Applications account for almost 85% of smartphone usage time. In fact, according to a report by Statista, users in Asia spent an average of 54.91 minutes per day using social media apps between October 2020 and March 2021. The second-most popular category was shopping apps, with users in the area engaged with this app category for an average of 17.49 minutes. Users in Asia spend 16.98 minutes per day playing games on mobile apps, placing gaming third.
One common thread between these apps is real-time interactivity. This refers to the ability of a user to receive instant feedback and updates from an application in response to their actions.
Real-time interactivity has dramatically changed the way modern apps are designed and used, by allowing for more immersive, dynamic, and responsive experiences.
Deconstructing the concept of real-time interactivity with industry leaders
We sat down with PubNub, a real-time communications platform headquartered in San Francisco, California, which is making strides to help businesses in Southeast Asia and beyond leverage their solutions for business growth and scalability, to discuss a few things surrounding real-time interactivity. The discussion points were as follows:
- How having a secure, reliable, and global software platform can help your team focus on innovation instead of infrastructure
- How you can quickly access new markets and enhance your relationship with customers
For this digital event entitled “How Real-Time Interactivity Can Boost Company Engagement and Expansion”, we invited Todd Greene, Co-Founder and CEO of PubNub, Michael McClenaghan, Co-Founder and CTO of DEFY Labs, and Sammy Lin, Engineering Director of 17Live Inc., in a panel moderated by Kabir Chandoke, COO of SourceFuse to discuss why real-time interactivity matters, how companies can benefit from this, and how to get started.
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Todd Greene, Co-Founder and CEO of PubNub shared that they launched the company over ten years ago because they realised early on that real-time features were not being leveraged enough despite its core importance across different technologies such as consumer ops, B2B apps, and IoT apps, among others. At the same time, they recognised that building that technology is difficult and instead of focusing on creativity and coming up with new features, businesses had to focus on infrastructure. “We thought if we can do that part for companies so that they can really focus on the creative ideas and we can do the difficult but sometimes boring plumbing, that makes it possible for other people to be successful. That’s really been the mission of PubNub,” he said.
PubNub today has thousands of customers, facilitating more than 3 trillion transactions a month through their platform with millions of active users of real-time experiences.
Michael McClenaghan, Co-Founder and CTO of DEFY Labs, a fast-moving Web3 mobile game studio, shared that they’ve gained thousands of players using the app on a daily basis within 12 months of launch and they think this pace of growth has largely been possible due to high engagement rates because of the real-time experience they are able to offer, such as with users being able to collaborate with other people from around the world in real-time.
Why does real-time interactivity matter?
Real-time interactivity enables multiple users to collaborate and communicate in real time through applications such as online gaming, video conferencing, and project management tools. Applications can provide dynamic content updates, such as live sports scores, stock market data, and weather updates, providing users with the most current information.
Furthermore, real-time interactivity allows apps to personalise the user experience by collecting and analysing data in real-time and making recommendations and updates based on the user’s behaviour and preferences. By providing a more immersive, dynamic, and responsive experience, real-time interactivity can increase user engagement, leading to higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing a better user experience, and helping to drive business success.
Who can leverage real-time interactivity and how?
Speaking on some of the key real-time features, Sammy Lin, the Engineering Director of 17Live Inc shared that their live stream feature is arguably the most popular one. “Our mission is to empower the human connection through technology,” he shared. Lin added, “We use PubNub to offer interactive features like Trivia games, Voting and so on. These features empower our streamers to gain more user interaction and thus achieve their goals more easily. It is a win-win for everyone,” he shared.
More and more businesses are starting to realise the impacts and importance of real-time interactivity across different industries, thus, leveraging it to provide a memorable customer experience.
Retail businesses are using real-time chat platforms to provide instant customer support and answer inquiries, which helps improve the shopping experience and increase customer satisfaction. Meanwhile, healthcare providers are using real-time interaction platforms to offer telemedicine services and provide patients with access to medical advice and treatment options. This can help reduce wait times and improve access to care.
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Financial institutions are using real-time interaction platforms to provide customers with instant access to account information and support. This can help improve the customer experience and increase trust in the brand. Hospitality businesses such as hotels and restaurants are using real-time interaction platforms to provide customers with real-time booking and reservation services, which helps improve customer experience.
Transportation and logistics companies also use real-time interaction platforms to provide customers with real-time updates on the status of their trips and deliveries. This can help improve the travel experience and reduce stress for customers.
These are only some of the innovative ways that real-time interactivity has impacted different industries. As we move further into a digitalised world and with more apps sprouting left and right, real-time interactivity is only going to become more relevant to our daily lives.
To learn more about real-time interactivity and how to get started, watch the webinar here or simply visit https://www.pubnub.com.
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Photo by Kindel Media via Pexels
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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by PubNub
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