The rise of cloud computing has given birth to an entire industry of cloud-based communication services, which help enterprises connect directly with customers. These services also help enterprises promote their products and services without any hassle while staying on par with the rapidly evolving world of communication.
In this highly convergent world, customers increasingly demand consistent personalized communication that preferably comes in as many channels as possible. With that was born the need for Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS). CPaas empowers organizations to cater to this demand by providing fully managed platforms on which companies can build applications seamlessly!
What is CPaaS?
Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS), is a cloud-based platform that allows developers to focus on building their applications and helps them to add real-time communication channels. It offers a complete development framework, that includes, software tools, standards-based application programming interfaces (APIs), sample code, and pre-built applications. It essentially enables seamless integration of voice, messaging, video, etc. into one software, through APIs.
Being a cloud communication platform, CPaaS is primarily focused on enriching customer communication channels. With the help of APIs, CPaaS allows businesses to merge the reliability and back-end of proven communication services with its exclusive customer applications. Along with this, the platform providers also provide support and product documentation to help developers throughout the development process. Here, chat, voice, and video capabilities can be embedded into customer-facing applications.
For example, if an enterprise wishes to connect with customers and integrate messaging platforms like Facebook messenger for business, Viber business, WhatsApp, Skype, by simply integrating CPaaS, developers can programme the entire breadth of real-time, cloud-based communications platforms into their own applications and give customers the best experience available.
In a nutshell, CPaaS changes the way businesses and customers communicate with each other and delivers an easier, faster, and more economical way for businesses to build better customer experiences.
What is a CPaaS Provider?
A CPaaS provider specializes in offering application programming interfaces (APIs), different applications along with code snippets. It can be used in adding real-time communication features and channels to your entire ecosystem.
CPaaS can be basically categorized as API platforms and they can help you choose from a vast range of APIs that include fax, team messaging, SMS and voice. As a business or enterprise owner, you can use different types of marketing collateral such as support, software development kits (SDKs) along with product documentation in making the most out of APIs. Route Mobile is one of the most popular CPaaS providers for a vast variety of different clients in the South East Asia Region.
What is the difference between CPaaS and UCaaS?
Unlike CPaaS, UCaaS is a one-stop platform with a vast variety of different built-in features with various functionalities. It is possible to get instant access to a whole range of different communication features such as phone service, call recordings, video meetings and usage reports. With UCaaS you gain access to an entire environment which can be used right out of the box.
CPaaS on the other hand refers to a unique set of communication APIs which help businesses and developers successfully integrate features such as telephony and messaging into software. It is possible to turn your devices and apps completely into communication tools, and you can pick and choose different APIs that you can add to your current communications without the need of a brand new backend.
How does CpaaS work?
CPaaS works mainly due to a set of APIs constantly communicating with different objects. In brief, an API stands for Application Programming Interface which is basically a set of functions, acting as an intermediary between two endpoints such as software apps or devices. It seamlessly allows endpoints to effectively interact with one another and rely on Voice over IP networks available in the backend to get data packets successfully from one endpoint to another.
Here are some different examples of actions that can trigger specific interactions:
- Making a phone call by dialing in a number
- Sending in a text message
- Placing a request for an updated status of a package that you’re waiting for
If you are planning on using CPaaS, then you will need developers with the right experience in developing custom applications which utilize APIs. It is important to also need devices and/or software that also knows how to interact with specific API endpoints.
CPaaS solutions will help fulfill all of your cloud communication needs through its various offerings like:
- Customer support
- Example use cases
- Software Development Kits (SDKs)
- Code libraries for various desktop and mobile platforms
- Code samples
- Extensive product documentation
You will be looking at real-life examples, samples of different code, examples of workflow along with product descriptions. It is important to look at the right demo of the communication channel that you are planning to implement.
Key functions of Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS)
Here are the various building blocks that you can successfully implement CPaaS as part of your communication setup. The platform as a whole consists of various features such as voice, SMS, fax, team messaging, online meeting and analytics APIs in adding features to different types of business software. Let us take a deeper dive into the various key functions of Communications Platform as a Service:
Outbound Voice Calls
It is important to take advantage of voice API and you can embed different types of outgoing calls for your outgoing stack. It is a fantastic tool that really helps in case of scaling up and down based on the needs of the organization, and you can easily get new phone numbers along with calling features almost instantly.
Inbound Call Routing
It is important to make your incoming call processing much easier with the help of call routing, as it works with webhooks. As soon as the webhook gets triggered, the system follows a unique set of instructions on what to do with the call. There is no need for any programming without the need of an inbound call center platform, as instructions can easily route the call to a certain recipient. It is possible to customize and streamline the entire methodology of handling incoming calls, especially during busy seasons.
Web RTC-based calling
It is a free, open framework for the web that helps in enabling real-time communication (RTC) with web browsers and mobile apps through APIs. CPaas providers always embed voice and video communications into your communication setup. The more features like conferencing, recording, call queues and encryption are added the greater the product will be.
SMS Messaging
By building SMS communication into the software, it is possible to send notifications, alerts along with more all from the comfort of your business number.
It is also possible to build 2 Way SMS Messaging from your setup by making it easier than ever for customers to respond to you. With a SMS API, you can send group text messages, check whether messages were delivered or opened and fully automate workflows.
SIP Trunking On-Demand
With SIP trunking you get the option of improving your connectivity along with an IP-based communications infrastructure. If you have the need for changing the overall call capacity, then on-demand SIP trunking is quite flexible in terms of increasing or decreasing the overall capacity, depending on your needs.
Multimedia and Video Messaging
SMS API is great in supporting, sending and receiving images, videos among many different media and file formats. CPaaS providers offer MMS as part of the solution, and do not differ in offers for international numbers in terms of sending and receiving various MMS messages, file conversions, media storage options and file sizes.
Social Media Messaging like WhatsApp
WhatsApp solution for business is a fantastic tool for higher customer engagement as it offers a seamless and ubiquitous experience. It is possible to use WhatsApp for various CPaaS functions and for a business it is possible to send and receive different multimedia messages and files, along with shared locations to ensure if the message was read and delivered. It is also possible to automate and scale all the recurring efforts of the customer support team.
Number Masking
Phone masking is important as it can help you to connect two parties simultaneously through an agent and a customer without actually revealing the phone numbers. It is a fantastic tool in protecting the identity of the customers, safeguarding information and ensuring the safety and privacy of everybody involved. Whenever a user calls a virtual phone number, then number masking is applied as the CPaaS platform will have greater access to the phone numbers of different call participants.
Watch our video on CpaaS features
Here is why you must choose CPaaS for your Enterprise!
Saves cost:
You can now benefit from enormous cost savings and allocate your business resources to run other operations. Cpaas allows a single API to enable your enterprise to reach a new level of agility by adding the channels as per your convenience and without extensive development work and investment. With this, you can significantly cut down on the number of separate systems needed, and save the cost that would earlier be needed for building, maintaining, and upgrading numerous pieces of hardware.
Easy to integrate:
In this world of emerging technology, consumers expect businesses to be available at all times and adapt to their preferences. CPaaS makes it much easier and feasible to integrate communication features into your app, connecting directly to consumers. Here, you do not need to replace your existing system entirely in order to add a new channel of communication because your developers can easily integrate their systems with the cloud-based platform and quickly deploy their finished enterprise-grade products.
Easy to analyse:
CPaaS helps to take your business intelligence to the next level and provide the best customer experience with the help of the automatic scaling of APIs. It also provides real-time analytics that can be accessed easily in one place through a highly user-friendly dashboard. With this, you can easily view the real-time data, concurrently analyze the report and make smart data-driven decisions which eventually enable your business to grow as per the market demand.
Improves global reach:
Since CPaaS is a cloud communication platform, it gives immediate access to hundreds of carriers across the globe and helps your enterprise increase global reach. With CPaaS, you can communicate with your customers in the local language and can take a customer-centric approach that is tailor-made for each audience. In short, CPaaS skips all the hurdles and empowers global enterprises to provide local experience.
Enhances customer Experience:
Today when it comes to ‘experience’, customers expect more from companies than ever. They want to be able to communicate easily with businesses, using the channel of their choice and CPaaS allows you to fulfill this expectation!
Watch our video on CpaaS benefits
CPaaS use cases and examples
With CPaaS businesses are capable of taking an omnichannel approach to all of their communications. It is possible to do all of this by communicating internally and ensuring a seamless customer experience. Here are some of the various ways that you can implement the core functions of CPaaS into your business.
Higher Confirmations and Fulfillment Updates
CPaaS is one of the best tools for messages like appointment confirmations along with reminders, confirmation orders, along with delivery tracking information.
Implementing messages can also bring about various benefits such as missed appointments, improved customer communication and satisfaction, ultimately removing the need for sending out reminders and updates.
By doing so it will enable contact center employees to focus on bringing new sales rather than dealing with the customer’s support calls.
Mitigation of Fraud and Abuse
It is important that you add an extra layer of security for all your customers, and it is important to do this with the text messages that you send your customers. Use of one-time passwords (OTP) for verifying user identity, two-factor authentication codes for verifying logins and securing mobile payment information.
This example of a use case works particularly for any industry, where a vast majority of customers have accounts with their personal data along with their online payments. Consumer, online shopping, business software tools and personal banking are just a few of the examples of a use case from this industry.
Privacy focused messaging
Businesses can share sensitive messages and communicate in private with their customers and information like policy renewals, credit card delivery notifications, and claim updates will always be safe in terms of giving customers a peace of mind, which ensures that the whole process is frictionless and seamless.
Scalable voice and messaging
It is possible to use CPaaS to add messaging and voice calling for all your customer-facing applications. It makes it easier for you to contact them at key moments of the purchase journey.
There are crucial moments that significantly impact the overall customer experience in terms of deploying voice calls and messaging on a larger scale. It is particularly important in the travel and financial industries.
Automated interactions of customers
Automating the interactions of customers is a great way to integrate all of your customer interactions to a single place, as you provide your sales and customer support teams with the necessary information. All of the industries deal directly with recurring customer questions that utilize automation through chatbots, WhatsApp along with other messaging services.
What does the CPaaS market look like?
The CPaaS market is not easy to define, it is a mix of independent system integrators, software vendors, service providers along with traditional equipment vendors. It is a mix and match of what the different stakeholders in the CPaaS market would look like.
What should we expect to see from the growth in CPaaS?
The CPaaS market is an indicator with traditional communication service providers in trying to maintain control along with lower RTC application development barriers lower.
The CPaaS market is an opportunity in boosting revenue and building relationships, enterprises are able to expand more than traditional telephonic applications. The business processes operate at a low cost, and the flexibility and scalability are appealing for technology companies in differentiating offerings from competitors.
Closing thoughts on CpaaS:
CPaaS not only gives you the freedom and assurance to connect new tools to your existing technology but also is being considered by various enterprises as the progression from Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS).
According to recent research, it is predicted that the CPaaS market size can reach up to $17.2 Billion by 2023 and this consistent growth of the CPaaS market proves that communication trends are constantly changing, and new technology is emerging at a rapid pace. With this, the world of convenient and contextual communications will soon become the norm and not the exception, as CPaaS has notably achieved market acceptance with both its market size and its growth rate.