20 Aug CPaaS: A Brief Overview
If you’re a business with any sort of audience, then communication is a must. In most cases, your audience wants as many ways to contact you as possible. Sure, some people are fine with contacting a business rep via phone Monday through Friday, but what about the rest of your audience? Studies show that Millennials would rather live chat over any other form of communication. Additionally, 90% of people say an immediate response from a business is important to them. So, what are you doing to make your business easily accessible to your entire audience? If you feel like you’re not doing enough and are looking to expand your business’ communications, then CPaaS may be the right move for you. But what is it and what’s the difference between CPaaS and UCaaS?
What is CPaaS?
So, what exactly is CPaaS? CPaaS stands for ‘Communication Platforms as a Service’. But if you’re not in the telecom world, that means little to nothing to you. Let’s work on breaking this down, so you can have a better understanding of what it is you’re getting into and see if it’s the right fit for your business.
CPaaS solutions give you access to real-time communication options, with flexibility as to what communications you’re using and how you are accessing those communications. CPaaS uses APIs, or application program interfaces, to intertwine different communication methods into your existing business applications. So, the applications you are already using for your business can now have more communication features and functionality with CPaaS.
CPaaS vs. UCaaS
Something you may be running into while looking into communication solutions is UCaaS. What is the difference between the two and how do you know what’s right for your business? UCaaS is Unified Communications as a Service, which again, probably sounds a bit nonsensical. In layman terms, UCaaS is a platform that is dedicated to all your different communication methods in one handy place. This is great if you have a lot of communication methods and want a brand-new location to access them all at once.
Where CPaaS stands out against UCaaS the most is that instead of bringing all of your communications to a new platform, it allows you to communicate through platforms you are already utilizing. So, you get the ‘comforts of home’ while getting to turn on communication capabilities that your customers want to use.
Now that you have a better understanding of what CPaaS is, and how it compares to UCaaS, let’s get into the benefits of utilizing CPaaS for your business.
How Can CPaaS Benefit Your Business?
Other than the benefit of staying on the same platform you’ve grown to know and trust, there are other benefits that could make CPaaS the better option for your needs. The biggest benefit of CPaaS is pricing flexibility. Because it is cloud-based and uses the infrastructure of the provider, businesses don’t need to spend major CAPEX. Plus, it ensures future-proofing. Meaning that when new features are available, the APIs are prototyped, implemented, and released much faster than in-house developments.
CPaaS allows businesses to easily jump in with minimal cost. With it, companies of all sizes have access to the technology of enterprises, without the hefty price tag. So, the local school system could easily and cost-effectively add SMS announcement features without any required infrastructure. While multinational enterprises can customize the integration of their communications and manage their API connections from one central location.
So, What Next?
There are a lot of options out there when it comes to communication solutions. It can seem overwhelming when trying to find the right fit for your business, but we’re here for you! Check out our CPaaS page if you’d like to learn more about Brightlink’s CPaaS solutions.
If you are looking for a more flexible communication option that’s designed with your business in mind, reach out to Brightlink today. We’d love to answer any questions you have and help you discover if CPaaS is right for your business. Call us at 888-871-4575 or send us an email and tell us about your business!