#visiple

COVID-19 pandemic, remote work revamps IT investment priorities

According to a PwC and Qualtrics survey, leading IT organizations stepped up security and privacy, cloud and engagement investments.

A recently published article on ZDNet highlights the improvements the video conferencing industry has made in lightning speed during the Covid19 pandemic and where investments have been prioritized. The team at Visiple has prioritized many of these areas for some time. Others with a lot of media coverage, less so. However we see the need to continue re-enforcing our commitment to having a safe and secure video call.

STAY INFORMED WITH SMS TEXT INVITATIONS

SMS Text Invitations simplify how meetings are arranged, hosted, and joined from any device.

We know the most of us already have enough difficulty staying updated with our calendars and invitations that come and go. Visiple is set to launch our SMS integrated service which allow meeting invites and meeting links to be sent to your and your participants phones.

Get Your Message Noticed

SMS Text Invitations get sent to participants’ handheld device and are automatically synced to their calendars. Your invite won’t get lost in an email thread.

No longer will you need to copy and paste with Visiple´s new SMS text invites.

Schedule Meetings On The Fly

In case of an urgent matter, SMS Text Invitations is the quickest way to set up a meeting right now. It’s fast, convenient and sends the message directly.

Remember with Visiple there is No Software Download Required

If you weren’t familiar with video conferencing platforms before (how can that be with Skype, FaceTime, and Visiple) the pandemic, I bet you have at least seeen Zoom on TV Stations everywhere, MS Teams and invites from brand xyz / name here for a video call.

More people working from home than ever before if not full time then most of the time. Companies were foced by COVID to use video conferencing as their primary means of communication between employees or cease to exist - as simple as that! With social distancing measures in place, even spending time with family and friends is now largely restricted to video. Video is everywhere.

Video conferencing was already a mid teens billion dollar business before COVID now add the multiplier.

The Boom

Out of all the conferencing platforms that exist, Zoom has become the heavyweight champion knocking off Skype for the belt. They reported growth of 30x year on year during Corona and were listed on the stock exchange. Eric Yuan played this brilliantly.

Why has Zoom raced so far ahead of Skype and all others? Well it is simple.. and this does not mean there is no room for companies like Visiple, Microsoft and others but again they played it brilliantly.

Ease of getting started on the platform - link sharing, auto connect to the app.

Easy to create meetings and invite. Simple!

Customizable backgrounds have created a super buzz.

Other than thatb their quality is decent, comparabale to Visiple and others and better than Skype.

The Cost

The cost aka. shortcomings are many but obviously not enough to drive away users (yet).

In video conferencing circles we used to count 10s of thousands of users, Zoom measures millions and hundreds of millions (300m in Q2 2020). The proliferation of the company’s platform resulted in the extension of Zoom’s privacy risks to massive numbers of users, leading to widespread concerns and several lawsuits.

Security vulnerabilities predated the pandemic, but these issues are now heightened due to the growing number of users on the platform. “Zoom-bombing,” Hackers successfully infiltrate video meetings to disrupt and sometimes threaten participants. The protests of the streets have come to video.

Additionally, there are allegations that recordings of some Zoom calls have been accessible on the web, while uninvited people have apparently found ways to join calls at times, which certainly poses major security and privacy concerns accrording to several blogs and websites.

How to Create a Successful Web Conferencing Platform

Simple… but making things simple is never easy! Our How´s are:

Easy to access, easy to start

Intuitive

A nice User Experience and UI - Targeting all types of users not just boardrooms.

Free version

Great security measures 

Messaging that resonates with users - cutting the tech talk!

Free and Paid Marketing - Using Media to promote and connect to the service. The more you see it, the more it is validated.

In the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak, businesses are struggling due to lack of customers , quarantine restrictions, travel bans, and so on. We have put together some tips on what to do with your marketing during these times.

Tips For Marketing During a Crisis

1. Assemble Your Management Team (if large), Assemble Your Team (if small).  

There has been a newed interest in crisis management teams and practices. While I am not against it I see this as a role that your upper management (if large enough) should have a plan for already. If you are a #remoteworker or #digitalnomad this does not apply to you other than organizing yourself during a crisis and what you can do for your business and your client´s business. You should keep up communication with your customers and informing them that you are open for business and available for them.

2. Protect Your People/Work Remotely - Everyone can!  

During the early outbreak, it's difficult to communicate the correct information because new data and events might make the present practices obsolete. Also, the scare might create room for misinformation. Therefore, it's mandatory to protect your employees. This can be done in the following ways:

Make remote work available to everyone! Use your #visiple account to connect to everyone. Hold daily standups or virtual coffee breaks to keep the team together.

Respect the fact that people have lives and need some space as they have a lot more on their plate than just “working remotely”.

3. Possibilities and Communication Plans  

Communicate with your stakeholders, such as investors, suppliers, and vendors.

Assess and evaluate various possibilities that may happen due to the crisis (COVID-19 in the present scenario), and how they may impact the organization and its stakeholders. Develop holding statements or response modules for every possible situation so that you can communicate with your stakeholders on-time.

It should be empathetic, action-oriented, and should steer away from speculations and unverified updates.

4. The Right Communication Channels  

Choose the right communication channels to deliver information. Along with your official website, emphasize on social media and email newsletters to consistently communicate information but don´t over do it! Often in desperation companies blast emails with sales offers multiple times a day. Nothing will chase away customers faster. Up your social listening game and proactively respond and reach out to customers to reply to their queries, complaints, and seek feedback.

5. Marketing Contingency Plans  

The market is volatile, consumer behavior is unexpected, and the business, in general, will face sudden fluctuations. Therefore, evaluate the current market scenario and predict short and long-term market behavior and plan your marketing activities accordingly. For example, Puma has taken a serious hit in China due to COVID-19 and had to close more than 50% of its stores, but they are working under the assumption that the situation will normalize and the company will be able to reach its annual revenue goals.

Simultaneously, you may also need to identify and work with other vendors and suppliers to balance your supply chain. This would also mean the reallocation of certain budgets to other essential marketing activities in the short run.

6. Alternatives to Deliver on Your Promises  

The primary industries that are adversely impacted by the Coronavirus outbreak are events, retail, hospitality, and SMBs.

An alternative to this is to make it a virtual event. There are a plethora of applications available that can help you run the event digitally. Try to stream, try to record and distribute through YouTube and Tiktok which you can through Visiple. You can optimize this by introducing online discussion tools before and after the event to enable the participants to continue the dialogue, for example, by informing and engaging users on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Some Closing Thoughts

The Future of The Telephone Number? Is There One? PART I

The phone number goes back to the time of Alexander Bell in the late 1800’s. It still plays a surprisingly important role in our lives. We have our favorites, we remember our childhood ones, we even conduct mobile payments via them. But will there be phone numbers in the near future?

Modern Technology and the not so user friendly Phone Number

Phone numbers as used with modern tech you know smart phones is not very user friendly. Kind of like using Windows 98 on a new MacBook.

Imagine having to use IP addresses to look up websites, people and more? It would be hard to find a person that thought this was a great customer experience. The human brain is simply not optimized for remembering long sequences of digits but short names and quick movements (clicks).

 Early Stages….

Web sites made it possible to hide numbers behind names. Imagine using e.g. 195.111.291.2093 to sign in to your Apple.com account?

125 years on we still use numbers! Well sort of… they are hidden behind accounts / names or so called Voip IDs but they are still rearing their ugly heads.

“Call to action” buttons to click on whenever you find a more digitally friendly company online to “call” or engage someone from that business is a start.

Freebies…

There are a lot of ways to call people today that didn’t exist some years ago.

WhatsApp, Skype, Facetime, Facebook Messenger, our own Visiple and Whereby – just to mention a few – are already in the hands of billions of people, allowing you to make free calls relatively easy.

What about those “pesky” phone numbers?

Here are the 2 big reasons why phone numbers are still being used and preferred!

Quality: They work and always have. Calling a number on your phone works! Sometimes clicking on a name in your addressbook does not. You know it says “calling” but there is no sound. Punch in the number and it just works!

Everyone can reach you independent of service: With more than 2.7b accounts at Whatsapp and Messenger for the most part one cannot call the other unless they use the same service. Ok so let´s compare this to the phone. You bought a phone from Apple and your wife bought one from Samsung and well you cannot connect. Make sense? No… but that is why the phone and phone number is still the preferred voice based communication tool.

At Visiple we are developing tools that allow you to connect with everyone independent of service but it is not easy. Getting global communications and social media companies to collaborate is harder than sending someone to Mars unless they are planning on acquiring that company (Facebook . Whatsapp) and TBH they still do not play well together if at all.

Visiple Virtual Meeting Room

Connect Up To 10 Participants With A Click of A Button! 

GETTING STARTED HAS NEVER BEEN EASIER!

Visiple ProVMR now works with Google Hangouts Meet!

Join Google Meet video calls using business video conferencing systems and modern software clients

Designed for organizations who want to join Google Hangouts Meet calls using business video conferencing systems from vendors such as Cisco, Polycom, Lifesize, and many others. Employees can also join Meet calls using Skype for Business and other video-capable software video clients that they use everyday.

Our friends at Videonor have helped us provide this latest greatest service for our ProVMR users allowing meeting participants to join from Google Hangouts Meet as well!

We are focusing heavily on offering services that interoperate with other services. The day of the my service to only my service died decades ago in just about every other technology industry but is alive and well in video conferencing.

Visiple ProVMR now supports traditional video conferencing systems, iOS and Android based devices, browser (webrtc), Skype for Business, and now Google Hangouts Meet.

Not everyone has the same service so why force them into using something else?

Visiple plans on launching several new services this year that will further demonstrate our commitment to offering the right services for the modern meeting participant.

Visiple Can Help Students Make Much-Needed Extra Cash

College is a time when you need money but often struggle to make it. For many students, trying to work a standard, full-time job into their daily lives is prohibitively difficult. Class schedules change frequently, and many employers, even part-time employers, are not very flexible with work schedules.

On top of that, working at a business probably means you need to cover the expenses involved in maintaining a vehicle. Car insurance, registration, and gas are all big monthly expenses. Thankfully, you can use Visiple video chat services to work from home or even your dorm room with the internet you already have. Getting a little creative could help you develop ways to make money in between classes while you go to school.

Use video calls for English language tutoring

English language skills are highly in demand around the world. Some people pay off their student loans by traveling abroad and teaching English in another country after they graduate. However, you don't have to wait for graduation to start using your native language for profit. There are many companies that offer online tutoring services for students who want to learn English.

You can work with one of these companies or just advertise yourself online. You may be able to make quite a bit more per hour tutoring online than you would make working at a physical job. More importantly, you won't incur any of the expenses associated with renting a facility or traveling, and you'll meet new and interesting people all over the world.

Offer academic support or other skills to remote clients

If you're a student, that means you already have a relatively strong knowledge base and a desire to improve yourself. You probably learn new things all the time. Why don't you put that knowledge to use for your benefit? Offering online tutoring in subjects where you excel can be a great way to make money. You don't even have to visit the other students in person. That means you could offer support to a student with a similar major at a college across the country.

If tutoring doesn't seem quite your speed, there are still plenty of other options. Perhaps you have a hobby you particularly enjoy. The truth is that any skill or knowledge you have is theoretically marketable to someone else. Sharing that information through video calls is a great way to ensure not only that the other party understands but also develop a relationship with that client. Seeing their teacher face to face makes the experience much more significance to the other party and can make it easier for you to build up a real base of clients.

Alternative ways to earn money

If you aren't much of a teacher, there are still other options. You could participate in online research panels that require face-to-face input. If you're handy with tarot cards, you can offer readings for a fee. There's no real limit to how you can monetize your time online via Visiple, other than your creativity.

There are many people who think that video chat is just for keeping in touch with friends. However, Visiple video chat provides infinite possibilities for creative people looking for income. If you haven't already done so, getting yourself familiar with video chat software could be the first step toward building a stream of income as a student.