You're on a web site looking to buy a holiday. After registering personal details you search through flight/villa/car combinations for the perfect family break. But what about parking? Does the villa have wheelchair access? Does the insurance cover you for sailing? You probably have a million and one questions, many of them unique to your set of circumstances.

How much easier life would be if you could simply click on a single web page button and instantly connect to an adviser who knows who you are, what you’ve been searching for, your holiday preferences from previous bookings, and what feedback you’ve previously given. And how much better would that customer experience be?

Sounds like the contact centre of the future. But in fact it’s all possible today thanks to a new technology called Web RTC.

WebRTC, or Web Real-Time Communications, is a communications standard developed by the W3C and supported by Google, Mozilla, storm(R) and others. WebRTC allows Web browsers and other HTTP-based applications to send and receive real-time media with the aim of allowing browsers, mobile platforms, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices to communicate via a common set of protocols.

Using WebRTC-enabled applications, consumers can make audio or video calls from Web pages, with the media sent directly and securely from one device to another - and without the need for them to download an application or use a browser plug-in like Flash.

For software developers WebRTC is major news. It means they can now simply and securely integrate real-time communications into mobile and web applications and, like in the example above, interact with greater context, creating a much more efficient information exchange. It also means developers can control telecom and other comms applications without requiring detailed knowledge of telecom technologies and protocols. All they need is web development know-how.

WebRTC and customer service

One area where WebRTC is predicted to have a massive impact is customer service. And there has already been plenty of activity in this area.

As early as 2013, Amazon took live agent support to the next level with its WebRTC-enabled Mayday ‘video contact centre’ for Kindle HD users. Mayday is a single-click support solution that lets users work with remote tech support personnel to solve problems with their tablets. The service enables users to see the remote tech support people in a small window on their screens - and remote tech staff to see users’ screens on their computers. Remote staff can not only watch what users are doing online but also co-browse, annotate their screens and tap through their interfaces.

WebRTC developers have also been active in communications-enabling Customer Relationship Management applications - giving CRM users quick and easy access to live agent support via phone and web chat - as well as using WebRTC to integrate WebRTC with other media streams such as PSTN or SIP to provide more unified customer communications.

The success of these initiatives has already gone some way towards proving the potential worth of WebRTC to service operators. However, we’ve really only scratched the surface of what is possible.

Developers are now looking to use WebRTC to:

• Enable customers (or prospective customers) browsing a website, whether on a mobile device or at their computer, to initiate a chat or call with an agent by clicking a single button.
  Turn text chats into calls or video chats by sending URLs to customers via text
• Launch Visual IVR apps (i.e. to send mobile users visual IVR trees that appear as apps on their devices)
• Create in-app customer service features (i.e. enabling app users to directly talk to - or web chat - an agent, without leaving the application or its context)
  Integrate multiple data streams and share screens to facilitate greater collaboration - and even introduce augmented reality into the customer experience
• Combine client information with communications, enabling incoming calls initiated from a browser to be automatically matched with customer information such as personals details and account history
• Close the ‘context gap’ - i.e. the gap that exists when customers have to re-explain issues to an agent after providing the same details to another agent (via phone, email, web chat, text etc.) or previously entering them into an IVR, web site, CRM or other system

When it comes to creating faster, seamless and more personalised customer experiences, WebRTC is clearly a potential game changer.