What is CPaaS (Communications Platform-as-a-Service)?
CPaaS (Communications Platform–as–a–Service) is a cloud-based platform that allows organizations to add communication services to their applications without the cost and maintenance overhead of developing their solutions.
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.
CPaaS meaning
To understand CPaaS, one needs to start with an analogy simplifying the concept. Imagine you want to host a movie night with friends, and you have a few options for getting the movie:
- DVD from a store: You drive to a store, buy the DVD, and play it on your DVD player at home. You handle everything from getting the DVD to setting up the player and screen. This is like managing everything yourself—building the entire communication system in-house.
- Streaming service: You subscribe to a streaming service like Netflix. The service handles the movies, the servers, and the bandwidth. All you need to do is log in, choose a film, and press play. This is like PaaS (Platform as a Service), where the service provider takes care of the infrastructure, and you use it to run your application.
- Streaming with CPaaS: Now, let’s say you want to watch a movie and chat with your friends about it in real time. Instead of just having a platform for film, imagine there’s a service that also gives you tools to chat, send text messages, and even make voice or video calls directly within the app. You don’t have to worry about how these communication features work; the service provides them as building blocks to plug into your movie app. This is like CPaaS, where you get a range of communication tools that you can integrate into your app without managing the underlying technology.
How does CPaaS actually work?
CPaaS provides 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. The secure API link between their operational systems and the CPaaS provider’s communication services gives them peace of mind that important messages will be delivered to their customers.
What are the benefits of CPaaS for organizations?
The right CPaaS provider can help companies of all sizes. In addition to multiple communication tools, companies can benefit from go-to-market partnerships, strategies, sales expertise, client onboarding, and customer support.
Cost efficiency
CPaaS eliminates expensive infrastructure investments, such as servers, networking equipment, and maintenance costs.
Quick integration
CPaaS platforms provide APIs and SDKs that enable rapid integration of communication features like SMS, voice, and video into existing applications.
Scalability
CPaaS platforms automatically scale to handle increases in communication traffic, accommodating the needs of growing businesses without additional investment.
Flexibility
APIs allow for extensive customization, enabling businesses to integrate communication features that align with their unique requirements and branding.
Security and compliance
Providers such as Infobip ensure compliance with regional and international communication regulations, reducing the burden on businesses to manage compliance.
Improved customer experience
CPaaS enables personalized communication by integrating customer data, leading to more targeted and relevant interactions. Additionally, organizations can ensure a consistent communication experience across different channels and touchpoints.
Data insights and analytics
CPaaS platforms provide analytics and reporting features businesses can leverage to make data-driven decisions and optimize communication strategies.
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 in your market type and size, cover the communication channels you want to use, and offer the flexibility you need to satisfy your use cases.
Infobip named a Leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CPaaS for the second year in a row!
Read the report and learn what makes us a Leader in the communications platform-as-a-service industry:
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, such as models that allow you to pay for what you use rather than a set annual tariff?
Infobip offers a CPaaS service called CPaaS X. This service evolves 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. Here is a sample of the communication use cases for which Infobip customers currently use our APIs, 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)
CPaaS vs. UCaaS
Communications Platform as a Service and Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) are both cloud-based solutions that enhance communication capabilities for organizations. Still, they serve different purposes and offer distinct functionalities.
| CPaaS | UCaaS | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Integrate communication features into apps | Provide a unified communication platform |
| Key functions | APIs for SMS, Voice, Video, and chat | Voice, video conferencing, messaging |
| Customization | High, tailored to specific app needs | Moderate, with standard communication tools |
| Pricing model | Pay-as-you-go | Subscription-based |
| Best for | Developers, custom applications | Enterprises, team collaboration |
| Communication types | Real-time, embedded in apps | Unified communication channels |
| Infrastructure needs | Minimal, cloud-based APIs | Replace on-premises system with cloud |
