Although CPaaS platforms are still pretty much unknown they are conquering the world at this moment. After the VoIP and UCaaS evolution, where traditional PBX and Unified Communications solutions moved to a more flexible, pay as you go, cloud model, we are now at the start of a true CPaaS revolution that is changing telecommunications forever. Using CPaaS, Communication Platforms as a Service, large and small enterprises can develop completely tailormade solutions including communication building blocks like messaging, voice and video.

An Example? A pizza is ordered online and also online paid for. The confirmation that follows by SMS or WhatsApp with a track&trace code containing a button that allows the courier to be called. That can be done at the moment that one decides to be temporarily at the neighbours because they had a just opened a nice bottle of rose. All of that can be built quite easily using APIs and SDKs from a CPaaS provider. Examples of fast-growing CPaaS providers are Twillio, Vonage (Nexmo), Ribbon (Kandy), CM.com and MessageBird, but also telcos like KPN and AT&T have started to offer such solutions recently and more are working on this.

Using CPaaS, both internal and external communication processes are changed into flexible solutions:

• Fixed and mobile telephony are more & more integrated into commercial processes. Web environments are launched in which customers/relationships can get the right person or department on the phone or start chat/video just with one push of a button.
• Temporary connections, eg between an Uber driver and customer, are made without the exchange of telephone numbers so privacy is guaranteed.
• IOT solutions are integrated to easy process-optimizations that were recently extremely complex.
• Conversations can automatically be transcribed, also in real-time, so they can easily be searched later or analyzed for trends or patterns to increase quality of the service or train agents better.
• In service organizations video often helps to pinpoint problems so a customer or field service engineer can solve problems on the spot or ensure the proper replacement part is shipped or an expert dispatched. This can be done by overlaying video to an existing service call so customers don’t need to use special apps or call different numbers.

Analyst: IDC

Please check out the SmartCom Summit 2020 trend report (use coupon code SUMMITGUEST for free access) to learn more about CPaaS and the opportunities for agile enterprises and telecommunications service providers, read about some telcos that are already offering CPaaS, and find out how a telco can easily add such services to their portfolio by partnering with the right technology and service providers.

Or watch the CPaaS discussion of the talk show, or the entire talk show.