SmartCom Summit discusses how a novel virus is forcing us to work from home, almost eliminates business travel, and creates a huge opportunity for Cloud/API integrators.

Is the new next a world run by Big Tech, or is it the fruit of local Service Providers and Integrators? Whoever is writing the code, we need an infrastructure and tools that are available to all. Cloud is the new normal, and the shift to digital delivery of the customer experience is in full swing, creating opportunities for businesses to take matters into their own hands using no-code or low-code tools, and for Cloud/API integrators.

The key Cloud & API takeaways from the SmartCom Summit 2020 trend report are:

• Covid-19 has caused organisations to anticipate a long period of altered working conditions past 2021. Nearly half plan to reduce office space while two-thirds do not expect they will resume business travel this year. [451 Research, Voice of the Enterprise Coronavirus Flash Survey June 2020].
• Most respondents (66%) expect that digital transformation initiatives related to shifting to digital delivery of the customer experience in their organisations will remain unaffected or accelerate, while only 7% report that these initiatives have been delayed [451 Research, Voice of the Enterprise Coronavirus Flash Survey June 2020].
• As much as 88% of SmartCom Summit community believe that digital applications will be built to fit in the future, not provided by the Big Five tech players [SmartCom Summit Talk Show Jun 30 2020].
• And 50% think everybody will become developers!

Integrations and CX

As one of the pioneering cloud communications service providers in the Netherlands, and even in Europe, Speakup has already seen and adopted many innovations.  The world of telecommunications is currently facing one of the biggest changes ever, with the telephony center being transformed into central communication software in which smart links are made based on APIs and integrations. Voice is only one of the channels enterprises small and large need nowadays to connect with their customers, and integration with other channels, such as chat and video, is key. And APIs are key to those integrations.

As customer experience (CX) is becoming the most important driver for success in the new normal, especially in rapidly changing environments we’ve seen this year, the ability to quickly and easily create workflows and applications specific to the task at hand is crucial. Customer interaction should be customised and optimised quickly, without a team of developers.

A great example of this is the work OneCentral did for their customer Boels, in this video:

APIs

APIs are the cement, glue and especially gears of a successful and future-proof organisation. As a specialist in APIs Enable U is witnessing how quickly her role as a builder and guardian of technical connections is increasing.

As APIs are increasingly important, it’s important to make all these connections uniform and house them in a gateway making them more manageable, safer and as such, better controllable by IT departments. Enable U opens up systems that fail to exchange data in a standard way so that they can share data real-time and as a result are always up to date. In this corona crisis organisations will look for smart and efficient solutions which enable them to enrich existing systems with data from other sources. And of course, security is a key issue to take into account here.

Opportunity

In today’s world, visual designers and low-code and no-code application development tools are enabling businesses to quickly develop and adapt workflows, using APIs to connect different tools. And for more complex applications, a huge opportunity exists for integration partners that understand both their customer (segment) and the API building blocks that can be used to develop the optimal customer experience.

Experts: 451 Research, Speakup, OneCentral, Enable U
Use Case: Boels

Please check out the SmartCom Summit 2020 trend report (use coupon code SUMMITGUEST for free access) to learn more about Cloud and APIs. What are the drivers for digital acceleration, how will we connect all the bits and pieces, and who are the referees in this new game? You read it in the trend report.  

Or watch the Cloud and APIs discussion of the talk show, or the entire talk show.