June 10th, 2021 1:41pm
Digital Transformation has certainly been a buzzword over the last few years, but with good reason. Enterprises and SMBs alike have flocked to the cloud for clear and measurable benefits, such as lower operating expenses, better agility, improved collaboration, and increased data security. Those organizations that invested in these “XXaaS” applications prior to the 2020 pandemic are now reaping the rewards, providing confirmation that next-gen operating models are now more critical than ever given the current landscape.
Most businesses that leverage the cloud have already made the leap to Software as a service (SaaS) – mostly for the reduced costs and pay-as-you-go model. And as the workforce moves to a hybrid working model, where some employees are remote and others work in the office, SaaS business communications platforms are in high demand. In fact, according to Computer Weekly, in the Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) industry, customer interest spiked 86% during the Covid-19 pandemic as businesses addressed urgent requirements to modernize their communications and computer systems to support their new way of working with an expanding remote workforce.
Keeping the hybrid workforce connected and productive while managing expenses deserves and demands a fresh approach. Cloud-based communications solutions like UCaaS and Communication Platforms as a Service (CPaaS) align perfectly with current, industry-wide digital transformation objectives, by significantly enhancing productivity, efficiency, and cost control.
But how are UCaaS and CPaaS different? Let's explore.
UCaaS versus CPaaS: What’s the Difference?
We define UCaaS as “a concept which involves integrating multiple communications solutions into a single, centralized platform. It allows businesses to combine a variety of disparate communications technologies like voice, video, text/chat, document sharing and more into one easily accessible console.”
Put simply, CPaaS extends these capabilities with integration and automation. With CPaaS, businesses can integrate communications with existing technologies using APIs, build new functionality, and automate processes.
UCaaS sounds awesome –– why do I need CPaaS?
UCaaS by itself provides a lot of business value by streamlining your communications requirements and saving time and effort. CPaaS adds integration and automation capabilities, allowing you to further tailor your communications deployment to specific business needs, such as integrating a particular communications process with a relevant business application. In fact, your business might start with UCaaS and then you might require additional functionality as time goes on. This is where CPaaS can make a huge difference.
How does it work? CPaaS relies on API calls within a low-code/no-code interface that makes it easy to build integrations. For example, integrating CPaaS with CRM automates tasks like pulling up a customer record tied to a phone number or logging a call under a specific customer, and providing an editable call detail record that your call representative can add notes to.
CPaaS also makes it easy to automate workflows. Your call rep can set up a preference or rule directing that a caller will automatically receive an “I’m sorry I missed your call” message if a call is missed. When a call is from an unknown number, the workflow is able to look up and identify who that number is associated with.
CPaaS is not complex to set up. Shawn Davis, Director of Sales Engineering at Star2Star explains how we eliminate complexity: “We minimize the coding––which is really the hard part—with our low-code/no-code approach, to integrate between systems with minimum complexity.”
With UCaaS and CPaaS, organizations can quickly pivot to meet rapidly evolving communications requirements. Star2Star’s Shawn Davis shares a use case that’s very relevant to what’s happened over the last year:
“We serve a lot of businesses in the retail space. As restaurants and other retailers turned to curbside order pickup to ensure the safety of their customers, they ran into the issue of not being able to easily communicate with their customers on orders, like when things were ready for pickup.
We created a connected-worker application that uses CPaaS to automate customer notifications, simplifying a previously strenuous and complicated workflow. It may seem like a small thing, but it helps these businesses keep their customers happy and coming back.”
At MK7, we’ve also seen demand for UCaaS solutions soar. With UCaaS, organizations can enable their employees to communicate and collaborate at any time, from anywhere. Just as important, they can eliminate costly infrastructure, management and control expenses:
Shawn’s story reinforces how UCaaS and CPaaS deliver capabilities that help enterprises like yours control communications costs, boost productivity and delight customers—and advance your organization’s digital transformation objectives.
See for yourself how you can accelerate cost effective and impactful changes for your organization: Read our special report, A unified workplace for seamless communications
Ready to make the move? We’re here for you— let’s get started today!
Schedule your 30-minute conversation to discuss your organization’s UCaas CPaaS needs
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