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What are the use cases for programmable video?
Programmable video is a growing trend in the CPaaS market to integrate video with apps and websites. Learn the use cases driving adoption of programmable video APIs.
The world of communications platform as a service, or CPaaS, has exploded over the past two years. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses and their customers have grown more interested in the need to deliver tailor-made video as an alternative to in-person communications. From this, a new trend within the CPaaS market has emerged known as programmable video. Let's look at what programmable video is and how it's being used in various use cases and market verticals.
What is programmable video?
The creation and distribution of video content for business is not new. Video has been engrained within organizations for years through video conferencing, video-based social network marketing material and digital signage.
Programmable video, on the other hand, is not video at all. Instead, it should be thought of as a method or framework with which to integrate live or recorded video into existing business-critical applications. Usually, programmable video is achieved through an API.
What are programmable video use cases?
Programmable video offers much potential to applications that traditionally haven't used video. For example, banks, insurance companies and healthcare providers have begun to integrate video chat capabilities within their websites and apps to offer face-to-face communication with their customers.
The reason these industries are considered trailblazers in the programmable video market is largely due to the sensitive nature of what's often discussed with customers. In some instances, customers feel more comfortable discussing their financial or health-related needs with someone they can see -- even if it's in a virtual format.
Product customer support centers are another market that is beginning to dabble in the use of programmable video. Using live video for customer support calls is showing to be valuable to customers as video calls are thought to be more engaging. Additionally, the ability for customer support technicians to see product issues in real time can help speed up problem resolution times.
Augmented and mixed reality use cases have also grown increasingly popular for programmable video. Wearable video products, such as Microsoft HoloLens 2 headsets, enable field technicians to visually communicate with remote specialists to maintain and troubleshoot things like complex smart building technologies and manufacturing equipment. This is a time-saving option that neatly blends the physical world with digital communications.
