March 2024 | Globe Teleservice

5 Ways CPaaS is Boosting Customer Relations for Enterprises

Excellent customer relationships are the most-used not-so-secret weapon for successful businesses. In this digital age, companies are building excellent customer relationships through strategic and well-planned methods for personalized communication. However, this is a time of omnichannel customer contact. The scope for communication extends across telephonic, SMS, Internet-based IM communications, emails, campaigns, and many more mediums. That makes the task of personalized communications a bit more complex.

In the past, businesses had to build their own communications infrastructure to support such initiatives. But fast forward to today, when they have a unified solution available at their disposal via the cloud. We are talking about Communications Platform as a Service or CPaaS.

What is CPaaS?

In simple terms, CPaaS is a cloud-based umbrella solution that facilitates real-time communication through channels like SMS, Voice, Email, Chatbot, etc. The framework leverages APIs through which enterprises can integrate the desired communication channels into their digital applications effortlessly.

For example, if you run an eCommerce business, then all your customer communications can be easily handled through a single CPaaS platform. Different departments like marketing, sales, dispatch, delivery, etc. can initiate the desired notification messages through the solution. It can be configured according to every specific need.

5 ways in which CPaaS is helping enterprises today

Gartner predicts that by 2025, nearly 95% of global enterprises will leverage CPaaS to improve their business communications. This is because CPaaS has the potential to offer some truly exhilarating benefits for businesses that utilize them.

Let us explore the top 5:

Facilitate real-time communications

The major advantage of CPaaS is that it facilitates real-time communication between customers and the business. Traditionally, this was possible only with person-to-person interactions that happened in stores or via telephonic conversations. With CPaaS, there is a huge opportunity for businesses to build autonomous personal communication channels in real-time. They can use SMS, automated voice calls, WhatsApp, or Chatbots to deeply engage with their customers at any time.

The conversations can be triggered in real-time by any desired trigger event. For example, when a shopped product is shipped from the warehouse or when a delivery agent picks up the food ordered via a food delivery app and so on. Every communication sent out can be personalized with permitted data from customers to build a very engaging communication experience.

Empower marketing

With CPaaS, businesses can equip their marketing teams with a direct communication channel with several engagement options. Rich text or media like videos and images can be shared with customers through integrated WhatsApp and other social media messaging applications.

They can also use the CPaaS solution to segregate target customer populations into buckets for more effective targeting through campaigns. Platforms like CPaaS+ from GTS offer even more attractive features like tracking campaigns, analytics on the performance of campaigns, etc. Such solutions can provide real-time visibility into several crucial aspects thereby helping marketers fine-tune their approaches easily and more effectively.

Enhance security

As businesses compete to win customers through best-in-class apps, there are often security concerns that they run into like fraudulent access, impersonations, etc. With CPaaS, enterprises can add additional layers of security to their digital communication approaches. They can use it to deploy authentication mechanisms via SMS OTPs or automated flash call verification, etc.

An additional feature that enterprises can leverage is the ability to offer masked number communications to customers. This helps in protecting against the misuse of the customer’s data.

24*7 availability for support operations

CPaaS solutions don’t just help by enabling communication channels. They can also allow enterprises to automate the operation of such channels. We have already seen how applications like food delivery apps and eCommerce can use CPaaS for real-time notifications. On a different note, the same capability can help set up 24*7 support operations for customers.

This is extremely important when you want to expand your digital business globally as support operations need to be run 24*7. Customer queries can be answered with AI-enabled response systems integrated into your content generation workflows for SMS, Chatbots, etc.

Cost-effective

Irrespective of the business size, having a reliable communication experience with customers is critical for growth. But for smaller businesses, investing in massive communication infrastructure will be a very tough proposition. With CPaaS, this challenge is easily resolved. The solution provides two major capabilities. One is the ability to offer subscription-based pricing since it is a SaaS platform running on the cloud. The second benefit is the modular flexibility it offers for adding communication channels on demand.

Enterprises can use CPaaS as a plug-and-play solution wherein they can add communication channels one after the other depending on the business growth. They can add the desired engagement functionality on specific apps or digital services as per demand. The modular flexibility results in them paying only for what’s needed at that point of time in their business growth journey.

One-stop communication is a competitive advantage

CPaaS is an extremely powerful tool for today’s businesses to revolutionize their customer communication experiences. Building a sustainable competitive edge requires businesses to be able to be closer to their customers, nurturing their interests and engaging them constantly. With CPaaS, all this becomes possible out of a single one-stop solution.

However, making the right call in selecting the CPaaS solution is also equally important. This is where GTS can help make a difference. Our CPaaS + platform is equipped with advanced features that go beyond the traditional capabilities of CPaaS solutions. Get in touch with us for a quick demo and decide for yourself.

The Unseen Dynamics: Fintech and Telecom’s Subtle Integration

Technological advancements are accelerating innovation across the fintech industry. A collaboration between both the sectors is driving economic transformation by bridging the gap between digital connectivity and financial inclusion.

Collaboration between telcos and FinTechs in Africa is an inspiring example. Telcos not only provide calling services and mobile reception, but they are also revolutionizing the way this economy accesses and uses financial services. FinTechs, simultaneously, are targeting the telco’s large customer base for greater synergy. The Digital payments market in the MENA region is estimated at USD 226.53 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 380.86 billion by 2029.

The evolving role of telcos in bridging the digital divide

Telcos are becoming fintech providers. They are making finance accessible to the underserved by turning mobile phones into virtual wallets. Many telcos in the African region are now offering their own digital currencies and add-on services. Offerings like MTN Mobile Money, Vodacom M-Pesa, and EcoCash, offered by Econet are transforming how people manage their finances. These currencies are now being accepted by retailers, supermarkets, and even utility companies. Users can now conveniently send and receive money, access loans and savings, pay bills, etc. right from their mobile phones.

Millions of people who previously had limited options to access banking services are now gaining access to the same through the operators.

The rise of new business models

Telcos and FinTechs are re-visiting their business models to expand service offerings, diversify revenue streams, increase competitiveness, and influence competitiveness in this dynamic industry.

This positively impacted customer experience by allowing customers to make transactions, transfer funds, and manage financial services easily from their mobile phones. Apart from this, mobile banking allows customers to manage their bank accounts through calling, text messaging or WhatsApp for quick on-the-go status updates.

Lending and insurance services are other areas where both the industries have come together to provide easy access to traditional banking services for all. These leverage the robust data sets available with telcos and tap their access to real-time messaging channels to create intelligent and scalable ecosystems. This drives actions like credit rating and real-time analysis, through powerful monitoring and reporting.

Fintech providers who specialize in cross-border payments and telcos are also collaborating to facilitate international and domestic remittances through digital channels. In all of this, telcos are playing a prominent role in developing digital identity verification and Know Your Customer (KYC) processes.

Driving the future of FinTech

We have witnessed the rise of internet banking, mobile banking, and mobile payments and have seen them become an integral part of our lives. Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are playing a pivotal role in securely facilitating payments from anywhere in the world.

This telecom infrastructure also plays a key role in enabling the security of banking data. Secure networks, reliable connectivity, and speed of telecom networks are crucial to expedite the future of the fintech revolution.

Telecoms are now making investments in network infrastructure, including 5G networks and edge computing, etc. to enhance data transmission speed, and enable fast deployment of fintech solutions.

Such partnerships are aiding the fintech sector in expanding the reach and capabilities of their solutions. Integration of technologies such as AI, cloud, and advanced analytics has further enhanced convenience for this tech-savvy generation. This collaboration is driven by the increasing demand for quick and seamless experiences, which are the determining factors for today’s young customers.

Telcos are powering fintech innovation by providing access to cloud services, resulting in sandbox environments for startups to test and refine their solutions. This enables them to provide secure and verified customer data to enterprises, facilitating credit scoring and KYC processes.

The vast pool of data has led to greater personalization of financial products, allowing rapid development, flexibility, and powerful access to endless possibilities. This is redefining digital finance and payment solutions.

Enabling regulatory compliance

Digital transactions have now got the endorsements of governments across the world as a secure means to conduct financial activities. These digital channels have helped both the sectors to make these transactions more secure, traceable and detect fraudulent transactions more easily.

However, as the landscape continues to evolve, telcos have become more agile in adapting to regulatory frameworks, causing new financial models to come into being.

Telecom and fintech companies are share a common objective – to enhance customer experience and broaden access to financial services. To achieve this, collaboration is key to tackling challenges including networking, regulatory hurdles, and mitigating fraud risks.

In Conclusion

Digital payments and transactions are now a part of our new normal.
Telcos are emerging as prominent enablers in the fintech realm, elevating customer relationships and financial products to new heights. Governments across GCC countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and UAE are offering strong regulatory support for fintech innovation-driven to build a globally integrated environment. The role of telecom in this cannot be ignored.

The telecom and FinTech sector creates a transformative impact on the economy by driving financial inclusion. The need for more secure, fast, and accessible payment systems keeps increasing as the world becomes increasingly interconnected and digitized. The convergence of these two sectors helps in driving innovation and growth in a digital economy.

Mobile Ecosystem Security – Threats, Trends, And Predictions

The telecom industry is no stranger to security threats.

From phishing to SMS scams, the industry has seen it all.

However, the industry is still seeing a spike in these threats. For example, in 2022, consumers in the US lost $330 million to SMS scams.

What’s more? Telecom operators have also witnessed new telecom frauds in recent years.

According to Nokia’s report, there has been a five-fold increase in malicious botnet Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) traffic emerging from vulnerable IoT devices. Another report stated that nearly three-quarters of 5G operators experienced up to six security breaches. These resulted in network downtime, regulatory issues, and unauthorized access to customer data.

While technologies like IoT and 5G promise a future of connectivity and innovation, mobile operators worry about new threats.

They must consider new mitigation strategies to improve mobile network security and adapt to the ever-changing landscape.

Let’s look at various threats to discover how operators overcome them with the latest security technology.

Five Trends And Predictions To Secure The Mobile Ecosystem

Attackers have found a new way to hack the network. It’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). They have been using AI/ML to impersonate humans to enter the network, build sneakier malware, and create deep fake data.

The good news is operators can use the same technology to solve the problem. They can use AI to analyze baseline behavioral patterns and highlight anomalies. For example, AI/ML can analyze previous breaches, such as malware, phishing, and DDoS, and suggest mitigation steps to operators.

This helps them take pre-emptive measures on time and safeguard the network. It will also allow them to improve network reliability and protect customer data in real time.

5G security

Several telecom operators have started providing 5G network connectivity to customers in different countries. 5G promises to connect billions of devices and people by transporting data 1000 times faster than 4G. In fact, 5G is more secure and addresses the vulnerabilities of the 4G network. For example, it offers more robust encryption, data protection, and end-to-end security protection for source and destination network traffic. It provides a unique feature called network slicing that segments the network and offers custom security controls. So, operators can block or quarantine the traffic on that network slice whenever there is an incident. This helps in reducing the attack surface, enhancing security.

However, there are still a few privacy concerns. One being that 5G connects more devices than 4G, exposing the network to more vulnerabilities. Operators could face challenges in real-time while monitoring threats, compromising the connected devices.

These issues have brought several telecom operators together for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) collaborative project. it aims to set and update security standards based on the changing landscape.

Threat intelligence sharing

Despite collecting large amounts of information on cyber threats, operators do not share it with other operators.

In an interconnected world, operators can no longer withhold threat intelligence information or function in silos. They must share this information in order to improve security posture and safeguard customers from threats. This could include sharing the latest on emerging threats, best practices, and standardized protocols. The aim is to help operators put a united front to stay ahead of the attackers.

GSMA’s T-ISAC and FASG have already started sharing knowledge and best practices to make networks more secure. They host webinars and share industry experts’ opinions on building a safe environment for operators to exchange intelligence safely.

Such initiatives motivate operators to become more proactive in sharing intelligence with others.

SMS Firewalls

Due to the staggering number of application-to-person (A2P) messages from enterprises worldwide, SMS fraud remains a concern. According to Elon Musk, X lost over $60 million yearly due to A2P fraud. Mobile operators are concerned about this loss and have taken precautions to alleviate these issues. One of the solutions used is SMS firewalls.

An SMS firewall acts as a barrier for mobile networks. It screens the incoming and outgoing messages based on algorithms to detect and block malicious messages. This prevents spam and fraud messages from reaching the recipients, saving them from data theft.

IoT security

Every industry – from healthcare to manufacturing- is adopting IoT to connect devices and accelerate innovation. However, the connected devices are susceptible to cyberattacks like malware despite their benefits. A single attack is all it takes for a bad actor to steal sensitive data from the device and halt all business operations.

Mobile operators can address these issues by implementing a device authentication mechanism, zero-trust policy, and end-to-end data encryption. They can also isolate the IoT network from the main infrastructure to prevent attackers from entering the network and impacting critical systems.

As the IoT ecosystem expands, operators must take additional precautions to nip the attacks in the bud. Vodafone, for example, uses traffic management tools to set thresholds and alert customers when they identify a suspicious pattern. This allows operators to provide innovative connectivity solutions without compromising on security.

Conclusion

Mobile operators must constantly balance enhancing security and introducing innovative products. This helps them to meet customer demands, of securing the network from threats.

Combining new mitigation strategies and advanced technologies with AI/ML capabilities can help operators achieve the required balance. It also helps them improve compliance and save cost.

We recommend working with a trustworthy technology partner who can provide the right technology to identify and block threats.

Globe Teleservices, for instance, has been building solutions like Armour and Grentor to protect networks from frauds. Armour uses AI/ML and analytics to prevent voice and SMS fraud. Grentor tracks network user activities to detect and analyze fraud, helping operators protect country networks from bad actors.

Solutions like these help operators take pre-emptive measures and build innovative solutions without compromising security.

If you’ve been looking for solutions to safeguard your network, voice, and SMS from threats, contact us. We’ll be happy to help.