What is CPaaS (Communications Platform-as-a-Service)?

CPaaS refers to a cloud-based platform that provides the ability for organizations to add communication services to their applications without the cost and maintenance overhead of developing their own solutions.

It allows them to use SMS, Voice or messaging apps like WhatsApp, Viber and Messenger and to easily adopt new communication channels as their business adapts to the changing preferences of their customers.

Working with a CPaaS provider also helps organizations to easily scale the volume of their communications to deal with seasonal variations in messaging traffic – without having to make expensive hardware purchases to cover peak periods.

How does CPaaS actually work?

CPaaS works by providing an Application Programming Interface (API) that software developers working for an organization can use to access messaging tools and features made available by the CPaaS provider.

For example, a financial institution or bank would partner with a CPaaS provider to be able to send customers SMS alerts when they were about to reach their spending limit, or when there was a potentially fraudulent transaction on their account.

The financial organization can concentrate on their core business and the secure API link between their operational systems and the CPaaS provider’s communication services gives them peace of mind that important messages will get delivered to their customers.

What are the benefits of CPaaS for organizations?

Apart from the multiple communication tools that companies get access to, they can also benefit from go-to-market partnership, go-to-market strategy, sales expertise, client onboarding and customer support.

The right CPaaS provider can help companies of all sizes to save time and money, easily scale their communications, and quickly adapt to changing market conditions and changing customer preferences.

How to pick a CPaaS provider?

Not all CPaaS providers are equal. When looking for a CPaaS provider it is important to do your research and find providers that have experience of your market type and size, cover the communication channels that you want to use, and offer the flexibility that you need to satisfy your use cases.

Research and advisory groups that specialize in the CPaaS space like Omdia, can provide practical advice and reviews of providers that you can consult. Their 2022 report of the top providers of CPaaS solutions, includes Infobip as a ‘leader’.

Some of the key considerations when drawing up a shortlist of providers should be:

  • Channel coverage – does the provider cover all the channels that you use now, intend to start using, and plan to start using in the future?
  • Support – does the provider offer professional support to help you build an optimized communication solution and navigate the legislative landscape in the countries where your customers reside?
  • Ease of integration – does the provider offer an easy and flexible API for adding communication channels to your applications?
  • Security – does the provider offer enterprise-levels of security and fraud detection?
  • Scalability – does the provider have the resources and bandwidth to enable you to scale your communications effortlessly?
  • Pricing – does the provider offer flexible pricing options – for example with models that allow you to pay for what you use rather than a set annual tariff?

Infobip offers a CPaaS service called CPaaS X which is an evolution of the standard CPaaS model and provides our platform customers with greater flexibility and more advanced configuration, management, and reporting capabilities.

CPaaS examples and use cases

With the flexibility that CPaaS offers there really are no limits to the communication use cases that can be covered, but here are a sample that Infobip customers currently use our APIs for – covering channels including SMS, email, WhatsApp, Messenger, Viber, and web chat.

Messaging

  • Order confirmations and shipping updates
  • Marketing messages – both scheduled and triggered
  • Appointment reminders
  • Alerts
  • Customer service and support
  • Review requests, including surveys and polls

Authentication

  • Omnichannel 2FA messages
  • Password reset notifications
  • New device account login notifications
  • Voice authentication

Voice communication

  • Video and audio conferencing
  • Call transcripts
  • WebRTC calling
  • Number masking
  • Text to speech messaging
  • IVR (Interactive voice response)
May 16th, 2023
3 min read

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