July 27, 2023 What is a Communications Automation Platform (CAP)?

How AI-powered CAP can help enterprises address shifting customer expectations and pursue digital transformation.

By: Brian Gilman

With the pervasiveness of technology-based buying, and the ability of household name enterprises to analyze and deliver on preferences, modern customers have come to expect more personalized and context-driven experiences. Simultaneously, customers use multiple channels to interface with companies, forcing businesses to support omnichannel interactions and additional communication layers. In the wake of such changes, companies recognize that the only way forward is through digital transformation. Nevertheless, their legacy tools lack the speed and integration to automate and modernize everyday communication processes.

Traditionally, the default approach to enhancing communications and collaboration capabilities was through CPaaS (Communications Platforms as a Service), typified by platforms like Twilio. The problem, however, is that because APIs are so rigid, they result in siloed applications, making digital transformation nearly impossible. Moreover, businesses don’t have the luxury to engage in lengthy development cycles while trying to stay competitive and meet customer demands. In light of these challenges, organizations should consider emerging Communications Automation Platforms (CAP) powered by generative and conversational AI technologies to realize true digital transformation.

What is CAP? 

According to a report from Aragon Research, the developing CAP market, expected to reach $27.4B by 2027, will disrupt the legacy Communications Platforms as a Service market. In fact, by 2025, 60% of enterprises will attempt to accelerate their business processes by implementing CAP. This software solution enables companies to more effectively communicate with customers while helping them manage multiple channels, including SMS, e-mail and social media messaging (like WhatsApp) within the same, easily-accessible interface. Unlike APIs, CAP can also integrate with different software solutions – most notably, marketing automation and CRMs. Plus, leveraging CAP’s low-effort workflows and automation capabilities will empower customers to effortlessly find information without going through a contact center agent.

The Primary Benefits of Leveraging CAP

From transportation and utilities to engineering and manufacturing, any industry that habitually interfaces with customers, partners or suppliers will benefit from CAP. In particular, the low-effort workflows of CAP allow enterprises to quickly and easily build and automate applications as communication needs arise. Businesses can also reduce labor costs while accelerating time to deployment because these low-effort methods don’t have time-intensive development cycles or require teams of programmers. Moreover, these easy-to-use workflows are much more flexible than the inelastic, siloed and stand-alone applications of the past, permitting organizations to edit and change their apps mid-production.    

Another feature of CAP is its ability to help implement automation throughout business processes. Typically, most calls coming into a contact center environment are routine queries. Whether it is a predictable question about shipments, billing, or service updates, these calls can and should be automated by generative AI. In fact, having agents answer every query is ineffective and unrealistic. However, by leveraging CAP’s automation capabilities, companies can deploy AI-powered virtual assistants and chatbots to handle the bulk of these monotonous asks, freeing customer service representatives to focus on those more complex and revenue-generating customer interactions. Not only will automation reduce hold times and call resolution, but it will also curb burnout and dissatisfaction among contact center agents.

Key Features to Look for in a CAP Provider 

For industrial leaders preparing to deploy CAP, they should prioritize those leading offerings that come with several key elements. As discussed, a best-in-class CAP must have low-effort tools, like drag-and-drop workflows and pre-built templates. Ideally, businesses should find those low-effort tools that require little to no prior programming qualifications, permitting anyone to build and design new workflows. Likewise, a CAP vendor should have built-in AI functionality including conversational and generative AI. Such intelligent tools will support analytics and tracking efforts across channels, giving companies deeper insights into the context behind various customer interactions. 

Additionally, leaders should value those CAP offerings with over-the-top (OTT) orchestration and integration capabilities. Today, an enterprise’s various applications typically exist within multi-vendor environments. A CAP offering must come with OTT orchestration and sequencing to overcome this complexity, enabling applications to communicate. However, not all CAP providers will have the ability to work across multiple environments. As such, enterprises should familiarize themselves with the current base of vendors and potential vendors before checking if their CAP provider can support them. Lastly, an ideal CAP offering should include integrations for commonplace apps and social media tools.  

Future-Proofing Through CAP and Generative AI 

Companies want to be competitive in the short and long term, and CAP can help prepare businesses for the future. In particular, leading CAP providers can integrate their offerings with other promising technologies like ChatGPT and other generative AI solutions. Beyond generative AI’s ability to enhance predictive maintenance, discover new efficiencies for design and processes and optimize supply chains, it can also enrich customer service environments, helping enterprises create new and meaningful communication experiences for customers, partners and suppliers.

Brian Gilman brings more than two decades of experience to his position as Chief Marketing Officer. A transformational marketing leader with an impressive record of success in developing and implementing strategic B2B marketing plans, he is responsible for the creation of global thematic and vertical campaigns that span across all IntelePeer products, services and solutions. Prior to IntelePeer, Brian was vice president of product, solutions and integrated marketing at Vonage. Throughout his career, he had served in key leadership roles with top telecom, contact center and collaboration platform providers such as Avaya, Dimension Data, Polycom and Vidyo, launching platforms, creating new brand identities and developing marketing strategies. An industry expert, Brian has produced multiple telecom research reports cited by the US Internet Council and Business 2.0, among others. He holds a BA in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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