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Streaming video platforms see surge in healthcare market
Analysts discuss streaming video's important role in healthcare organizations, the positive effect of AI capabilities on customer service, and how to evaluate mobile devices.
Streaming video has great potential in the healthcare market as that industry becomes more digital, according to Wainhouse Research analyst Alan Greenberg.
Streaming video platforms for one-to-many communications -- such as live streaming, recorded and archived content -- are gaining relevance in healthcare services. The platforms offer a variety of real-time and on-demand use cases, including clinical care, training and patient education, Greenberg wrote in a blog. The industry is also seeing an emerging use case with microlearning content, such as short recordings describing how to use a technology or device.
Greenberg said healthcare organizations should focus on a positive user experience and the technology behind the platform that will meet user and organizational needs. Streaming video platforms should include elements such as scalability for long recorded sessions and an increasing number of users, as well as platform performance behind and across firewalls.
"How users interact with the front end of a technology can make or break a deployment," he said.
Healthcare organizations should keep Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations top of mind when deploying streaming video platforms, particularly if patients are identified in video content. Greenberg said organizations should heed policy procedures and approaches to user authentication and access.
Read more about the other factors Greenberg said are important to a successful streaming video platform deployment.
AI capabilities boost customer experience
Artificial intelligence (AI) may still be new, but the technology is already having a measurable effect on customer support, according to Forrester Research analyst Kate Leggett.
Organizations can use AI capabilities for presale customer service to offer support before customers make a purchase. The capabilities allow customer service to intervene through a chat or co-browsing invitation at points of struggle or abandonment such as checkout or session inactivity.
Organizations can also intervene at points best suited for customers to accept coupons or additional advice, Leggett wrote in a blog. This is accomplished through analytics and intent models that determine the best outcomes and is refined over time through machine learning.
AI capabilities can help organizations increase customer engagement through onboarding activities such as customer activation or predicting customer satisfaction. Organizations are also starting to use real-time satisfaction predictors to anticipate issues or identify customers who require attention, she said.
Algorithms calculate satisfaction scores based on attributes such as wait times, reply times and incident details, and AI capabilities can decide what escalation action to take based on the score.
Read more about how Leggett said AI capabilities help organizations build customer trust after the sale.
How to choose the right mobile device
New mobile devices are always entering the market, and organizations might struggle to decide which devices are right for them. Blue Hill Research analyst Charlotte O'Donnelly and Mobi brand journalist Matt Louden discussed the factors that organizations should consider when evaluating mobile devices.
Organizations should assess the native security of a mobile device. A remote data wipe capability should be available in case a device is lost or stolen in order to prevent the loss of sensitive information. Enterprise mobile devices should manage data transfers securely and enforce adequate encryption controls, O'Donnelly and Louden wrote in a blog.
IT must also be prepared to support new devices, particularly around procurement and device management tasks. Organizations should make sure devices align with their mobility program strategy before deploying them, they said.
Organizations should also evaluate HTML5-compatible devices. HTML5 is a program-agnostic development language that lets users access apps that work across any device type.
Read more about the other factors O'Donnelly and Louden said should be included in an evaluation of mobile devices.
