5 CPaaS trends shaping the future of customer communication in 2025 and beyond

The communications platform as a service (CPaaS) market is showing continued strong growth, despite challenging economic conditions. But what is driving this growth and how is the market evolving with the release of more sophisticated AI models and increased demand for a more conversational style of business communication?

In this blog we draw on our own deep experience of the CPaaS market and look at the latest research from Gartner to identify what we believe are the key market trends.

Five trends driving the evolution of CPaaS in 2025

The CPaaS market is highly dynamic, but there are a number of trends that we believe are transformational and that should be closely considered by any business looking to invest in CPaaS solutions.

1. Conversational business communication evolving quickly

For a number of years we have been tracking the growth of conversational experience with brands rolling out use cases covering marketing, commerce, and support. While this trend continues, we are seeing CPaaS providers enabling more sophisticated applications for conversational experience, with mature businesses incorporating AI to support cohesive conversations across channels and use cases.

Messaging channels that natively support two-way interactions that blend emotional empathy with intelligent technology like WhatsApp, Messenger, Viber and RCS are becoming far more widely used and accepted for business communication.

And it’s not just customer support and marketing where the conversational approach is taking hold, we are now seeing signs that people are expecting the same experience for transactional use cases too.

CPaaS providers are meeting this need by providing the ability to incorporate two-way conversations into B2C messaging use cases, like notifications, that have previously been one-way broadcasts.

The result is that CPaaS customers are able to create end-to-end customer journeys from marketing and acquisition to onboarding, payments, and customer support.

Brands that are lagging may be using multiple channels, but without having them strategically integrated and in-sync, they are struggling to provide consistent, seamless, and high-quality customer experiences.

2. RCS Business Messaging gaining momentum

RCS bridges the gap between messaging and mobile apps, offering a frictionless way to engage users without them having to download an app. RCS offers enhanced messaging features like read receipts, carousels, and embedded media – think of it as SMS on steroids.

Infobip is one of the leading vendors helping brands to benefit from adopting RCS to deliver a richer, and more app-like experience than is possible with SMS.

Data from our platform reveals that there has been a 7x increase in brands incorporating RCS into their omnichannel messaging strategies – particularly to leverage its suitability for two-way conversational interactions. We see this trend gaining momentum and predict combinations of RCS paired with SMS, Voice, Email, and messaging apps like WhatsApp that already have a mature set of business features to become the norm.

Businesses in regions with limited carrier support for RCS will be lobbying for accelerated adoption and this will have a knock-on effect on volumes across the globe during 2025 and beyond.

2025 will also see an increase in the use of AI with RCS. Unlike SMS, chatbots delivered over RCS can include interactive features like structured conversation flows, images and carousels, GIFs, suggested replies and actions, and the option to transfer to a human when required.

Integrations with platforms like Google’s Vertex AI can provide these chatbots with the power to tap into real-time analytics and data mining operations that will enable verified users to access detailed information just by sending an RCS message.

3. Platform companies helping customers progress AI maturity

The increased use of generative AI tools represents one of the most pivotal trends in CPaaS. However, many businesses that have invested in AI projects have not yet seen a return on their outlay. This is due to a combination of factors – firstly they have taken a scatter-gun approach and have been inserting AI into a variety of workflows and customer touchpoints without enough thought and analysis going into where it would add real value.

Even brands that have run successful pilots have stalled when it comes to scaling them to enterprise levels. The complexity of incorporating AI infrastructure into existing systems, the levels of cross departmental collaboration required, and the challenges of securing the data used in enterprise level machine learning have caused these projects to become bogged down.

This is where CPaaS providers can play a pivotal role, by providing the infrastructure and technology necessary to support cohesive and secure AI implementations across multiple channels and use cases.

4. CPaaS adoption patterns shifting

In the past, the pattern of CPaaS adoption that we have seen has been largely incremental. Usually, a single business unit within an organization looked to a CPaaS provider for a specific use case, such as notifications or one-time passwords. Other departments then adopted CPaaS as they saw the value it could bring across the entire customer lifecycle.

However, this piecemeal approach is evolving as providers are now able to provide a full-stack ecosystem that can power customer communication and engagement and across the entire business.

5. CPaaS providers expanding their channel partner programs

To be able to deliver on more complex and sophisticated use cases, CPaaS providers are expanding their partnerships with systems integrators, value-added resellers, and specialists in delivery and development for individual verticals and regions.

This enables vendors to cater to the full range of customers from small and medium-sized businesses to global enterprise brands – with local specialists contributing their knowledge of local regulations, and the nuances of individual markets.

Infobip has long valued its partnerships. Our partners include other technology firms, telecom companies, B2B startups, and consulting and services firms.
As the one communications platform for every platform, we’re the partner of choice for businesses such as Google, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, and Vodafone, to name a few.

Moreover, our Partner Connect Program ensures we’re by our partners’ side regardless of task. From integration to business planning and identifying opportunities to approaching clients and implementing use cases, we help our partners create innovative solutions that drive new revenue streams.

The CPaaS opportunity ahead

Customer experience can make or break a business or brand.

So, to deliver that great experience, the CPaaS market and providers are evolving rapidly.

Platforms are innovating. They are integrating new technologies and channels to meet customer needs and deliver more conversational experiences.

With such rapid development, it is little wonder the market will grow in the years ahead.

But with such rapid development, and against an increasingly cost-conscious environment, businesses and brands must ensure they choose a composable tech platform that reduces implementation time and delivers transformation more quickly.

Such interoperable solutions enable organizations to quickly integrate new capabilities through easy integration, increasing time to impact while reducing infrastructure costs and implementation timeline.

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