Council Post: How Embedded Video Will Transform Post-Pandemic Businesses

Over the past several months, video conferencing platforms like Zoom, Webex and GoToMeeting – exclusive to remote workers before working from home (WFH) became the status quo – are now household names. Now, we use video hangouts to host social gatherings we used to have in-person – from cocktail parties, to elementary school play dates, to family reunions. 

These applications are wonderful tools that have been a lifeline for many surviving social isolation. Mainstream adoption hasn’t been without its hiccups, however. Most major privacy and security snafus – such as unauthorized access and screen sharing – are being addressed. However, another issue with these applications – their unwieldiness – is inherent to their design.

Video conferencing apps can be great for one-on-one communication, where communication is the goal of the meeting. But for industries where video communication needs to reference other data and/or include other media, there’s another approach with a potentially much larger use case on the horizon.

It’s been my long-standing belief that people don’t want more apps; they want more functionality built into the apps they already have. Post-pandemic, video-enabled business processes will be essential for most industries. By using application programming interfaces (API) like those from Vonage or Twilio to embed video into vertical-specific apps that industries already depend on – instead of adding another app to already insurmountable stacks – companies can increase security, improve continuity and achieve greater efficiency.

Here are a few ways video-enabled business processes might reinvent various essential and nonessential industries.

Immersive Exercise

During statewide shutdowns, many fitness studios have encouraged members to attend virtual classes through third-party video apps. But the video experience isn’t as immersive as it would be if it were embedded in a customized app. 

A good example of a company using video API even before the pandemic is Peloton, which uses Vonage’s APIs. The whole Peloton experience is engineered to be so immersive that you couldn’t imagine using a third-party video app on your phone or laptop to achieve the same effect of being in an actual spin class. Because the video is embedded, everything you need to see is in the same place.

Comprehensive, HIPAA-Compliant Telemedicine

COVID-19 had forced the U.S. government to temporarily suspend regulations that have so far prevented the nationwide adoption of telemedicine, even though telemedicine has the potential to cost-effectively expand access to care. Telehealth has been essential to flattening the curve, because it allows doctors to determine which patients need emergency care and which can be treated at home to avoid needlessly infecting others.

Some experts predict that COVID-19 will be a tipping point for instituting mainstream telehealth in the U.S., because remote care has a myriad of benefits beyond minimizing the spread of infectious diseases. Telehealth helps democratize the healthcare system by allowing more people to remotely (and affordably) access the same standard of care.

Telehealth is also a vital tool from an ongoing patient care perspective. By minimizing the number of times sick or elderly people have to physically visit the doctor (as well as the associated hardship), telehealth could significantly increase the quality – and potentially even the length – of people’s lives, while easing the strain on their caregivers. 

In order for telehealth to fully realize its potential, providers will have to utilize embedded video to ensure the highest possible degree of patient confidentiality. In response to COVID-19, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) temporarily waived HIPAA violation penalties for providers using widely available video apps like FaceTime and Skype; post-pandemic, however, providers will have to utilize secure video API in order to maintain HIPAA compliance.

Using embedded video in secure applications, clinicians can also improve workflow. Instead of having to flip back and forth between video chat and patient data, such as lab results and imaging, embedded video allows doctors and nurses to talk to patients without distraction, as if they were meeting face-to-face.

Next Level Customer Service

Almost any business with a customer service department could benefit from an app with embedded video. Insurance companies, for example, have developed apps for roadside assistance in recent years. In addition to viewing paperless policy information on their mobile device, customers could simultaneously chat with their agent through embedded video.

Embedded video could greatly reduce the need for in-person troubleshooting. Though technology retailers aren’t considered essential businesses, most people consider their cell phones and computers to be essential tools that are too expensive to replace. Much like video-enabled telehealth, video-enabled troubleshooting could determine which issues need in-person attention and which can be remedied at home. 

Better Longevity

Embedded video hasn’t yet become as popular as third-party apps like Zoom because each use case requires a developer to build it. Even though this requires an extra step beyond that which can be grabbed off the shelf, it creates an experience that is exponentially easier for the end user, especially those who aren’t digital natives. In most cases, this can be accomplished with just a few lines of code. 

COVID-19 has shown us that companies with the best longevity are those that are agile and efficient. Ultimately, the goal of embedded video is to make life easier for consumers by removing as many unnecessary steps as possible. 

As commerce becomes more mobile, simulating desktop functionality on mobile devices is increasingly important. Instead of requiring users to open, close and flip back-and-forth between different apps that do different things, apps with embedded media will act as one-stop shops, offering such a holistic experience that users won’t be able to imagine doing things any other way.