, a power utility grid, or a healthcare facility, 5G can provide reliable data in real-time that can help an organization make better decisions. Because it can transmit so much information so quickly, a 5G network can gather and process data from multiple sources so people can actually see and address potential issues as they’re happening rather than trying to determine what went wrong. In the financial industry, fintech firms can meet their Know-Your-Customer (KYC) guidelines by video calling their customers, eliminating the need for any physical presence at the local branch. Such use cases affirm that technology providers can ride the 5G wave to integrate real-time communication, i.e. video calling, into mobile applications and workflows, make physical meetings for day-to-day business interactions redundant and create a truly digital business world.
Given that 5G has already witnessed successful implementation in many countries in Asia, it is only a matter of time when India jumps on the wagon too. The impact of COVID-19—limiting face to face interactions but driving the digital adoption, will accelerate the rollout of more innovative and compelling live video conversation solutions to fill in the gap. The bottom line is that everyone should fasten their seat belts to embrace a lively world of live video meetings.
The author is CEO & Founder, EnableX.io
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