Why is programmable communications important?  

Multi-Channel programmable communications are increasingly being used by enterprises and brands around the world to provide more engaging experiences for their customers. Channels like voice and messaging are helping to drive revenue and enable brands to offer a higher-quality customer experience. Until now, uptake of these channels has been slow as they required costly investments in telecoms infrastructure and licenses and depended on complex integrations. 

Programmable communications remove these complexities. They provide businesses with a software-based, API-driven framework to tailor their communications setup to suit the needs of their end customers.  

Why are programmable communications key for the future of work?  

Programmable communications are key to the future of work in two respects. Firstly, they allow global enterprises in any sector to effectively use the latest digital technologies without needing extensive telecoms infrastructure and knowledge. Secondly, they enable greatly improved collaboration, customer engagement, and customer service by integrating with these applications and workflows. Collectively these benefits allow businesses to increase their internal efficiencies and generate more value for their customers, thereby increasing profitability. 

If we look at collaboration, for example, APIs supply businesses with easy-to-deploy integrations to enhance their collaboration tools with new features. This could be new functionalities in their messaging or voice channels, or an expanded cloud communications portfolio: for example, Zoom has launched a range of APIs to support better communications and collaboration. 

With better means of communication comes more customer engagement. Enterprises using programmable communications are better able to accommodate the specific preferences of their end-users. For example, enterprises can integrate Application-to-Person (A2P) messaging into their business workflow via APIs. This enables them to send their customers alerts, reminders, and notifications (ARNs) and keep them informed in real-time on relevant events or share information with event organisers. For example, enterprises can share notifications with customers about the status of their orders and confirm their identity by means of one-time passwords (OTP) with two-factor authentication (2FA). 

Programmable communications provide a range of new ways for businesses to communicate and collaborate. These new channels benefit global enterprises in almost every industry.  

Where are you seeing programmable communications having the biggest impact today? 

The pandemic has accelerated the already massive demand for cloud-based collaboration across almost every industry. Gartner predicts that 90% of global enterprises will adopt API-enabled CPaaS offerings to enhance digital competitiveness by 2023. I’d like to talk about three of the most popular use cases here: 

One of the main use cases driving this uptake is contact centre as-a-service (CCaaS) solutions. In short, businesses are using programmable communications to create their own workflows with customisable bots, text-to-speech, and click-to-call features. These enable enterprises to create more personalised, convenient, and engaging interactions for their customers.  

Another significant area in which we are seeing increased use of programmable communications is transactional security. For example, if a bank notices unusual activity happening on one of their customer’s accounts, programmable communications allow them to send an alert to the customer via SMS. The customer can then respond to this SMS to either verify the activity or flag that it is fraudulent. All of this could happen in less than a minute; it secures customers’ accounts and builds their trust in the bank.  

The healthcare sector is another area where we’re seeing major uptake on programmable communications. Healthcare providers are utilising these services to make it easier for patients to book appointments, and to facilitate online and video consultations. 

How is BICS bringing something different to the programmable communications space?  

BICS offers a portfolio of programmable communications solutions and an API platform, enabling enterprises to easily customize communications services to suit their individual requirements. This ultimately gives them greater flexibility to scale and optimize their business however they need. 

Our role at BICS is to serve as a two-sided communications platform. We provide ready-to-use APIs to consume global telecommunications services without requiring telecoms investment or expertise. Ultimately, enterprises need simple and flexible solutions to communicate to consumers. We provide simple, streamlined services that allow businesses to build these capabilities. 

Unlike other cloud communications platforms, we use our own global network – this removes complex integrations, accelerates time to market, and reduces costs. We simplify rolling out and managing traditional telecoms connections in multiple markets by consolidating communications in the cloud. And our digital communications solutions have been continuously upgraded to provide enterprises with a complete offering of global reach, flexibility, and control. 

What does 2022 look like from a programmable communications point of view? 

The future holds huge potential for programmable communications in Internet of Things (IoT), specifically for machine-to-person (M2P) messaging. Already, there are a huge number of IoT use cases where programmable communications are used. For instance, automatic alerts for appliances that are needing maintenance or have faults, meter readings being sent back to energy providers, and vending machines alerting of low stock. These will only become more abundant in the future. 

But while these new areas are promising, we need to continue thinking about how we can secure these communications. While the capabilities of programmable communications lie in the software and APIs, equally important is the quality of delivery, especially for IoT use cases where there is a very real risk of cyberattack or fraud. For businesses, brands, and organisations to combine these features with an appropriate level of security they need an end-to-end service that realises the full potential of programmable communications. 

 

 



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