What is CPaaS and How Does It Work? A Complete Review

The global CPaaS market is projected to account for USD 45.3 billion by 2027, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.4% during the forecast period.

According to the industry experts “With CPaaS, communication is no longer a standalone function; it is an integrated part of the customer experience.”

With numerous powerful communication functionalities, CPaaS helps businesses customize their telecommunication infrastructure according to their growing needs and develop a more robust, dynamic customer base.

In this blog, we will take an in-depth look at what CPaaS is, its key functionalities, its core benefits, and how we can use it to optimize our business.

What is CPaaS? 

CPaaS refers to Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS). It enables businesses to integrate communication features such as voice, video, messaging, and authentication into their applications without needing to build the in-house communication infrastructure from scratch. 

CPaaS are of various types:

1. Voice CPaaS
2. Messaging CPaaS
3. Video CPaaS
4. Multi-Channel CPaaS
5. Social Media Messaging CPaaS
6. Email CPaaS
7. WebRTC CPaaS
8. Authentication and Security CPaaS
9. IoT Communication CPaaS

 Some popular CPaaS platforms are: Twilio, Vonage, Nexmo, and so on.

Top Key Features of CPaaS

Some of the best key features of CPaaS are:

1. Omnichannel communication

CPaaS supports multiple communication channels such as SMS, voice, email, chats as well as social messaging apps. This makes it easier to communicate with customers across all available platforms and channels.

2. Inbound and outbound calls

Voice API integration enables making outbound calls to clients worldwide. CPaaS enables businesses to get new phone numbers and calling features quickly and efficiently.

CPaas also provides easy inbound call routing without any programming. This makes calling easy and cost-friendly for businesses.

3. Multiple forms of messaging

CPaaS allows not only text messaging but also social media, multimedia, and video messaging. Businesses can send MMS, videos, and files in many other media formats to enhance customer interactions.

4. Number masking and lookup

CPaaS allows for phone number masking of the agent as well as the customer. It protects the customer’s identity, prevents sensitive information from getting leaked, and ensures absolute privacy.

If an agent doubts the authenticity of a number, CPaaS also allows for real-time phone number validation, giving information about the carrier, country, and phone type. This enables businesses to make sure messages reach the trusted recipient numbers and fraud calls are avoided.

5. WebRTC

CPaaS provides web RTC (real-time communication) APIs for embedding real-time audio and video communication into web browsers so that agents can conduct video calls and use in-browser voice without the need for plug-ins.

6. Other useful tools

CPaaS provides tools for analytics and communication automation to automate customer support interactions, follow-up messages, and reminders, without any requirement for manual inputs.

What Are The Benefits of CPaaS?

If you are a developer, an IT professional, or a major decision-maker in tech business seeking to integrate real-time communication tools into the applications to enhance business communication infrastructure then let’s look at some extraordinary advantages of CPaaS.

1. Highly cost-effective

CPaaS is a very cost-effective telecommunication solution. CPaaS eliminates the need for businesses to invest in on-premise hardware infrastructure and its maintenance. Also, businesses can have free trials and must pay for only the communication services they pay to use and no hidden costs.

2. Easy integration

Businesses can easily integrate CPaaS features with their applications and internal communication systems using simple APIs without needing to build services from scratch.

3. Scalable and flexible

Since CPaaS is a cloud-based platform, it can easily be scaled up or down based on usage. CPaaS can be customized to meet complex business workflows and specific communication experiences. Thus, developers can scale and optimize efficiently.

4. Reliable and secure

Most CPaaS platforms provide security features like authentication and encryption. These features are built into every package and ensure secure communication with clients and partners.

5. Highly advanced features

CPaaS enables businesses to engage across multiple communication channels, including SMS, video, voice, email, and social messaging platforms like WhatsApp. It also comes with advanced features like reporting and analytic tools, on-demand SIP trunking, number masking, webRTC-based calling, and inbound call routing.

How Does Communications Platform-as-a-Service (CPaaS) Work?

The CPaaS services are provided by a third-party service provider. They provide tools with standard-based APIs (Application Programming Interface) and SDK (Software Development Kit). In order to use CPaaS, developers must be capable of building custom applications that use APIs.

API acts as an intermediate between the user and a software application. The package also consists of sample codes and pre-built applications. These APIs are then used to integrate communication features such as voice, SMS, video, etc., into the internal communications systems and business applications.

Since CPaaS is a cloud-based computing service, companies need not invest in any kind of back-end hardware or networking infrastructure. All communication services such as call routing, SMS gateways, data storage, network scalability, and security are handled by the CPaaS provider. 

CPaaS also enables agents to communicate with clients in real time. The communications are made secure with the help of encryption and two-factor authentication (2FA).

CPaaS Use Cases

1. E-Commerce sites

When a customer signs up for a service on an e-commerce website, the platform triggers an API call to send an SMS confirmation message. If the customer needs help, they can start a live chat or voice call with customer support. 

All these activities including order status notification, delivery tracking, and transaction confirmations are powered by CPaaS APIs. Throughout the process, the business can track communication metrics and adjust its services as needed.

2. Virtual consultations

After COVID most businesses have an online platform to provide online services as well. CPaaS also has numerous telehealth applications.

CPaaS enables healthcare clinics and workers to automate reminders about upcoming appointments and confirm medicine orders. Doctors can also provide online consultations to patients in remote areas with the help of embedded video conferencing and voice call features provided by CPaaS.

3. Ride-sharing services

Apps like Uber, Lyft, and Gett use CPaaS to enable secure in-app real-time messaging and calling between users and drivers. The identity of both parties can be kept anonymous if they wish for it. 

The riders also receive real-time SMS updates for ride confirmation, driver arrival, and trip completion. In regions with dynamic pricing, these services use automated voice calls and messages to notify drivers about high-demand areas.

Some Notable CPaaS Providers

CPaaS providers must be selected considering the range of features they offer, affordability, compatibility with our internal applications, and market reputation. Some top reputable CPaaS providers of 2024 are:

1. Dialaxy

Dialaxy is considered to be one of the best CPaaS providers currently out there. Dialaxy offers numerous easy-to-use APIs that developers can integrate into their existing business workflows and applications.

Dialaxy complies with all the legal regulations like GDPR and HIPAA to ensure data privacy and security. Dialaxy also allows an extensive range of communication services such as voice, SMS, and video along with VoIP calling to be efficiently integrated into business communications.

With Dialaxy, companies can receive a high level of trustworthy service with minimal downtime. Dialaxy also offers much more transparent and competitive pricing models compared to its competitors. This allows businesses to budget effectively while receiving quality service.

2. Twilio

Twilio is regarded as one of the best CPaaS providers in the market. It is especially known for its robust API offerings and tools, along with programmable VoIP and SIP calling.

Twilio offers two-factor authentication (2FA) and encryption of signals to keep communications secure. It enhances workflow by enabling the customization of communication media without the need for extensive coding. This is accomplished by the pre-offered visual tool called Twilio Studio.

It also provides extensive documentation, tutorials, and an online community to support customers and developers with problem-solving, decision-making, and troubleshooting.

3. Vonage

Vonage, formerly known as Nexmo, is a cloud-based communication platform that offers a comprehensive suite of communication APIs with strong messaging and voice capabilities and in-house NLU (Natural Language Understanding).

One of the benefits of choosing Vonage is that it offers all CPaaS, UCaaS, and CCaaS solutions. It can also be easily integrated across all platforms like Windows, iOS, Android, Web, and Linux. Its cloud infrastructure can accommodate the communication demands of businesses of all sizes.

It also provides detailed information about phone numbers, their types, carriers, and locations, enabling better-targeted communication. 

4. Plivo

Plivo is also a cloud-based platform but it stands out in the market as a premier CPaaS provider due to the fact that it provides businesses with advanced features such as programmable voice and messaging APIs, cloud SIP trunking, server and client SDKs, conversion feedback APIs, and call hunting.

Plivo provides an intuitive user interface that allows users to manage and monitor their communication activities, configure settings, and track performance metrics easily. It also provides extensive documentation and SDKs to assist developers in integrating and using the platform effectively. 

CPaaS Pricing

CPaaS generally follows a pay-as-you-go model. The cost of CPaaS service depends upon the following factors:

• Type of communication feature (text, video, voice)
• Geographic location
• Usage volume (calls/messages per minute)
• Acquired features (APIs, authentication)
• Subscription model.

The cost of voice calls is based on the duration of the calls. For outbound calls, the destination and call type (landline or phone) are also taken into account.

For text messages, users are charged per message sent, message type, and size.

For video calls, users are billed per participant per minute based on the session length and resolution type (SD/HD).

For authentication services, charges are based on per SMS or voice verification code sent.

For programmable APIs, the pricing is based on the number of API calls made.

Lucrative discounts and custom prices are available for larger companies.

CPaaS vs. UCaaS

The differences between CPaaS and UCaaS are as follows:

CPaaS vs. CCaaS

The differences between CPaaS and CCaaS are as follows:

Final Words

Without CPaaS, businesses might not be able to meet their communications demands on time. Moreover, companies will have to bear high costs due to the construction and maintenance of network infrastructures, negotiating with carriers, and using separate channels for SMS, voice, and so on.

Thus, using CPaaS helps businesses reduce costs, increase their clientele, boost development, and get unlimited and desirable communication capabilities.

FAQs

1. What is the difference between CPaaS vs. UCaaS?

CPaaS mainly focuses on providing customizable and integrable solutions that can be embedded into various applications via APIs. Whereas, UCaaS primarily focuses on offering a unified communication system with several advanced pre-built tools for business collaboration.

2. Is CPaaS secure?

Yes, CPaaS is highly secure because CPaaS providers provide robust security features such as:

• Data encryption
• Secure APIs
• Two-factor authentication (2FA)
• Masked communications
• Fraud detection and prevention
• Access controls and user permissions
• DDoS protection
• Monitoring and auditing

3. What is the CPaaS industry?

The CPaaS (Communication Platform as a Service) industry refers to the service sector that provides cloud-based communication platforms. These platforms enable companies and developers to integrate real-time communication functionalities such as messaging, voice, video, and chats into their systems without building complex backend infrastructures from scratch.

4. What is CPaaS software?

CPaaS software is software with cloud-based tools for integrating real-time communication features into applications without needing custom infrastructure.