Introduction
As a result of COVID-19 pandemic, the modern world turns to real-time collaboration for study, work, and many everyday tasks. The ability to communicate in real-time impacted positively on many industries, including healthcare and the use of telemedicine. Many businesses use video communication to interact with their employees more and more. Real-time communication allows them to meet with customers and remote colleagues with fewer delays. Chat rooms for communication are also used everywhere for work and in everyday life.
Today we discuss what real-time communication is exactly and why it’s important.
What Are Real-Time Communications
As per TechTarget, real-time communication (RTC) is the near-simultaneous information exchange with any type of telecommunications service from a sender to a receiver over a low-latency connection. Examples of real-time data exchange include:
- Voice over landline and mobile phones;
- VoIP;
- Instant messaging apps (i.e. WhatsApp, WeChat, and Facebook Messenger);
- Video and teleconferencing;
- Robotic telepresence.
In plain words, real-time communication is any type of real-time telecommunication that occurs without transmission delays. It occurs almost instantly.
It is important to understand that real-time communication data and messages are not stored between transmission and reception. Typically, RTC is peer-to-peer like voice and video chat rather than multicast or broadcast.
History Of RTC
Real-time communication was made accessible to the general public with the advent of the public-switched telephone network (PSTN) in the early 1900s. Fundamentally, it altered the nature of long-distance communications. With the introduction of a new transcontinental telephone connection in 1915, customers could engage with one another as if they were in the same room while being more than 3,000 miles apart for the first time in history.
Later in the 20th century, instant messaging (IM), IP telephony, voice video calling, videoconferencing, and other real-time communication methods became possible. It happened thanks to high-speed Internet, mobile phones, and smart devices.
Another significant advance in the evolution of real-time communication technology was Google’s introduction of the open-source WebRTC project in 2011. WebRTC uses JavaScript Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to deliver direct P2P audio and video conversations in standard web browsers.
Types Of Real-Time Communication
There is a return path in this kind of message that allows the recipient to communicate with the sender in real-time as well. There are two types of real-time communication: half-duplex and full-duplex.
- Half duplex refers to communication that only occurs on one channel at once. Sending and receiving are both possible, but not at the same time.
- Full duplex allows for simultaneous message sending and receiving over two parallel communication channels.
Importance Of RTC
In short, customers nowadays demand responsiveness. This is true whether the customer is seeking knowledge, help, or sales leads. For instance, a traveler who missed a connecting flight can call the reservation center while stranded at the intermediate hub or use the airline’s app. But they probably won’t wait for a reply or send an email.
Real-time collaboration distinguishes itself by having the capacity to offer information, services, or sales engagement in the appropriate setting and moment. Measures that provide sensitive data to agents can lessen the number of times the consumer has to repeat their tale before getting authorized. And this is crucial: repeating was one of the largest barriers to effective communication.
In this situation, these systems might:
- Indicate the area of the application the client is calling from;
- Complete pertinent information, particularly when using timings like the client’s flight itinerary;
- Allow real-time chat between agents during transmission so you can get the information you need quickly.
It takes time, planning, and commitment to achieve this degree of responsiveness in any sector.
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the value of contemporary RTC solutions. It has allowed numerous firms to continue operating and producing even in the face of unexpected and long-term needs of working from home. Corporate users can carry out routine tasks that they would need to carry out in person in a formal office setting using live telephony and collaboration tools.
Benefits Of Real-Time Communications For Businesses
Fast Wi-Fi and mobile data capabilities, along with potent networked phones, have made it possible to develop a new generation of business applications. These applications offer network and vendor-independent services that let users call and chat with one another within the application while voice video data is sent over the data network to which the device is connected.
The market has been utilizing these cutting-edge characteristics in ever-more-ingenious ways. By overcoming the unreliable local carriers’ infrastructure in Southeast Asia, a real-time taxi call application enables users to communicate with the company using voice messages sent via a voice API. As a result, data may be transported over the global cloud network with little latency. It enhanced the dependability and quality of service and utilized proxies to help deal with specific market difficulties.
Of course, RTC has more commercial applications. Employees are often on the go. They might not have time to react to a regular email but can rapidly send a message or call from their location when needed. This is a benefit of real-time collaboration at places of employment where traditional office space is not available, such as restaurants and retail establishments. Replacing mass emailing of organizational updates with real-time messaging on a business app can enhance engagement. Keep in mind that staff members are also customers and that their tastes do not only pertain to business.
The benefits that can be identified in real-time communication are the following:
Less Confusion As a Result Of Clear Communication
There is no possibility of misunderstanding because real-time communication is seamless and fast. Your consumers will value the ability to interact with your staff in real time and receive assistance, support, and responses immediately.
Saved Time
Real-time communication also has the potential to save you time. The time required for lengthy meetings with the full team can be cut down by allowing people to meet virtually. Additionally, you will avoid time-consuming email exchanges to schedule a meeting with your clients. Real-time collaboration can usually handle consumer difficulties, replacing the need for drawn-out email dialogue.
Higher Productivity
You’ll observe a big gain in performance once you begin using the RTC. After all, there’s no reason why people can’t complete the task at hand if they can quickly get the solutions or information they require. Real-time communication increases productivity for field workers, remote workers, and those working on-site.
Money Savings
Your company will experience significant cost reductions in addition to the aforementioned advantages. Increased productivity will ultimately lead to higher earnings and lower expenses for you. This is a significant motivation for most business owners to begin using real-time communications technologies.
The Future Of RTC
The impact of RTC can be gauged in two ways: through the technologies that end users (applications) engage with, and through the technologies that support back-end communication for these end-user products (API, cloud).
This final element is crucial since it increases RTC’s appeal to a variety of stakeholders. This trend is reflected in the adoption of APIs among enterprises as well as the development of unified communications platforms, which enable organizations to integrate real-time collaboration directly into current workflows and systems.
It’s crucial to keep RTC in mind as more than just a commercial or customer-driven idea because of this. The quicker we can provide knowledge to individuals who ask for it, the happier and more effective those people will be. This can result in subtle adjustments in the workplace. A worker could use instant messaging rather than email to swiftly respond to a query or make significant adjustments, such as a corporation reevaluating its contact center unified communications platform.
In the end, each organization must decide how to use RTC to its advantage, but there are still a lot of universal use cases. What would your company look like if it changed its focus to real-time?
Conclusion
As you can see, utilizing real-time communication technology has a number of advantages. Now is the moment to go forward if you haven’t already. The productivity of your workers and your income could increase significantly as a result. Bamboo Agile offers custom real-time communication software development services, such as real-time video app development, real-time messaging, audio conferencing implementation, and integration of custom RTC features. All you have to do to turn your dream application into reality is contact our team of professionals. Book a free consultation, and we will help you reach your business goals.
