Not All Communications APIs are Created Equal: Only 17% of Global CPaaS Users are Working with an Advanced CPaaS Vendor Despite Overwhelming Advantages

A commissioned global study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Vonage, a global leader in cloud communications helping businesses accelerate their digital transformation, found that, to provide enhanced customer engagement, companies are relying on Communications Platform as a Service, or CPaaS, a complete cloud-based application platform that includes development tools, runtime, administration, and management tools. Furthermore, the study found that the use of basic Communications APIs that act as building blocks for simple and direct communication between existing applications is falling behind that of advanced CPaaS capabilities.

Communication priorities spanning customer, organizational, and technical goals increased sharply since the onset of COVID. As part of this digital acceleration, more and more companies are turning to CPaaS to solve communication and engagement issues. This research shows that advanced CPaaS users are much more successful at getting customers what they want when they want it. And these efforts are showing big results. In fact, the study results indicated that 98% of CPaaS users are very or extremely effective at getting their customers the content they need or want, compared to just 37% of non-CPaaS users.

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Businesses today that have already implemented Communications APIs face far less technical and business challenges and see higher levels of engagement in their client communication than their counterparts that have yet to deploy CPaaS capabilities.

• The Forrester study shows that these same forward-thinking businesses are taking their API implementation to the next level to meet the increasingly sophisticated communications needs of the modern workplace with advanced CPaaS platforms.
• Advanced CPaaS enables personalized customer engagement by embedding programmable capabilities – voice, video, messaging, social chat and verification – directly into websites, workflows and even bespoke applications – with just a few lines of code and without the need for onsite developer expertise.
• Companies that choose an advanced CPaaS platform provider realize additional benefits and fewer challenges or barriers to success, as well as significantly enhanced customer experience and engagement.

The study, the detailed results and analysis of which have been published in a Forrester Consulting Thought Leadership Paper*, demonstrates that:

• Following the global COVID-19 pandemic, customers’ and prospects’ expectations for digital engagement have markedly increased.
• Consumers now expect to get the information they want, in the channel that they choose, when they want it, from anywhere on the planet.
• Marketing and customer experience professionals need to meet consumers where they are and where they feel most comfortable – seamlessly and natively – regardless of communications vehicle or channel – and across limitless use cases.

Respondents confirmed the value that CPaaS brings in terms of customer engagement and communication, including:

CPaaS enables communication where, when, and how customers want.

• To meet the growing expectations from consumers and the changing technology landscape, companies are turning to CPaaS to improve their engagement programs.
• Those with CPaaS are much more effective at getting customers the information they want (98%) than non-CPaaS users (37%).

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Technical and business challenges prohibit agility for non-CPaaS users.

• Non-CPaaS users see exacerbated challenges with their communications strategies from both a technical and business perspective. Those who use CPaaS face these challenges to a much lesser degree.
• For example, 94% of non-CPaaS users say the ability to send secure messages is very or extremely challenging, while only 31% of CPaaS users agree.
• CPaaS sets companies on an entirely different playing field than their non-CPaaS counterparts.

Advanced CPaaS solutions propel organizations in their customer engagement journey.

• While not yet widely adopted, many organizations are considering or have plans to adopt advanced CPaaS solutions and these priorities have become more important since the onset of COVID-19.
• While only 17% of CPaaS users are already working with an advanced CPaaS vendor, this number is growing—fast.
• Half of surveyed decision-makers have seen or expect to see an advanced CPaaS increase revenue, citing the top benefits of improved analytics and customer experience that address their major challenges head-on.

“The API economy is well underway as businesses have long realized the importance of meeting customers on their channel of choice in a seamless and contextual way, and the pandemic has accelerated this trend,” said Joy Corso, Chief Marketing Officer, Vonage. “This study confirms what we have already begun to see take shape with the adoption of advanced CPaaS capabilities. Businesses are expanding upon the benefits of programmable capabilities to unlock creative and unique use cases that truly deliver an unprecedented customer experience, moving from transactional interactions to true engagement.”

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