Video Is Going Viral, Part Deux and Financial Services

5 Dec 2016

Introduction

My October 2016 post, Video is Going Viral - Especially in Healthcare! showed that video is going mainstream, even viral and external forces are creating that "perfect storm" for video. Video is one of the components of the UC suite, and projections over the next few years for UC and "neighboring areas" growth is staggering and even "off the charts." For example:

VIDEO - Video market growth is significant and expected to surge

A $6.40 billion market by 2020, now $7.8 billion by 2023 (according to Transparency Market Research)
Was $3.3 billion in 2015, with 24% growth rate in third quarter compared to first quarter, according to Infonetics
According to Transparency Market Research, the more inclusive video market is projected at close to $37B by 2020 (Web Conferencing, Webcasting, Video Conferencing, Video Streaming, Applications, Corporate Communication, Learning & Development, Knowledge Sharing & Management)

BIG DATA - "IDC says big data spending to hit $48.6 billion in 2019, annual CAGR 23.1%." - CIO Mag
IoT - McKinsey states that IoT will be at $6.2 in revenues by 2025
SDN/SD-WAN - Will be at $105 billion by 2020, according to SDx Central
BIOMETRICS - Transparency Market Research projects $23.3 billion in revenues by 2019, CAGR of 20.8%
UC/UCaaS - Grand View Research states that the Unified Communications Market Worth $143.49 Billion By 2024

So the UC and neighboring market, without IoT, will register at $328.2 billion. For anything related to UC, this is mind boggling, considering that UC alone is only a $10B market today and growing. We are going to experience "hockey stick"-level growth at the enterprise level very shortly.
In addition, we are beginning to enter the Zettabyte Era, according to one source, in this case Cisco. Some interesting projections about Internet growth:

Annual global IP traffic will pass the zettabyte ([ZB]; 1000 exabytes [EB]) threshold by the end of 2016, and will reach 2.3 ZB per year by 2020. Note that a ZB is 1billion terabytes, or 1 trillion gigabytes
Internet bandwidth will expand at 22% CAGR annually
IP video traffic will be 82 percent of all IP traffic (both business and consumer) by 2020, up from 70 percent in 2015
3.9 percent of all Internet video traffic will be video surveillance in 2020, up from 1.5 percent in 2015. Internet video surveillance traffic nearly doubled in 2015. Internet video surveillance traffic will increase tenfold between 2015 and 2020

Video Market Growth and Disruption in Financial Services

So the line is drawn. Video and other components of the UC suite will grow at unprecedented rates. And video disruption in financial services is here.

Outside healthcare and telemedicine applications outlined in my October post, I believe that the next level of growth in the video market will come from the financial services sector, but not in the typical room-based video conferencing format. Financial services are facing challenges including the following:

Online banking is mainstream, and can be performed from any device - laptop, tablet, smartphone, ATM, other. Online banking offers little to no personal banking experience interfacing with the customer.
Banking has become a commoditized market - many services are similar, and banks and credit unions need to differentiate.
Branch office are more expensive to run today. There is considerably less foot traffic today than five years ago, driven by online banking. The cost to open up a branch is expensive ($1.4+M), and there is a driver for banks and credit unions to be profitable.
As with the Telemedicine app described in my October post, reduced travel time for the consumer is a driver in any market, including financial services.
Amazon.com has created a new defacto standard for video SLAs with their Mayday button. Any kind of video customer service applications require a 9-second SLA (or better) in the B-to-C market.

I believe that the next level of growth in video will come from video banking. Some of these applications include:

Customer-centric ATMs w/ video
Video Tellers - Personalized remote services @ the branch
Personal broker, banker, account rep
Loan specialists (auto, home, other)
Investment specialists
Banking Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) - online banking, other
Visual answers, FAQs

Video Tellers, Video Kiosks

Video tellers is one such application, and more common today in the European region than in the US. The advantages of virtual tellers is significant and include the following:

Manage FTEs - with a virtualized, video-driven centralized teller model. Centralized models commonly improve on the number of Full Time Equivalents.
Minimize theft - Banks and credit unions can minimize and nearly eliminate theft and robberies via an off-site virtualized video teller environment.
Extended teller hours - teller hours can be extended while managing staffing costs.
Improve on ASA Abandoned calls - with a centralized model, improving on SLAs for average speed of answer and abandoned calls can easily be managed (note Amazon's 9-second SLA).
Personalized ATMs - Banks and credit unions can provide a personalized ATM experience and improve on the customer experience with an ASTM virtual assistant.

Video kiosks are another application for consideration. Mortgage officers, brokers, auto loan specialists, and investment portfolio specialists who typically travel from branch to branch on specific days can now be available via kiosks at branches. These specialists can be available at every branch, every day and address customer needs at a moment's notice without any special appointments scheduled days in advance. Advantages for specialists in a virtualized video application include:

Visit multiple branches in a single day
Accelerate and improve on the number of transactions per individual
Manage the number of specialist FTEs serving their communities
Reduce travel time and scheduling time among branches

For either of the above, logistics for video are required including:

Dress Codes - dress codes for a video experience need to be encouraged for a best customer video experience
Agents Best Suited for Video (image, presentation skills) - not all staff are suited for representing the company via video - it takes a specific agent/representative to carry themselves in front of a camera
Lighting, Background - Proper lighting and backgrounds are critical for a great video experience.
A 100+% Immersive Experience - Video is a 100+% immersion customer service experience with no multi-tasking allowed.

A Credit Union Example

One example is a major federal credit union. Their personalized banking design approach includes:

15 branches, no local tellers, 64 ATM machines, and 44 bank tellers centrally located
Teller functions include writing checks, opening and closing accounts, handling loans, and providing a personalized approach to all ATM functions
By migrating to a virtualized model, the results have been significant:
Overall Results and Experience
Reduced the physical size of its branches
Cut teller costs by 40%
Increased teller hours 45%
Customers can now do their banking with tellers seven days a week 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Reduced the training time from 3 weeks to 1 week
Teller-Specific Results
Teller turnover dropped
Tellers state that their job is now easier
There are no more cash drawers to count
There are no long hours on one's feet
No safety worries about a potential robbery
Tellers are reportedly more focused
More Results
Customer satisfaction has climbed
Lines are shorter
Service (SLAs) is faster

Some Video Best Practices

With a major trend towards personalizing the banking experience once again, video will grow at unprecedented rates and consumers will experience a new level of customer service. Best technical practices must be practiced to make the video experience a great one. Some of those include

Bandwidth Requirements - Bandwidth requirements are HUGE (H.264 approx. 1Mb HD per conversation, 720p, 60fps, HD). Consumers expect HD video (standard video is "blah" by today's expectations). IT departments must over plan for anticipated video traffic and SLAs required earlier
CTI Screen Pops and Collaboration - These tools are required to make the great customer experience possible. CTI will shorten call lengths by 20% and collaboration/screen sharing will immerse the teller with the customer/specialist and facilitate the transaction personally and professionally
Presence and Directory Services - should be included in the design for supervisory approvals help
QoS Prioritization Everywhere - QoS for voice is a must for a great voice experience (expected), and the same holds true for video
Network Assessments - network assessments are a must, in my opinion, to ensure the network and all end-to-end components will carry QoS-based traffic correctly day one. Network Assessments are key for identifying any anomalies and resolving issues prior to going into a full production environment.
Encrypt All Video Calls - to maintain security and privacy for PCI compliance, every video call must be encrypted and secured
QoS-based Network Management Tools - that measure for QoS, bandwidth, latency, packet loss, MOS scores, jitter, other
SIP Trunking - voice and video - managing down costs is always a clear advantage and looking at video over SIP trunking is just one way of managing those costs with the advantage of QoS
Sizing, Designing - Ports, licensing, routes, queues, analytics

Conclusion

Video customer service models, in my opinion, will create the next wave for video in the financial services sector. Improved customer experience, improved employee morale, safer environments, availability for specialists in seconds and not days, will radically change how financial services will function from a customer experience perspective. Best practices must be followed to create a great video experience for the customer. Video financial services can be a major differentiator in today's market, and ROI models can easily pay for the enhanced video experience.

Financial services is one other vertical, like Telemedicine. Expect more video-enabled customer experience applications to facilitate expected video growth in the coming 36 months through 2020, and to continue beyond.