Nobody likes sitting on a call with customer service. It’s usually a tedious affair, especially when you’re dealing with a complex product. But customer support agents face a challenging task: they’re often forced to diagnose problems without being able to see them, while simultaneously dealing with confused and frustrated customers. 

That’s why we see video streaming increasingly becoming a key customer support tool, one that can give companies the ability to identify and resolve issues quickly and efficiently. A startup we’re proud to support in this space is Palo Alto, Calif.-based Viewabo. It’s on a mission to make remote customer support better by using interactive livestreams to help companies solve problems in real-time. 

Problem: Companies these days need dynamic customer service solutions that can quickly resolve a variety of complex issues. We live in a world where customers expect issues to be addressed immediately, but without the right tools companies can easily get bogged down. That can potentially lead to lost business. 

It can be difficult to troubleshoot complex cases using online chat bots, emails or phone calls. That’s particularly true when it comes to hands-on fixes, from plumbing problems to PC troubles. That’s why video chats are proving to be a great tool for tackling a variety of customer service requests. 

The space is still evolving. Many traditional video chat solutions require people to download an app and go through a registration process. That takes time and can further contribute to customer frustration by adding an unnecessary layer to the process. Simultaneously, video chat solutions need to be built around tools and features that help agents get the most out of their calls. 

Solution: Viewabo combines video streaming and interactive communication tools to help customer support agents see the actual problem, and achieve better clarity through visual cues. That allows them to quickly troubleshoot offline issues, while minimizing the confusion and wasted time that can occur with traditional customer support options like phone calls, email or chats. 

There’s no need for an app: Viewabo’s web-based platform is designed to create fast and frictionless customer support experiences. Onboarding is easy, with a support agent simply requesting access to a customer’s smartphone camera by sending a link via text message, which then initiates a live-streamed video. Its solution is also integrated with key customer support platforms such as Zendesk. 

Crucially, Viewabo provides interactive tools that allow agents to annotate, pause or rotate the video. That helps them easily analyze problems visually and draw customer attention to specific components, while guiding them through fixes step by step. Viewabo also records and saves video streams, creating a video library that can be used to train agents and keep product development teams in the loop. 

In founder George Cheng we see someone who has moved quickly to build Viewabo’s product and bring it to market. In addition to being a serial entrepreneur, George has spent time as a senior product marketing manager at VCE, a senior solutions marketing manager at EMC Corporation, and as a web app developer at MIT. He got his start after studying computer engineering at UCLA and later earned an MBA from Boston University.

Viewabo is bringing a cutting-edge video chat solution to market at a time when demand is growing for innovative customer service tech. There are already successful unicorns in the customer service space, including Zendesk, Intercom and Talkdesk. Overall, the global customer contact center software market size is expected to reach $75.5 billion by 2026, up from $24.1 billion in 2020.

We believe interactive video chat solutions to be an important part of the industry going forward. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this opportunity by making video communication tools part of everyday life and work—and that extends to customer service too. In Europe, for example, use of video chats for customer service grew 70% in 2020. Looking ahead, the global video-as-a-service (VaaS) market size is expected to reach $6.2 billion by 2026, which is nearly double what it was in 2020. 

Viewabo is focused on growing in Taiwan and the U.S. We believe the company is well positioned to capture growing demand for video chat solutions, and we look forward to supporting George and his team on their journey.

You can learn more about ​​Viewabo at: https://www.viewabo.com/

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