Tom Rahder Chief Marketing and Product Officer at Commify, discusses the equalising power of CPaaS, and explores how business communication is evolving to support our experience economy…
The way in which we work, shop, access services – and communicate as individuals – has changed. The pandemic and lifestyle lockdown restrictions saw us communicating more from the comfort of our homes, opting for digital channels rather than in-person visits to shopping centres, restaurants, or to the doctor. This has resulted in channel fragmentation, as we continue to use a host of different apps and platforms to ask companies questions, search for information, or buy products.
Businesses who are thriving in this new economy are relying on more than just products and services to attract and retain customers – they are delivering ‘memorable’ customer interactions and experiences – thanks to the rise of both cloud and smartphone technology.
The need to be more responsive has contributed to the rise of Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) technology. Businesses are looking for a flexible, frictionless and seamless way of interacting with customers across whatever platform they choose, without having to rip and replace existing technologies or processes.
The great equaliser
Organisations traditionally operate with a combination of platforms and processes including sales software, CRMs and collaboration platforms. Switching from these legacy systems to entirely new platforms is a costly undertaking. CPaaS effectively allows smaller businesses to compete with larger organisations by allowing them to jump right in at a minimal cost. Instead of limiting the technology to companies that can afford it—companies of all sizes can deploy cutting-edge CPaaS innovations for a seamless user experience.
Communication without limits
A turnkey CPaaS solution has almost limitless potential but at its heart it needs to offer a best-in-class user experience, through a front end interface that makes it easy to navigate across different communication channels, regardless of use case or location, to obtain a 360-degree view of customer experience with authentication and management functionality built in.
There are a number of key use cases including:
Two-way chat or automated chatbot functionality:
· Automated appointment reminders
· Schedule updates/changes
· Order/shipping updates and confirmations
· Bulk messaging and group messaging
· Marketing/marketing automation
· Customer/technical support
· Customer polls/surveys.
· Click & Collect
· Transactional payment
Authentication/verification:
· Two-factor authentication
· Account login attempt push notifications
· Verification codes
Third-party integration:
· Users can easily integrate with applications such as Salesforce, Slack, Microsoft Teams or Zoom
Analytics & reporting:
· Access the metrics that matter, to capitalise on your successes and make more informed business decisions.
Where to next?
As one technology matures, solutions need to evolve to meet the requirements of the next one, with capabilities that focus on the channels that people are using – text/SMS, email, WhatsApp, chatbot or voice – and which can differ quite markedly, depending on where you are in the world.
No one can predict the future (yet), but many of the broader trends in computer science and human communications are becoming clear. New developments like serverless and low code or no code have started to redefine our space. Omni-channel communications expectations will also accelerate the need for communications platforms to adjust their interaction models with AI, speech, and bot interaction becoming must-haves, as the need for a more robust, cross-channel functionality and improved customer interaction becomes both the end goal – and the result.
Customer support, notifications and reminders, collections and payments, marketing and promotions – at every customer touchpoint, businesses have an opportunity to disappoint or delight.
And there is a lot riding on both.
Tom Rahder, Chief Marketing & Product Officer
