VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is coming to Second Life by the end of the month. How will this change the way you work?
Online voice technology has been around for awhile. Services like Skype have allowed for basic telephony, and worlds like There have had in-world voice through premium accounts. As with many things in There, however, locking things down has prevented business applications from taking real root. If only premium accounts can hear voice, it isn't a useful tool for promotional campaigns that invite people to join you in-world for the first time.
When voice hits Second Life's main grid, however, it will be available to all. Whether or not people have a microphone or a premium account, all residents can hear you. This means that your voice (or that of your representatives) can carry the message instead of forcing people to wait for you to type.
On a recent trip to the Beta Grid I was struck by how easily voice integrated with text in conversation. Some were only typing, some were only speaking, and some switched back and forth, but the conversation never felt awkward or staggered. Text conversation was unchanged and the voice was simply an add-on that seamlessly integrated itself.
This means that your customers never have to exit their comfort zone. If they want to talk, they can, and if they'd rather do voice, that's ok too.
Due to a unique proximity tweak, a crowded room doesn't get confusing either. In a recent interview, Chris Carella of the Electric Sheep Company described how they use voice for meetings:
We used to use Skype all the time, but when this came out it was very exciting. We were holding a conference in one of our rooms upstairs and when several people spoke, it gave us the feeling of all being in the same room because it’s spatial! Multiple people could talk at the same moment and you hear them from the correct direction and distance away from your avatar. It makes voice a real business tool.
What about you? Should you plug your mic in? At the very least offer your customers the opportunity to hear you. This has nothing to do with assuring them that you are "legitimate" (although I'm sure that's a side benefit) and more because it's just easier for them. They don't have to wait for you to type, read your text, and hopefully not miss what you typed as the chat log scrolls by. They'll just hear you like they do in real life. It's far more natural.
One of the lessons we learn from all of this is that automating customer service just won't cut it for long. The ultimate killer app is people. Customers will expect to be able to speak to tech support, ask questions of live agents and pretty much do everything in a virtual world that they would normally do over the phone or in a store. Those who offer anything less will be left in the dust.
Hey Onder,
I think the key to making the virtual business/virtual collaboration work is being able to simulate as "natural" a human interaction as we can, and this means having voice in SL to use with each other and customers.
For those of us who see it from a business perspective, SL is a place to collaborate and create with colleagues around the globe without any geographical boundaries. We want to feel like we're in the same room despite our physical distance. We want to associate the avatar with a real person. Voice in SL will go a long way to helping us connect with each other and with customers in as "real" an interaction as possible.
Voice also conveys emotions and humor much better than typing. I mean, we can type "LOL" as much as we want, but there's nothing like actually hearing genuine human laughter. :-)
Oh, and welcome to the Metaversed "news team" ;). Good to have you here!
>>The ultimate killer app is people
I just posted that on the new Tumblelog :)
Personally I can't wait for voice. If only to save my RSI! It's going to make things so much more personal, real. The only worry I have is whether they'll get around to putting it into the Linux client anytime this century :(