Agora Real-Time Communication (RTC) and RT
Please introduce yourself and Agora to us
I am Agora’s Head of EMEA, I hold over 20 years experience in global B2B/B2C business development in the cloud communications industry My expertise spans across HealTech, E-commerce, IT Security solution, and E-privacy. In my role at Agora, I generate growth YTY in sales across EMEA and help expand Agora’s customer portfolio to many countries in the region.
Agora is the first RTE PaaS (Platform-As-A-Service) that enables the full spectrum of human interactivity, which can be fully contextualized and embedded into any application, on any device, anywhere. Agora makes it easy for brands and developers to offer highly customizable, scalable easy-to-integrate & low latency real-time voice and video interactions capabilities to its end users. Agora takes pride in being developer-friendly and customer-centric. We take a no-code/ low-code approach by empowering developers and creators to build customized apps with absolutely no coding experience to break out of the one-size-fits-all video conferencing solutions. The company is based in Santa Clara, California with offices and teams in Europe and Asia.
What is Agora’s vision?
Agora has a core belief that digital real-time engagement will be ubiquitous in daily life. What we see now is just the inception and we are barely scratching the surface of what is possible when virtual interactions are powered by real-time technologies.
From the workplace to healthcare to gaming, all the sectors are witnessing unprecedented digital growth. Agora will continue to focus on key verticals where real-time engagement is a significant factor such as gaming, online education, virtual events, eCommerce, and social platforms.
The focus is to create the tools need for developers to create the real-time enabled virtual world so as we move towards a post-pandemic future, we still see much of the convenience we have grown to expect for bridging the gap between physical and digital connections.
What are the biggest challenges you face since the pandemic?
Due to the pandemic, there has been a shift in consumer behavior with digital adoption redefining how brands communicate. Amidst this, applications that leverage live interactions have seen exponential growth as they keep users socially connected while meeting business needs.
For example:
The ed-tech sector, virtual education is making tremendous progress in replacing in-person classes with the help of RTE. With students and teachers spread across the country, interactive voice and video-led software helped retain the essence of a classroom by emulating the student-teacher connect online.
Another sector that witnessed a rise in voice and video chat is gaming, especially e-sports. Intuitive and advanced Real-time engagement technology turns a remote multiplayer game into a social platform, allowing for enhanced user experiences. Along with “live” engagement and voice or video chat, players can see each other’s reactions, cheer each other on, and socialize while playing games and creating memories together.
In the healthcare sector, doctors and patients connect virtually in real-time with voice, video chat, and live streaming. Features like crystal clear audio, smooth, real-time video, and integrated functionalities allow patients to consult virtually and share their medical records.
Who is your primary target group?
Our key verticals are Education, Gaming, Social, and what we call the Future of Work
What does Agora offer? What are the advantages? What differentiates you from other providers?
The fundamental difference between Agora and other standalone apps is Real-Time Communication (RTC) and RTE. While RTC offers video chatting features, RTE, pioneered by Agora, enables developers to build interactive video-chat-centered apps that can scale to millions of concurrent users on any device, anywhere in the world. RTE delivers the full spectrum of human interactivity, ranging from 1-to-1 to a few-to-million people, whereas RTC is usually about 1-to-1 or 1-to-few people.
Secondly, in terms of scalability, Agora being the first RTE PaaS that enables a full spectrum of human interactivity is more accessible than any other traditional PaaS. RTE delivers closer to absolute real-time than a conventional Content Delivery Network (CDN).
Lastly, in terms of interactions, Agora’s RTE is contextual. People engage longer when they see, hear, and interact with each other. And contextual engagement is what Agora enables and delivers.
What is next?
Agora will continue to focus on key verticals where RTE significantly impacts online education, virtual events, eCommerce, and social media. From the workplace to healthcare to gaming, all the sectors are witnessing unprecedented digital growth. The focus is to create a virtual world as we move towards a post-pandemic future. Online learning is a significant opportunity where organizations can improve the experience by providing better quality educational environments. We believe that a hybrid in-person and digital schooling model will be adopted beyond the pandemic.
We are in the business of fostering engagement across all the environments people live, work, and play in. In a post-pandemic world, the EMEA region is witnessing an upward trend in adopting AR and VR tech. We look forward to partnering with businesses to integrate real-time engagement solutions.
What are three trends you see in RTE and New Work?
The need of the hour for businesses is to keep customers at the forefront and build seamless online experiences to bridge the gap between the real and virtual worlds. At the backbone of this revolution are RTE platforms enabling this virtual shift. Here are some trends:
We anticipate businesses adopting and adapting to the changing landscape by bringing technologies like AR, VR, and AI-based learning mechanisms into their systems. We will see an upward trend in implementing AR and VR technology as businesses develop innovative solutions to engage customers.
Another development would be the shift to hybrid offices. We have seen an increased demand for new-age office communication and collaboration tools that support team building in the virtual world. To fill this need — internal video/audio collaboration with the help of RTE for meaningful networking will become the new normal.
Smarter AI will transform businesses in the future. AI will automate processes like interacting with employees on the company portal, streamlining data, presenting only helpful information to the users, and more. We are already witnessing how companies are actively interacting with AI, allowing it to make and act on decisions on their behalf, considering its responses, and changing their intentions
Picture: Ali Nhari, Head of EMEA bei Agora, © Agora PR
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Thank you Ali Nhari for the Interview
Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.
