Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS)

Customers expect convenience from the sites and applications they use. They want to speak to customer support, their doctor, or other users in the same app they use to purchase clothes, order a ride home, or manage their healthcare portal.

In most cases, building multi-channel communication functionality in-house costs too much time and money.

CPaaS is an easier alternative for developers to meet their customers' cross-channel communication demands without building it themselves.

What Is CPaaS?

A Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) is a cloud-based solution for developers to integrate communications features into their applications via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and Software Development Kits (SDKs).

Calling landlines and mobile phones from a computer or mobile app requires more than coding a calling function. It takes specialized hardware that can convert analog signals from traditional phones into packets readable by your device and vice versa. To do this at an enterprise scale with the number of calls made to and by support staff, sales staff, and others is beyond the ability of most companies.

If you've ever received a text message about a package delivery or sale from your favorite online retailer, the company likely used a CPaaS solution to send the message.

Along with text messaging and calling, other features typically found in CPaaS solutions include:

• Multimedia and social media messaging
• Video conferencing
• Chatbots
• Interactive voice response (IVR)
• Number masking

Companies use CPaaS solutions to host virtual meetings with coworkers or clients, connect customers and service providers over the phone, route calls, enhance customer service with chatbots, send shipping updates, and much more.

For instance, a telemedicine company might use a CPaaS solution's text messaging capabilities to send reminders to patients 24 hours before an appointment. The same solution can also facilitate the appointments through video conferencing in the company's app or on its site.

What Does CPaaS Stand For?

CPaaS stands for Communications Platform as a Service. The term "communications platform" is used because of its multi-channel communication capabilities. "As a service" means it's a subscription-based cloud service.

How Does CPaaS Work?

Let's dig into the technical details of how CPaaS works.

How CPaaS APIs Work

Voice APIs enable companies to communicate with customers app-to-app via Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). You can also place calls to or receive calls from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) through Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking.

In other words, whether they use your app or a traditional phone network, you can have conversations with your customers and coworkers.

The CPaaS provider builds the backend infrastructure that makes this possible. They manage the network and direct the calls through local carriers.

All your team needs to do is integrate the API or SDK into your app.

Your app makes the API request, and SIP handles the signaling that starts and ends the call. If both devices use VoIP, the call is done over the internet. If one of the devices is a landline or mobile phone, SIP trunking facilitates communication.

Let's look at another example by switching to Short Message Service (SMS) APIs, which allow you to send text messages, also known as SMSes, to mobile phones.

An SMS messaging API call will usually include:

• An authorization token
• An authorization ID
• Your company name or sender ID
• The recipient's number
• The message

You can set the API call to be triggered at specific times or when certain conditions have been met, like after a package has left a warehouse or an hour before a meeting.

The API request is sent to the provider, which will send the resultant text message to the recipient over a cellular network.

How CPaaS Infrastructure Works

The cloud-based nature of CPaaS means you use the provider's infrastructure instead of needing your own. You simply pay for a subscription or a minimum volume of resources without having to set up your own data centers or negotiate contracts with phone companies.

When there is more demand, the provider's infrastructure scales up automatically to accommodate a greater number of texts, emails, and concurrent calls.

The number of calls, phone numbers, text messages, and such that you get per month will depend on the contract. CPaaS providers usually offer different tiers with fewer features and credits at the lower end and more at the higher end. Customers with enterprise plans can access specialized features that other customers can't.

Common CPaaS Features 

Not every platform offers the same features and capabilities, but most provide the following:

Voice APIs 

As mentioned above, Voice APIs enable you to call customers via your app or on landlines and mobile phones.

Supporting features often include:

• Transcriptions and recordings: Record keeping of conversations that can be used for training, quality assurance, and data analysis.
• Interactive Voice Response (IVR): An automated, interactive menu system with a prerecorded voice that can handle simple calls and direct more complex ones to live agents.
• Number masking: To protect the privacy of employees and customers alike, you can hide both parties' phone numbers during calls.

Video APIs

Video APIs grant video calling functionality, like Zoom or Google Meet, within your app. They also allow you and your users to live stream.

They can include some of the same supporting features as Call APIs, like recording and automated transcription. They also offer filters, effects, reactions, backgrounds, text chat, and support for thousands of participants at once.

There is often support for multiple streaming protocols, like WebRTC, HTTP Livestreaming (HLS), and the Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP).

SMS, MMS, and Social Media Messaging APIs

With SMS and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) APIs, you can send personalized communications via text messages, videos, photos, and more directly to customer phones.

You can use SMSes for client communication, important updates about services and products, promotions, and security. MMSes can be used for many of the same purposes with an extra visual element, but you can also send receipts, video demonstrations, QR codes, and more.

Social media messaging APIs facilitate customer communication on apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, KakaoTalk, Line, and others.

All of the above can be automated to send messages out based on specific times or customer actions, such as sending welcome messages with GIFs via MMS or WhatsApp after customers sign up.

Chatbots

You can build low-code or no-code chatbots using tools provided by your CPaaS vendor and by training them on the company's knowledge base and other relevant documentation.

Chatbots can talk with your customers on your website or through SMS or social media messaging. They can meet their needs or route them to a human agent who can.

Your team can set the bots' personalities and tailor their interactions based on customer segments.

Customer-bot interactions can be monitored and saved for later analysis.

What Are the Benefits of Using CPaaS?

If your company needs to be able to communicate with customers across different platforms, then CPaaS services can bring you benefits like:

Time and Cost Savings

CPaaS saves companies time and money by providing the tools to meet their communication needs. Developers only need to integrate the APIs instead of building them in-house.

Companies also save by using the provider's cloud infrastructure to avoid the cost of buying and maintaining their own servers.

Greater Scalability

When needed and within the limits of your plan, you can add more concurrent connections or send more texts and other messages. If you experience slower periods, you can scale down as needed to save money.

With CPaaS, scalability is practically instantaneous. There is no need to buy additional servers or call telecom companies to procure more phone numbers.

Improved Customer Experience

Your customers know they can contact you for problems in the way they feel most comfortable. For instance, if a package is missing, they can reach customer service by chat, email, or call.

CPaaS also facilitates customer-to-customer interactions that are necessary for rideshare and delivery apps. Text and Voice APIs with number masking enable important conversations while protecting customers' personal numbers.

Deeper Customization

Pre-built unified communications platforms have their place. However, they don't offer nearly as much customization.

Using an API instead of a centralized platform gives you greater control over how communication features interact with the other components of your app. You also have deeper control over the user interface (UI) to better fit your company's branding.

Global Reach

Vendors offer their services across dozens of countries. You can use Voice and Text APIs with numbers local to your customer's home country and social media messaging APIs for the apps your customers prefer in their country, like KakaoTalk in South Korea and Line in Japan.

Strengthened Security

CPaaS APIs can keep your customers' accounts and sensitive information safe while minimizing the chances of fraud and other security risks.

SMS APIs are invaluable in keeping accounts secure with two-factor authentication (2FA) and one-time passwords.

Vendors offer tools and settings to help you combat fraud, like setting limits on messages sent and the countries they're sent to or filtering phone numbers and messages for spam.

Additionally, texts, voice calls, and video chats are encrypted to protect your and your customers' privacy.

When Should You Use CPaaS  

CPaaS solutions aren't the only option for your company's communication needs, but they make sense when you need strong, customizable multi-channel communication and don't have the time, money, or need to create it in-house.

Building video conferencing functionality is difficult, costly, and time-consuming --- not to mention the associated features needed to enhance user experience or the infrastructure needed to handle the calls.

Now try adding calling, SMS, social media messaging, and chatbots, as discussed earlier. It's impossible for all but the biggest companies. Even for the biggest, it's impractical.

Customers want to reach you on their preferred channels — whether that's through a phone call, text message, or email.

When you have a large customer base that demands this communicative flexibility, CPaaS solutions make the most sense.

Best Practices for Implementing CPaaS

Many of the best practices you should follow will be specific to individual vendors and their products, but there are some general best practices you can follow, like:

Keep Costs in Mind

The pay-as-you-go aspect of CPaaS is usually a benefit, but mismanagement of subscriptions, credits, and API usage can inflate your bill.

One way to be mindful of your bill is to follow API documentation as closely as possible. Implementing a Call or SMS API incorrectly could lead to delivery issues that could add up and cost you.

Another way is to shop to find the best provider and plan for your needs. Enterprise clients can often negotiate better rates based on volume, while small businesses should seek out providers that offer the best value for their lowest tiers.

Lastly, only subscribe to services you'll use and from which you'll see a return on investment. Just because your vendor offers you a solid deal on WhatsApp Business messaging doesn't mean you need to get it if it won't see much use.

Prioritize Security and Compliance

Properly store your API keys and tokens, and never expose them directly in the code or on repositories for threat actors to access.

Most of the biggest CPaaS vendors will be compliant with government and industry-specific regulations, but be sure to do your due diligence to confirm this.

For instance, if you're a telehealth company, you must be vigilant about HIPAA compliance by picking a vendor that can properly safeguard your patients' Protected Health Information (PHI) and is willing to sign a Business Associate Agreement.

Test Thoroughly Before Giving Users Access

Always test before pushing your new or modified communication features into production.

Conduct load testing to make sure the vendor's infrastructure and your plan will hold up during your peak times.

Perform penetration testing to make sure there are no security flaws, like encryption vulnerabilities.

Have your team try each communication channel and test the user experience (UX). When you go live with these features, collect customer feedback to gauge their reactions, so you know they have a positive experience with your app.

For example, IVR and chatbots can be helpful when done right, but if they're set up poorly and prevent users from reaching live agents when needed, it can drive them to competitors.

Frequently Asked Questions