@stuartgoldfarb Hi Stuart, thanks for selecting us! Really appreciate the opportunity.
1) What are most common use cases?
Our most common use cases (and verticals that express the most interest) are real estate, banking, insurance, financial services, loans, high-end (very expensive) e-commerce transactions, and consulting. Video chat based customer service is ideal for any type of transaction that is complex or one that requires a human being as part of the buying process.
2) Why is this better than Olark? why is video better than chat?
We feel that video is better in many instances compared to just text chat but it really depends on the area of business the company is in. Video chat has been proven to increase sales in specific areas (like the ones mentioned above) that are predicated on face-to-face interactions. We’ve found that consumers experience a greater level of trust when looking at a live person and it helps improve brand loyalty to the company they are interacting with. We’ve found that when consumers are loyal to a brand, it’s usually directly related to a specific person behind that brand rather then the actual brand itself on it’s own.
It really all comes down to establishing that human-to-human interaction on a personal level and we truly believe the future of e-commerce looks a lot like real life commerce. When we go to a store in person, we expect to receive great service from another human being. However to this point in time, technology limitations have made that hard to replicate on the web.
That’s all going to change with Katana.
We believe that when you visit a website in the future, it won’t be a lonely experience. Instead, you’ll see a friendly face that will say “Welcome back, Stuart. How can we help you today?” just like you would in a real store. We believe our company is at the forefront of making that interaction with brands possible.
3) What's upcoming for you?
We are getting set to launch Katana on many Fortune 500 companies in the next 6 months and we have a clear path to profitability in that same time span. We are also licensing the technology to players in the Telemedicine space and we are looking forward to the impact we can make in that area. We know Katana is going to be actively used to provide greater access to healthcare for many people around the world and that has us really excited.
It’s also important to note that Katana is only one side of the business. Katana is the B2B product of our parent company, LiveNinja, which is a video chat marketplace where you can chat with experts on different topics such as doctors, lawyers, therapists, fitness instructors, fashion experts, and more. Many people have made the comparison that LiveNinja is like Amazon but for people instead of products.
So at a high-level, LiveNinja is the consumer side of the business and Katana is the enterprise side.
In regards to LiveNinja, we have built a brand new mobile first version of the product that will launch in May 2015.
We’re extremely excited about it since the company will have two core sources of revenue and will be able to tap into two very active/growing markets.
We’ve worked incredibly hard building the company to this point and couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come in 2015 and beyond.
@willaaye your product is impressive. What existing customers do you have? How are you staffed? Tell me more about your plans with regard to telemedicine please
@stuartgoldfarb Thanks! Really happy that you like it.
Some of our existing customers: HealthAdvisor, ReMax Real Estate, Liberty Mutual, LiveVet, Opulence International Realty, Big Plush, Combat Gentlemen, eMerge America, and Mercer HR (part of Marsh and McLennan) just to name a few. We are launching a few pilots in Q1 2015 with a few Fortune 500 companies that put us under their company's NDA so I can't mention them in this forum, but they are indeed household names.
2. In regards to our staff, you can check out our entire team here: http://katana.co/us/ . I can't speak highly enough of them. I feel so incredibly lucky to work with them on a daily basis and we're currently in the process of hiring more team members on both the product development and sales side.
In regards to telemedicine, we have current clients using the technology on both the human and animal side: HealthAdvisor (human) and LiveVet (animal). With both platforms, you'll be able to see a doctor in the comfort of your own home for a fraction of the cost of an in-clinic visit, all without having to wait in a waiting room. Also, on the Telemedicine side, LiveNinja 2.0 will have it's own Doctors & Therapists category where medical professionals can offer their services and host them on our site. Here is a sneak peak of what that will look like: http://cl.ly/image/2V1m0K1e1n28
I just tried this out, talked to Miles and think this is absolutely awesome. There are so many occasions where I'd want to talk to somebody representing the website, but chat is so impersonal (there's no emotion in text). This was very refreshing, would recommend it to anyone with an e-commerce store, only downside is you have to have a lot of people available to talk with compared to chat, where someone can manage multiple chats.
@bramk Thanks Bram! I really appreciate you checking us out and so happy to hear you liked the Katana experience. I agree you need more people to answer the chats, but brands are up for it due to the high ROI and for giving people that "wow" experience like the one you just had. We've talked to many companies who are looking into converting their audio/phone only call centers to ones that are more video ready for this specific purpose.
Another thing to mention is that Katana also supports smart queueing and routing, so you'll know how many people are ahead of you in line for a agent. Also, while a customer waits, brands can choose to show them different video advertisements and other video content, which is far better than a 1-800 number experience where we're often stuck on hold for long periods of time listening to classical music. ;)
@bramk Thanks Bram! To think that we initiated a relationship, half way across the world, that began simply with a click of a button directly through Katana is simply mind-blowing to me, and we built the product! I hope (and we believe) that Katana will further human to human relationships and bring back some humanity to the asynchronous, text-based interwebs.
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