The sales rep receiving the call would see on her computer monitor the Web page the customer was viewing. The sales person could close the sale and take the customer's credit card number over the phone. One of the biggest obstacles to electronic commerce has been the reluctance of many consumers to type their credit card numbers into an anonymous Web site. Some of these applications are still a few years away and will require a new generation of telephones and PCs. But telecom analyst Kagan predicts that one day, perhaps a decade from now, people will routinely expect to see as well as hear the person on the other end of the telephone line.
Big business is ready for that day to come.
A Yankee Group survey of 300 large U.S. corporations found 41 percent of them intend to move some of their voice telephone services to the Internet. That is why Sean Parham of Motorola is optimistic. Motorola has signed deals with all three of the top Internet telephony software companies to use their products inside computer networks it sells to large corporations. Parham sees a new era in telecom services. Everyone agrees 1998 will be a key year.