The State Changers held a meeting to discuss the implementation of a chat integration feature. The aim is to include support chat for customers, one-on-one, and group chat among customers with potential for live stream integration. Mentioned tools included Xano, a chat and real-time data app, and Ably, a platform for handling and delivering real-time messages. The shortcomings of a few other tools, including Adam chat and pusher, were highlighted. Ably's updates were emphasized as inadequate for their requirements.
Twilio, a cloud communication platform providing messaging, voice, and video communication, was acknowledged vividly as being a robust chat and customer service platform. However, concerns were raised about having to build a custom chat interface. It was highlighted that such efforts might consume considerable time while revealing that the interaction with users (data providers) is different as it's real-time. Yet, the persistent control over the user experience provided by such platforms was acknowledged positively. The concept of 'purple squirrel,' i.e., an ideal candidate or solution that might not exist, was presented. It suggested assembling components from various tools to cater to needs when an all-in-one solution is not available. The integration of Zendesk and Twilio was recommended based on their easy-to-follow documentation and robust features. The meeting concluded with members looking to explore more about Ably and Twilio, focusing on finding a solution that already matches their needs to minimize customization efforts and reduce development costs and time. Apprehensions related to customer service were also raised, encouraging exploration of a different tool set for it. The possibility of using keys from logged-in sessions in JavaScript to identify users was floated as a solution for single sign-on (SSO) across different platforms.
(Source: Office Hours 8/31/2023 AM )
