Video consultations integrated into the queue and appointment flow

When video consultations add real value

Not all operations need video consultations. Their real value appears when there are users who cannot or do not want to travel to a physical location for a service that requires direct interaction with an agent. Sectors such as healthcare, financial services, government and technical advisory are clear examples of operations where video consultations can reduce pressure on physical locations without compromising service quality.

Video consultations also have value in operations with multiple locations that need to share the capacity of specialized agents: an expert at one location can serve users from other locations by video, without duplicating the human resource.

The problem of isolated video consultations

Many organizations implement video consultations as a parallel system to queues: video users go through one flow and in-person users through another. The result is that the agent must manage two queues manually, channel analytics are not comparable and the user experience differs depending on how they arrived.

When video consultations operate in isolation, it is also harder to measure their performance in a comparable way to in-person service, which complicates decisions about capacity and resource allocation.

What integrating video consultations into the queue system entails

Integrating video consultations into the queue system means that the user who schedules a video appointment follows the same flow as the user who schedules an in-person appointment: they choose the service, receive confirmation, are notified when their turn is approaching and are served by the assigned agent.

For the agent, integration means the video call is initiated from the same system where they manage their queues, with no need to switch platforms. For the supervisor, it means video consultations appear in the same report as in-person service: wait times, session duration, user satisfaction and agent productivity.

How Turno Digital addresses this

Turno Digital incorporates video consultations as a channel within the same queue and appointment management system. The user can schedule a video appointment via web or WhatsApp the same way they would schedule an in-person appointment. The system assigns the queue number to the corresponding agent and notifies the user when it is their time to connect.

The agent manages their video queue from the same panel where they manage their in-person queues, and all interactions are recorded with the same traceability: user history, session duration, service rating and data for the operational report.

Best practices for implementing video consultations

• Define which services are appropriate for video and which require physical presence: not every service can or should be handled by video.
• Communicate clearly to the user how the video appointment works: what link to use, what documents to have ready and how the agent will connect.
• Assign specific agents to video consultations during the first months: the learning curve is lower if the agent is not alternating between channels simultaneously.
• Verify the user's connectivity before the appointment: a reminder that includes a device and network check reduces interruptions during service.
• Measure satisfaction for the video channel separately, at least in the first months, to detect channel-specific issues.