My previous postOpens a new window introduced CPaaS into the broader discussion of how IT decision makers need to think about collaboration when moving to the cloud. In that deployment mode, UC becomes UCaaS – UC as a Service – and is now a leading trend for how businesses are approaching these new technologies. CPaaS – Communications Platform as a Service – is a more recent entry, and as explained in that post, serves as a healthy complement to UCaaS. CPaaS is not meant to replace UCaaS, but it can add new value to the broader collaboration experience. That’s why there’s so much interest.
One reason for this is the simple fact that several leading UCaaS providers also have a CPaaS play, so it’s become much easier for businesses to adopt both. When coming from the same provider, the platforms will be tightly integrated, so the benefits will come easily and quickly. A key driver for all this is how the SaaS model – Software as a Service – has been embraced by IT. With technology changing so quickly these days, SaaS-based offerings have an inherent appeal for IT teams with limited time, money and resources to stay current.
Since CPaaS offerings are developer-driven, the business value will be harder to discern than with UCaaS. However, that shouldn’t stop IT decision makers from considering what CPaaS can offer. In short, CPaaS is about programmable communications, providing unprecedented flexibility to develop specific applications on an as-needed basis. Previously, businesses would have to hire third party developers, where the process was costly, lengthy, complex and not always on point. CPaaS puts all that power in the hands of subscribers, giving IT more control and ownership for driving new value for collaboration. To better understand that opportunity, here are three core use cases for CPaaS.
Use Case #1: Workers customize their own applications.
While most employees do not have the skills set of developers, they can still benefit directly from CPaaS. This is part of the flexibility for using APIs that makes CPaaS attractive. Certainly, more complex applications or integrations require a developer team – either in-house or third party – but more basic applications can be made accessible to those without coding expertise.
This is really no different from PCs, which only gained mainstream acceptance once they become user-friendly – thanks mainly to Apple. Early on, PCs were built by technical people for technical people, and only until user-centric capabilities were developed – like the mouse or GUI – could non-technical people embrace the PC revolution.
Now apply that scenario to collaboration, where non-technical workers can use CPaaS tools to customize their everyday applications or workplace environment. The more tech-savvy – or curious or inspired – they are, the more sophisticated their customizations will become. This could be something as simple as creating specific email auto-replies for certain teams or customers, or providing access to certain documents to certain team members, or setting custom visual backdrops for different video calling scenarios. The main idea overall is that customization makes workers feel more empowered with technology, and when it feels like their UC – not IT’s UC – they’ll be more engaged and more productive.
Use Case #2: IT integrates communications into workflows.
Personal customization is one way to drive better collaboration outcomes, but CPaaS can have a similar impact on a broader level. Another benefit of personal customization is that workers take on the effort themselves, and don’t need to come to IT for every little thing. This frees up IT somewhat to focus on CPaaS use cases that apply across the organization. Even with limited developer capabilities, IT can use APIs to program new features that will seamlessly integrate across various networks, endpoints and applications throughout the organization.
More specifically, with CPaaS, the focus is on communications applications, so this aligns very well with UCaaS. While CPaaS can be used to enhance applications for specific communications modes – voice, video, messaging – there’s an even greater benefit when used to improve collaboration. Nothing matters more for collaboration than real-time communications, so think about how CPaaS can be used to develop applications that can be used by all of your teams, integrated across all real-time and near real-time modes – again, voice, video, messaging – and across both wireless and fixed line networks. Now, you’re taking CPaaS beyond communication into the realm of workflows, and that’s where you’ll see even more impactful results.
Use Case #3: Companies create new forms of customer engagement.
This use case warrants a separate series of posts, but it needs to be included here. As noted at the outset, when considering cloud-based forms of UC, you will inevitably come up against both CPaaS and CCaaS – Contact Center as a Service. The worlds of UC and contact center are quickly overlapping, and every cloud provider now has some form of integrated offering. For businesses that embrace the mantra about how CX – customer experience – is the best way to differentiate today, the appeal of CPaaS should be obvious.
Just as CPaaS can drive better employee engagement by being easy to use, it can be deployed in the contact center to drive better customer engagement. Think about scenarios where you need to communicate with a specific set of customers, or you have a seasonal promotion coming, or if an urgent situation arises such as a product recall or new regulations.
There is no end to scenarios like this where off-the-shelf, legacy communications tools lack the flexibility to adapt, and then the contact center is thrown into crisis mode. With CPaaS, these are really just routine needs, where even limited developer resources can go a long way to responding in the moment. Even if you fall short on skills, your CPaaS partner will just be a phone call away, and chances are whatever you need, they’ve done it many times before.