WebRTC Headed for Enterprise MainstreamWebRTC Headed for Enterprise Mainstream

Are you ready to take advantage of the limitless potential of real-time communications within your company?

As reported last month in a No Jitter post, Apple, one of the last holdouts of WebRTC adoption, finally placed WebRTC in development for the WebKit engine that supports its Safari browser. In the meantime, Facebook has been subtly exposing users to WebRTC via its Facebook Messenger app -- and now boasts the largest market share of WebRTC users. Such green-lighting shows that WebRTC is battle-tested and ready for rollout, and any company that's been hesitant to adopt WebRTC should be taking a second look at the technology.

A number of companies that provide enterprise technology have already embraced WebRTC with a great degree of success. One example is Vidyo, which offers a number of WebRTC-capable enterprise video conferencing solutions already in use by organizations such as the Department of Defense, Kaiser Permanente, and Bloomberg (see related post, "Bloomberg Trades on Ease of Video Calling"). As Jeffrey Fairbanks, Bloomberg's global head of AV and media technology, told No Jitter, the company considers WebRTC to be a critical piece of its strategic vision for real-time video communications. As such, Fairbanks said he needed to make sure Vidyo's WebRTC roadmap aligned with Bloomberg's.

"The wide adoption of WebRTC gives any website developer the capability to simply bring real human interaction to their digital presence," Fahim Siddiqui, SVP of Cloud Service at Vidyo, noted in a recent conversation. "By taking away the friction of plug-ins and downloads, developers can now be confident of providing a seamless digital experience that is personal and human."

The sky is the limit for WebRTC, and we know it won't be long before it is the standard for enterprise communications. J.P. Morgan Chase and Barclays last month announced their support for WebRTC-enabled, cloud-based voice trading, for example. And, we've seen numerous examples of successful WebRTC usage in the U.S. government, clinical healthcare, pharmacies, the hospitality industry, insurance, higher education, utility, and retail. WebRTC has clearly moved beyond its initial use case in customer service and customer communication interactions via browser-based tools, and is now facilitating communication at the highest levels of government and in some of the most security-, compliance-, and performance-conscious industries of the world.

The impact could mean that modern telecom companies as we know them become obsolete as new players emerge with cheaper, more reliable, and more adaptable communication tools that power enterprise communication and collaboration. Couple WebRTC with Internet of Things sensors loaded onto your refrigerator, home security system, or television and -- voila! -- you can create everything from telepresence to omnipresent customer support for your household appliances.

WebRTC comes into the enterprise in improved support, monitoring, and collaboration tools that simplify the way employees work and connect. But its potential really is limitless.