CPaaS drives sustained growth with innovative customer engagement applications

Courtney Munroe

Research Vice President, Worldwide Telecommunications Research, IDC

A guest blog post by IDC

Customer experience will remain a key pillar of IT Infrastructure spending during 2022. Enterprises will continue to pursue agile digital customer engagement solutions driven by the demand for diverse and personalized customer experiences by consumers.

According to IDC’s Global Digital Resiliency survey, customer experience in the context of digital transformation enjoys a strong correlation with financial success. The survey results demonstrated that 73% of enterprises reported increased revenues from investment in digital infrastructure.

One of the most important aspects of this digital journey is the implementation of cloud communications by enterprises, specifically Communications Platform as a Service, CPaaS. IDC defines CPaaS as the adoption of Communications application programming interfaces (APIs) which are routines, and tools that simplify the programming process required to create and implement real-time customer engagement solutions.

This facilitates the rapid creation of notifications, service management, marketing automation, and business intelligence applications. It also simplifies the creation and deployment of customized enterprise applications, facilitating differentiated customer engagement journeys, for satisfied customers and sustained long-term customer relationships.

This is a key reason why CPaaS is one of the fasting growing Enterprise IT segments today. Over 57% of enterprises in the US adopted or planned to adopt CPaaS in 2021, while another 29% will adopt this platform during 2022.

CPaaS is more than just leveraging APIs and simplifying the creation of enterprise applications. It allows developers to integrate across multiple backend systems and platforms. This includes leveraging legacy platforms, as well as a diverse array of cloud platforms including Unified Communications and Cloud Contact Centers.

For example, companies can transform legacy wireline voice for messaging service and verified calling with voice APIs or provide trusted anonymous communications for retail and financial industries, all in a secure platform that meets regulatory and compliance requirements.

Diverse CPaaS Messaging Channels

Most importantly, developers require enhanced cloud communications platforms that offer a wide range of integrations across multiple platforms and a unified messaging platform for an array of diverse messaging channels. Consumers now routinely use three to four messaging apps that are increasingly used by companies for customer engagement.

WhatsApp is the leading messaging app on a worldwide basis, and most CPaaS providers will facilitate customer engagement by leveraging this medium. However, a typical transaction or engagement will involve multiple channels including web and SMS. Companies will increasingly leverage conversational messaging platforms to maintain seamless customer engagement.

To facilitate providing a diverse array of preferred channels, CPaaS providers will increasingly implement conversational platforms that provide a range of channels and personalization tools leveraging AI capabilities. This will allow customers to engage with companies in their preferred channel, which includes voice, SMS, chatbot, or messaging channels such as WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram Business, Apple Messages for Business, and Google Business Chat. Companies can also implement a diverse range of engagement solutions depending on specific geographic markets.

Leveraging AI-based personalization will move beyond commerce and call center-focused applications to include additional use cases such as customer sentiment analysis, and specific target marketing leveraging Customer Data Platforms to offer an informed and pleasant customer engagement. As APIs are embedded as part of broader deployment throughout the enterprise, companies will increasingly begin to deploy multiple use cases tactically.

Selecting the right CPaaS partner

Selecting the appropriate CPaaS partner is an important decision. Enterprises should seek a partner with a secure, global network, with direct interconnections and efficient routing that offers predictable message delivery. This is an essential attribute of a company like Infobip, which has a long history as a cloud communications company, with global coverage and one of the most comprehensive direct global interconnection frameworks. Learn more here.

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May 23rd, 2022
3 min read
Research Vice President, Worldwide Telecommunications Research, IDC

Courtney Munroe

Research Vice President, Worldwide Telecommunications Research, IDC