Gartner Reprint

19/10/2022, 22:05 Gartner Reprint
Licensed for Distribution
Market Guide for Communications Platform as a

Service
Published 19 September 2022 - ID G00759795 - 56 min read
By Lisa Unden-Farboud, Brian Doherty, and 2 more
Enterprises are focused on enhancing operational efficiency and customer engagement

digitally. Software engineering leaders should include CPaaS in their software development
strategies to embed SMS, A2P, voice and video, along with emerging rich conversational
CPaaS and omnichannel, into applications.
Overview
Key Findings
■ Communications platform as a service (CPaaS) business adoption remains robust as software
engineering leaders seek to deepen digital engagement with customers and stakeholders as
part of digital development strategies on varying use cases.
■ Enterprises are starting to evaluate more-complex use cases (beyond SMS) requiring rich
communications channels and orchestration incorporating artificial intelligence (AI), natural
language processing (NLP), conversational APIs and simple user interfaces to scale customer
engagement. Vendors are advancing communications capabilities in these areas to address
horizontal and vertical needs, such as campaign management or telemedicine.
■ Most large organizations have IT staff members with software engineering skills to leverage
CPaaS tools, but there are trends toward IT democratization of roles in business units and small
and midsize businesses (SMBs) where coding capabilities may be lighter.
■ Mega cloud vendors like Salesforce are expanding their cloud offerings using CPaaS.
Hyperscalers like Alibaba, Amazon and Microsoft are becoming increasingly active in CPaaS.
Recommendations
Software engineering leaders that are pursuing CPaaS as part of their digital development strategy
to enhance customer experience should:
■ Address demand for digital engagement using CPaaS by including developers in the CPaaS
selection process and direct them to the ecosystem of APIs, software development kits (SDKs),
https://www.gartner.com/doc/reprints?id=1-2B7VQVO4&ct=220926&st=sb 1/39
integrated development environments (IDEs), blogs, training and events available for CPaaS
vendor offerings to embed communications APIs into applications and business systems.
■ Promote an expansive CPaaS strategy where rich and advanced CPaaS capabilities can be
adopted on more complex and vertical use cases or by other business units by encouraging
developers to combine richer modes of communication (like video, messaging apps,
omnichannel, conversational AI and bots).
■ Identify CPaaS vendors’ capabilities by evaluating developer toolsets and integrating with
required systems, along with visual builders to support noncoders.
■ Evaluate how existing relations with mega cloud vendors and hyperscalers can drive advanced
CPaaS communications by understanding the depth of their CPaaS offerings, integration and
partner capabilities, along with bundling and easy-to-use deployment options.
Strategic Planning Assumption

By 2026, 90% of global enterprises will leverage CPaaS as a strategic IT skill set to maintain digital
competency, up from 30% in 2022.
Market Definition
This document was revised on 13 October 2022. The document you are viewing is the corrected
version. For more information, see the Corrections page on gartner.com.
CPaaS offers software engineering leaders a cloud-based middleware from which they can
integrate communications software into business processes programmatically. A CPaaS platform
provides developers with APIs, SDKs, IDEs and documentation to (for example):
■ Facilitate simplified access to an array of communications tools (spanning voice, SMS,

messaging and video)
■ Build communications solutions
■ Improve business workflows
■ Enhance customer experience
■ Improve speed to market for new products and services
CPaaS vendors are also expanding low-code/visual builder capabilities to help nontechnical
enterprise roles access CPaaS capabilities and to save developers time.
Market Description
Figure 1 captures the framework of modules that can be offered in the CPaaS market. A given
CPaaS provider may typically offer only a subset of these modules. The five layers in the middle of
Figure 1 represent the communications modules and intelligence layers. The colors indicate
market maturity.
■ Foundational — These modules (green) are common communications APIs requested by

customers today. Gartner estimates them to represent ~85% of today’s enterprise CPaaS
spend. Many users still focus on SMS for application-to-person (A2P) and bulk SMS, along with
basic two-factor authentication (2FA) security and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunks.
Messaging app WhatsApp has entered this group for deeper engagement and omnichannel
capabilities.
■ Emerging — These modules (mid-blue) are receiving increased customer demand, but they are
not yet a mainstay. In addition, the degree to which they are offered varies by vendor. Examples
include advanced messaging options and email, advanced security (such as silent mobile and
flash calling for enhanced mobile identity), voice and messaging bots, and video, incorporating
NLP, sentiment analysis and other analytics. Payment capabilities are seeing increased traction
as part of e-commerce solutions. Vendors are also offering solutions for marketing, such as
campaign managers.
■ Potential differentiation — These modules (dark blue) represent potential sources of long-term
differentiation or fulfill niche avenues of demand. Notable examples include vertical solutions —
such as retail, healthcare and emergency communications. Some vendors offer lead generation
and contact centers. Several are investing and evaluating customer data platforms (CDPs) for
getting personalized views of customers. There is also a nascent focus on the Internet of
Things (IoT) and 4G/5G potential. A few are examining support for augmented reality/virtual
reality (AR/VR) solutions.
Figure 1: Five-Layer CPaaS Architecture
CPaaS vendors have programs (see the left side of Figure 1) to improve their competitive
positioning. This includes:
■ Marketplace — Vendors are expanding their partnership capabilities through internal and add-
on marketplaces and ecosystems. CPaaS vendors may provide marketplaces of third-party add-
ons, such as those for sentiment analysis or language translation to complement their own
offerings and to further build a partnership ecosystem.
■ Customer success plans — These plans help customers get the most out of their CPaaS
deployments (often at an extra charge) and, in many cases, go on to build new CPaaS use
cases across business units.
■ Professional services — These are specific professional services and consulting capabilities
that may be brought in (either from a third party or by a CPaaS vendor) for specific areas, such
as legacy or vertical-specific integration (often with an additional charge).
■ Partner programs — These programs recruit, educate and promote partners to help scale the
business. Partners are valuable to reach the masses of customers, build customized solutions,
expand geographies and build horizontally. During 2022, we have seen vendors launch more
formalized programs.
■ Vertical and regulatory compliances — These involve adherence to vertical compliance (such
as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [HIPAA], General Data Protection
Regulation [GDPR] and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard [PCI DSS]) so their CPaaS
offerings are authorized for use. Data residency and sovereignty requirements are becoming
more stringent, as are requirements for local in-country record/data storage.
■ Developer blogs, developer relations, certifications, training and events — These build a deeper
bond with the developer community. This is in addition to the core developer APIs, SDKs and
documentation (on the right side of Figure 1).
The right side of Figure 1 presents the assortment of tools and capabilities CPaaS providers offer.
Visual builders are now more important, enabling noncoders and developers to use drag and drop
to design business workflows for such purposes as customer service or campaign management,
along with templates and prebuilt solutions.
Market Direction
The CPaaS market continues to grow strongly, nearly 40% during 2021, with a forecast compound
annual growth rate close to 30% through to 2026. (See Forecast: Enterprise Infrastructure
Software, Worldwide, 2020-2026, 2Q22 Update.) Growth is driven by enterprises expanding their
digital DNA using CPaaS for customer engagement and to drive business efficiencies. CPaaS is
often adopted by a single business unit for a particular use case, like notifications or onetime
passwords. It then spreads to other business units as they learn the CPaaS value proposition, in
such areas as marketing campaigns, customer services and commerce. Software engineering
teams within those business units are often the users of the APIs provided by CPaaS, as well as
less-technical business technologists.
CPaaS vendors are investing heavily in Layers 3-5 of Figure 1. They believe that solutions, AI,
orchestrated conversations and packaged features (such as payment) are the source of long-term
differentiation, customer stickiness and higher margins. They want to avoid commoditization, as
is now occurring with SMS. Users, on the other hand, are primarily fixated on the foundational
services like SMS, 2FA, SIP trunks and phone number anonymization. Many CPaaS contracts that
Gartner reviews are SMS only. This dichotomy between CPaaS vendor versus CPaaS enterprise
buyer spend is depicted in Figure 2. Software engineering leaders should be aware of the evolution
to more-advanced CPaaS services and the use cases they can address.
Figure 2: CPaaS Vendor Investment vs. CPaaS End-User Enterprise

Spend
CPaaS is a fragmented market with many mergers, acquisitions and partnerships to extend reach,
fill in technology gaps or enhance go-to-market. Hyperscalers like Microsoft, Amazon and Alibaba
are now active in CPaaS, leveraging their existing capabilities (data storage/processing
capabilities/software as a service [SaaS] communications) and making it easier to extend
deployment options for customers’ applications. Telcos are also evaluating CPaaS. We have also
become more aware of vendors in Asia/Pacific (notably India and China) with CPaaS capabilities
(such as Tencent, Alibaba Cloud and Tanla Platforms). See Note 1 for notable merger and
acquisition (M&A) activity.
Growth is projected to continue across the CPaaS market, while SMS drives enterprise CPaaS
spend. WhatsApp, CPaaS, video and email are new growth engines, along with Apple Business
Chat, Google Rich Business Messaging (RBM), Meta (Messenger), WeChat, LINE, Telegram,
Instagram and TikTok growth expected in future years. The adoption of messaging apps enables
richer conversations through enabling mechanisms such as AI, bots and NLP, and orchestration
capabilities into a single inbox. There is also emergent interest in support for the metaverse, such
as VR/AR support and bringing messaging into real-time communications (audio/video aspects).
The vertical solution area has also seen strong adoption in banking, notably traditional and fintech
(typically for notifications), food delivery, education, healthcare, retail, and supply chain logistics.
We also see vendors with propositions to enhance CPaaS payment, security and contact centers.
CPaaS vendors are expanding integration and partnering capabilities into enterprise systems,
such as contact centers, CRM, CDPs and ERP, or are building their own campaign management,
marketing platform and sales enablement solutions for lead generation and customer acquisition.
Market Analysis
Top CPaaS Trends for 2023
Conversational “Everything” Over Messaging Channels
Advanced messaging channels, such as WhatsApp (foundational), Google RBM, Apple Business
Chat, Meta (Messenger), Telegram, WeChat, Viber, KakaoTalk and LINE support a mix of rich
communications and technologies, such as conversational bots, video, carousels, branding,
geolocation and quick response (QR) codes. They also support payments either by integrating
third-party payment provider gateways or via native capabilities, such as Apple Pay and WhatsApp
Pay (in India and Brazil). CPaaS vendors are using these rich communications and technologies in
advanced messaging channels to enable the creation of end-to-end customer journeys. In effect,
advanced messaging channels are being used to support conversational “everything” in the
channel from marketing, customer acquisition, onboarding, customer support, e-commerce,
transactions and payments.
Software engineering leaders should consider these conversational “everything” capabilities to

engage and transact with customers via advanced messaging channels in addition to traditional
physical and digital channels. For e-commerce, focus on vendors that have conversational
commerce and integrated secure payment capabilities.
Visual Builders, Bots and Conversational APIs Drive Omnichannel Experiences

Omnichannel allows conversations across multiple channels, while maintaining context across
those channels. Increasingly, CPaaS vendors are providing conversational APIs to support one
“inbox” functionality and visual builders to enable developers to build omnichannel customer
experiences. Bots and AI are being used to enable response scaling and orchestration across
different communications channels. Conversational AI (chatbots and voice bots) is being used
with messaging apps to fulfill simple to moderately complex requests, such as password resets,
address changes or to automate routine tasks (such as gathering contact details). Amazon Lex,
Google Cloud (Dialogflow), [24]7.ai, Yellow.ai, Kore.ai, and OneReach.ai are among the many
available bot options. Many CPaaS providers offer a bring-your-own-bot model. Others have
acquired AI, NLP and bot capabilities (like Sinch, Vonage and LINK Mobility) or have built up their
own (like Twilio, Infobip, Microsoft and Alibaba).
2023 will see greater integration of bots into different CPaaS functionalities and within areas such
as retail for conversational commerce. We are also seeing an early development in bot unification
across multiple messaging types, beyond the best-of-breed bots listed here.
Software engineering leaders’ teams should utilize CPaaS platform functionality to create
omnichannel experiences for seamless customer journeys. They should also consider building
and deploying bots for those use cases where customer interaction can be satisfactorily managed
via bots.
CDP Enables Predictive Intelligence for Personalization
CDP provides organizations with a deep, real-time understanding of customers. It is often

described as providing organizations with customer intelligence. The system of record heretofore
has been CRM, such as Salesforce. However, CRM data is static and misses the wealth of
information in other data repositories (email, calendars, e-commerce, website, social media, public
record, messaging channels and ERP). CDP collects data from these repositories to become a
centralized customer behavior hub. The CDP enables the prediction of customer buying
preferences, value, brand loyalty, sentiment, unmet needs and frustrations. The result is a dynamic
layer of consumer intelligence, enabling organizations to build personalized marketing campaigns,
customer journeys and product recommendations. Several CPaaS vendors have their own CDP
capabilities, including Twilio, Route Mobile, Infobip, and MessageBird, while others are building
connections to third-party CDP platforms.
CDP is ever-more important to software engineering teams now that the third-party tracking of
cookies is being phased out for privacy reasons. They should consider CDP from CPaaS vendors
to build a single customer view and apply predictive intelligence to deliver personalized and
contextual customer experiences.
Local-Global Expansion Through Channel Partners

CPaaS vendors are launching channel partner programs with system integrators, value-added
resellers, and delivery and developer partners. These partners are critical to cater to SMB
customers and brick-and-mortar enterprises still building their digital capabilities. Partners can fill
voids outside the major regions, especially North America and Europe, for local-global reach and
local delivery capabilities, with an understanding of local regulations, nuances and languages of
individual country markets. They often bring experience to particular capabilities, such as
customer experience, telehealth, campaign management and e-commerce. They can also build
customized solutions, such as for a sporting or entertainment event. Channel partners can be
used to provide basic Levels 1 and 2 support in languages and time zones beyond the CPaaS
vendor’s native operations.
Software engineers should view channel partners as a critical resource to their CPaaS ecosystem.
Channel partners can provide a localized service, fulfill compliance regulations, build customized
solutions and train your workforce.
Market Convergence of CPaaS, CCaaS, CRM/CDP, Digital Marketing and Social Media
There is increasing convergence between CPaaS, contact center as a service (CCaaS), CRM/CDP
and digital channel vendors — all with the goal of building a great customer experience. CCaaS
platforms start with voice, but are now adding SMS, advanced messaging, social media channels
and chatbots for self-service. Digital channel vendors start with SMS, chat and messaging, and are
adding voice. Many CRM and CPaaS vendors seek to add similar ingredients to deliver engaging
customer experiences over many channels, complemented with AI. AI is common to all the
platforms, with the objective of automation, reduced costs and improved customer experience.
The most notable CPaaS-CCaaS providers are Amazon Connect, Twilio Flex and Vonage, which
are gaining traction with large customers. Other CPaaS-CCaaS solutions being introduced are
available from IntelePeer and Infobip. Software engineers can leverage this convergence to
consolidate vendors. In many cases they can use these vendors to take over the role of an
adjacent service.
Other Trends
Video Expansion Extending Omnichannel
Injecting video into applications is still emerging with ~80% growth in 2022 and ~60% in 2023. Use
cases include work from home, remote schooling, telehealth, live (and interactive) streaming
events and use cases in insurance, banking, telejustice, gaming, dating and training. Vendors have
organic capabilities (such as Twilio) or acquired capabilities such as MessageBird (24sessions)
and Kaleyra (Bandyer). Video platform as a service (VPaaS) vendors, such as Zoom with its Zoom
Video SDK, LiveSwitch, Pexip, Agora and 100ms, are active too. CPaaS video can embed adjacent
CPaaS capabilities, such as voice, chat, authentication and AI to provide an omnichannel
customer experience. Software engineers should consider in-app video to build integrated
workflows to meet specific requirements and the removal of friction from over-the-top (OTT) video
(Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex).
Enhanced Security Through Authorized Data Sources, Identity Access and Network
Many enterprises now demand more-advanced security beyond usernames and passwords.
CPaaS vendors are rolling out more-robust security capabilities utilizing a zero trust approach,
such as silent mobile verification (which matches the device and phone number), flash calling, SIM
swap detection, SIM divert, know your customer, match ID and secure recording archiving/content
redaction for compliance. They are also focusing on mobile identity — for example, Infobip’s
acquisition of Anam and Twilio’s acquisition of Boku (to add to a prior acquisition of Ionic
Security). Software engineering leaders should evaluate CPaaS security tools to address critical
application security requirements. This approach consists of focusing on strong authentication,
along with transport layer security and managed messaging firewalls. These requirements include
those in industry-specific scenarios, such as strong customer authentication in open banking,
mobile identity and areas of flash calling, and silent mobile, among other options beyond one-time
password (OTP) for specific applications.
Programmable Voice and Cloud-Based Voice Infrastructure
Advanced voice services still retain importance with enterprise customers. Starting in 2020 and
continuing into 2022, there has been a flurry of acquisitions by CPaaS vendors for cloud-based
voice infrastructure providers (for example, Bandwidth acquired Voxbone, Sinch acquired
Intelliquent and Infobip acquired Peerless Network). These acquisitions are to obtain capabilities,
such as SIP trunks, advanced calling features and flash calling. Part of this is to not only extend
their reach into additional geographic regions and then leverage customer bases, but also to bring
the voice capabilities into their CPaaS portfolios. Software engineering teams should look to
CPaaS voice capabilities to provide the building blocks to extend voice services to deliver over the
cloud. At the networking level, CPaaS enables the fusion of voice at global levels (depending on
the interconnection/network capability of the vendor). It also enables bring-your-own-carrier-type
options.
Pricing Becomes Complicated

CPaaS pricing is becoming more complicated as vendors expand their base of services in such
areas as bots, advanced messaging, email and video. In addition, not all CPaaS vendors offer the
same CPaaS modules. Some CPaaS vendors list prices online, with pricing varying by country.
Pricing schemes involve pay-as-you-go, committed volume or custom pricing when significantly
large volumes of SMS are required, for example.
As a general rule, Gartner sees list prices staying firm, but street pricing going down as volumes
and commitment levels go up. Some CPaaS vendors make professional services a core
competency for customers seeking custom-made solutions. Other CPaaS vendors rely on
professional service partners to fulfill this role. Some CPaaS contracts include customer success
fees (perhaps 5% of the total bill) for ongoing customer service and support. There can also be
differentiated pricing based on the SLAs (from basic to premium). Gartner has also seen emergent
interest in outcome-based pricing.
Software engineers should consider not just the pricing element, but also the functionality,
security and modules that are required, along with integration and development capabilities.
Expansion of Edge/IOT Use Cases 4G, 5G
Gartner has witnessed a nascent interest from a few enterprises looking at CPaaS for IoT. As a
result, some vendors have been eyeing 4G and 5G CPaaS capability, along with IoT. Several CPaaS
vendors have IoT capability, such as Twilio’s Super SIM, MICROVISOR development and its July
2020 acquisition of Electric Imp. Ericsson’s Vonage acquisition will assist in driving up vertical use
cases for 5G, adding CPaaS into the mix.
CPaaS Vendors’ Wholesaling and White Labeling
CPaaS vendors typically get 10% to 30% of revenue from wholesale — that is, other CPaaS
vendors. They also white-label services to cloud providers, such as Salesforce or Adobe. Telcos
can also utilize CPaaS capabilities, such as in BT’s partnership with Infobip to provide U.K.
businesses with the ability to orchestrate personalized customer experiences across WhatsApp,
Rich Communication Services (RCS) and Messenger. A select few CPaaS providers may have over
50% of their revenue via wholesaling and white labeling.
Convergence of Developer and Co-Creator, With the Extension of Low-Code and Out-of-the-Box
Templated Solutions Driving Rich Capabilities
The early days of CPaaS offerings were primarily focused on developers. This route to market
remains critically important, but the industry has evolved in several ways. CPaaS usage is now
central to service strategy. However, many potential CPaaS users lack sufficient development
staff, particularly smaller organizations, less tech-forward verticals and outside of North America.
These customers require not just platforms, but solutions, where the CPaaS provider (or its
partners) co-create solutions with the business.
Some CPaaS vendors differentiate via a solution-oriented sales process focused on the IT buyer
rather than the developer. The professional services can be included either directly or via channel
partners. These vendors also pioneered features to enable nontech citizens to leverage CPaaS
through visual builders and preconfigured templates for common use cases, along with saving
developer time.
As the industry has evolved further, the distinctions between developer- and co-creator-focused
vendors have blurred. Legacy developer-centric organizations have built out their professional
services, partner programs, visual builders and templates. Co-creation-centric vendors, meanwhile,
have adopted more transparent pricing and self-service capabilities, along with developer
outreach programs. As such, it is no longer relevant to classify vendors into one of these two
camps.
Representative Vendors
The vendors listed in this Market Guide do not imply an exhaustive list. This section is intended to
provide more understanding of the market and its offerings.
Market Introduction
Representative Vendors
Tables 1, 2 and 3 show 20 representative vendors (see Note 2) of the CPaaS market, spanning
North America, Europe, Africa, Asia/Pacific and Latin America, along with a high-level view of
CPaaS capabilities. Gartner expects new entrants to emerge, with many large telcos evaluating the
landscape. Voice and SMS/basic messaging are available through all vendors.
A bullet list of other vendors (not included in the 20 representative vendors profiled) is included in
the Other Notable Vendors section.
Table 1: Representative Vendors in CPaaS and Communications APIs
Vendor Headquarters Main Advanced Messaging Video

Regional (including email)
Coverage
(where most
contracts
are signed)
8x8 Campbell, Asia/Pacific, WhatsApp, Meta Y

California, (Messenger), WeChat,
U.S. Viber, Kakao, Zalo,
Google (Verified SMS),
mobile verification,
voice messaging
services
Alibab Hangzhou, Asia/Pacific WhatsApp Y

a China
Amaz Seattle, Global Amazon Simple Email Y

on Web Washington, presence, Service (SES); custom
Service U.S. regional channels in Amazon
s breakout not Pinpoint allow them to
(AWS) available be send through any
Comm service that has API,
unicati including third-party
on ones (WhatsApp, Meta
Develo [Messenger])
per
Service
s (CDS)
Bandw Raleigh, North “Send-To” native Y

idth North America messaging app for
Carolina, U.S. Microsoft Teams
and Europe
RCS (in beta)
Cisco San Jose, Europe, Google (Business Y (based on

California, North Messages), RCS, Apple webRTC)
U.S. America and Messages for Business,
Asia/Pacific WhatsApp, Meta
(APAC). (Messenger), WeChat,
Instagram, Twitter
Direct Messages (DMs),
mobile wallets,
Multimedia Messaging
Service (MMS) and in-
app messaging,
LiveChat, verified SMS,
push, email, branded
text, Webex and Teams
CM.co Breda, The EMEA and WhatsApp, RCS, Google N

m Netherlands APAC Business Messages
(GBM), Apple Messages
for Business, Meta
(Messenger), Telegram,
Viber, LINE (in trial),
Instagram, Twitter DMs,
email
Infobi London, U.K. Europe, RCS, GBM, Apple Y

p North Messages for Business,
America, WhatsApp, Meta
Asia/Pacific, (Messenger), Telegram,
India, Latin Viber, LINE, Kakao,
America, Instagram, Twitter,
Middle East others and email
InteleP San Mateo, North WhatsApp, Meta N

eer California, America (Messenger), Twitter
U.S. DM (in trial) and others
via SmartFlows
integration
Kaleyr Milan, Italy & Europe, RCS and Google RBM Y

a New York, India, North (in some countries),
U.S. America, push notifications,
Middle East WhatsApp and email
LINK Oslo, Norway Europe, RCS, Google RCS, N

Mobilit North WhatsApp, Meta
y America (Messenger), Telegram,
Viber, Instagram,
Discord, Microsoft
Teams, Slack, email
Messa Amsterdam, Asia/Pacific, RCS (in trial), Google Y

geBird The Business Messages (24sessions)
EMEA,
Netherlands (GBM), WhatsApp, Apple — webRTC
North Business Chat (in trial), and via
America Meta (Messenger), SDKs
WeChat, Telegram, LINE,
Instagram, Twitter, email
(SparkPost)
Micros Redmond, Global Email (in preview stage), Y — SDK

oft Washington, presence, via Microsoft Azure Bot
U.S. regional Service, Meta
breakout not Messenger, LINE,
available Telegram, WeChat
Route Mumbai, Asia/Pacific, RCS, Google RBM, N

Mobile India Middle East WhatsApp, Meta
Viber, Instagram, email
Sinch Stockholm, North RCS, Google RCS, Apple Y

Sweden America, Business Chat,
Europe, WhatsApp, Meta
Asia/Pacific, (Messenger), WeChat,
India, Telegram, Viber, Kakao,
followed by Instagram, email
Latin (Mailjet, Mailgun, Email
America on Acid)
Tanla Hyderabad, Asia/Pacific RCS, Google RCS, Y

Platfor India WhatsApp, Meta
ms (Messenger), WeChat,
Telegram, Viber, LINE,
Kakao, Instagram,
TikTok, Twitter,
Snapchat, email, and
partner with Truecaller
for business channel
messaging
Telesi Marina Del North RCS, Google RBM, N

gn Rey, America WhatsApp, Viber, MMS
California, and SMS
U.S.
Tence Shenzhen, Asia/Pacific QQ, WeChat, real-time Y

nt China communication, push,
RCS, in-app chat, email
Twilio San North WhatsApp, email (Twilio Y

Francisco, America, SendGrid), RCS (trial or
California, followed by via ValueFirst), Google
U.S. other RBM, Facebook
regions Messenger, Apple
Business Chat can be
added via
Conversations API;
TikTok support, Twitter
and Snapchat (via
Segment destinations)
Vonag Holmdel, Europe, RCS, Google RBM, Apple Y

e New Jersey, North Business Chat (ABC),
U.S. (Vonage) America and WhatsApp, Meta
APAC (Messenger), Viber,
LINE, Instagram, Twitter
DMs, email, SMS/MMS
failover
Zenvia São Paulo, Latin RCS, Google RCS, N

Brazil America WhatsApp, Meta
Instagram, email (via
SendGrid integration)
Y = yes; N = no
Note: All CPaaS vendors listed in this table have SMS, basic messaging and voice capability.
Source: Gartner (September 2022)
Table 2: CPaaS Vendor-Packaged Business and Intelligent Function Capabilities
Vendor IVR Support Omnichannel Chatbot/Voice NLP/Se

AR/VR and bots/Conversational Analysi
Orchestration “Everything”
8x8 Y Trial Y Y Y
Alibab Y N N By Alibaba DAMO By Aliba

a Academy DAMO
Academ
AWS Y— Y and Y— Y — Amazon Lex Y—

Comm Through audio and Omnichannel Commu
unicati Amazon video for Orchestration sentime
on Chime virtual through analysis
Develo SDK worlds Amazon possible
per and supported Pinpoint through
Servic Amazon via Amazon
es Connect Amazon Contact
(CDS) Chime for Ama
SDK Connec
Amazon
Compre
for NLP
Band Y N N N Trial
width
Cisco Y N Y Y — Bot builder, Y

NLP/NLU nodes in
flow builder
CM.co Y N Y Y Y
m
Infobi Y N— Y Y Y
p Evaluation
stage
Intele Y N Y Y Y
Peer
Kaleyr Y Y— Y Y — Chat bots Y

a supported
via
Kaleyra
Video
LINK Y N Y Y Y
Mobilit
y
Mess Y N Y Y Y
ageBir
d
Micro Y Y Y Y Y
soft
Route Y N Y Y Y
Mobile
Sinch Y N Y Y (Chatlayer) Y (Chat
Tanla Y N Y Y Y
Platfor
ms
Telesi Y N Y N N
gn
Tence N N Y — Cloud Can be built on IM N

nt communication app
Twilio Y Supports Y Y — Via Y — Via

video and partnerships, CCAI co
AI for including Google from Sa
Yembo Contact Center AI
(CCAI) connector via
Sabio for messaging
and Dialogflow CX
connector for voice
Vonag Y Y Y Y Y
e
Zenvia Y N Y Y Y — Via
party
integrat
BYO = bring your own, CCAI = Contact Center AI, IRSF = International Revenue Share Fraud, IVR = interactive v
authentication, NLU = natural language understanding, POS = point of sale, PSD2 = Second Payment Services
control, SAML = Security Assertion Markup Language, SS7 = Signaling System 7, SSO = single sign-on, TOTP
Table 3: Horizontal and Vertical Solutions and CPaaS Tools
Vendor Vertical Solutions Campaign CRM Emergency/E911 Con

Manager Cen
8x8 Remote learning, Y Via third- Y Y

healthcare, e- party
commerce and integration
retail, fintech,
logistics
Alibab E-commerce Y Y N Y an
a inte
with
Alib
clou
con
cen
oth
Chi
thir
par
AWS Connected home, Y Y N Y—

Comm telemedicine, thro
unicati telejustice, remote Am
on learning Con
Develo
per
Servic
es
(CDS)
Band Financial services, Y Y Y Y

width telehealth,
remote learning,
security/connected
home, hybrid work
(Teams)
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Vendor Profiles
8x8
8x8 offers a fully featured and integrated collaboration solution encompassing unified
communications as a service (UCaaS), CCaaS and CPaaS, and provides global coverage through
relationships with more than 160 carriers in over 190 countries. 8x8 continues to differentiate via
a strong focus on data privacy and on localization, including data residency on a per-market basis.
Its GTM focuses on customers undergoing digital transformation and extending customer
touchpoints beyond traditional channels.
The CPaaS solution supports SMS (short and long codes), Verified SMS, voice, 2FA, video,
omnichannel and numerous messaging apps, including WhatsApp, Meta (Messenger), WeChat,
Viber, KakaoTalk and Zalo. It also has API-access to 8x8’s UCaaS, CCaaS and IVR capabilities. 8x8
also provides a rich integration suite with CCaaS apps, including Amazon Connect and Twilio Flex,
as well as a range of CRM, messaging and productivity apps. In the past year, it has continued to
see strong growth in its messaging and video API usage. In the next year, the company expects to
continue its focus on data privacy and localization to differentiate itself, further evolve its
advanced messaging capabilities, and enhance self-service onboarding and premium support
plans for CPaaS customers.
Alibaba
Alibaba CPaaS draws on its parent Alibaba Group’s size, scope of operations and deep experience
in cloud computing, retail, payments, communications and logistics to provide a scalable, highly
available CPaaS platform with global communications coverage and a rich set of applications.
With a significant presence and large customers in China and Southeast Asia, Alibaba CPaaS
currently has little presence or plans to grow in Europe or the Americas.
Alibaba CPaaS provides a rich set of APIs for SMS, voice, video, IoT, messaging (including
WhatsApp and Alibaba [DingTalk], with RCS), SDKs, IDEs, AI features (including bots and NLP) and
omnichannel orchestration. It also offers a wide range of applications, including contact center, e-
commerce, customer acquisition, logistics and marketing, as well as vertical applications for
retail, government, financial services, education, transportation and utilities. Currently, Alibaba
CPaaS does not provide integration with third-party systems, including enterprise CRM, CCaaS or
marketing automation systems, except for Alibaba’s homegrown internal systems. In the next 12
months, Alibaba plans to focus on further growth in Southeast Asia; expand omnichannel
communications to include Viber, LINE and RCS; and expand its partner ecosystem to add more
channel partners and independent software vendors (ISVs).
Amazon Web Services

U.S.-based Amazon Web Services offers business-related services that are developer-focused
and, hence, come with APIs, SDKs and IDEs, including documentation called AWS Communication
Developer Services (CDS). AWS does not brand itself as a CPaaS provider per se, but the collective
services that AWS CDS provides add up to what a typical CPaaS provider offers. A key
differentiator is AWS’s brand and machine learning expertise. Many developers have experience
working with AWS technologies, so extending over to the CPaaS domain is straightforward.
AWS CDS offers CPaaS functionality through basic voice, video, IVR, SMS, push notifications,
email, AI/bots. Contact center capabilities can be linked through Amazon Connect. This is
complemented with solutions such as messaging segmentation and campaign management.
Messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Apple Business Chat, are supported through
APIs.
Companies of all sizes with knowledge of the AWS developer ecosystem are users of AWS CDS.
Many SaaS vendors (such as Salesforce) will use elements of CDS as part of their workflow.
System integrators (SIs), such as Accenture and Deloitte, rely on CDS to build customized vertical
solutions for healthcare and the public sector.
Bandwidth
U.S.-based Bandwidth emphasizes the network and voice layers of CPaaS, in which it has a deep
focus. This includes voice capabilities automated via software, like local number portability, direct
inward dialing, emergency services, SIP trunking and SaaS integrations. Bandwidth also supports
SMS and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messaging, complemented with basic security
capabilities including MFA. A key differentiator that Bandwidth promotes is network ownership.
This enables it to offer network resiliency in times of stress, such as the Texas freeze of 2021.
Bandwidth is noted for powering prominent SaaS providers in UCaaS and CCaaS. Vendors like
Microsoft, Google, RingCentral, Zoom, Genesys, Five9 and 8x8 rely on Bandwidth for high-
performance, real-time communications to connect with their customers. Often, Bandwidth is
viewed as a more-agile alternative (via API/SDK accessibility) to traditional telcos. This is
particularly important to the SaaS providers when onboarding new accounts and handling the
back-office voice records. Large and global enterprises are an expanding second revenue source
for Bandwidth. They gravitate to Bandwidth for reasons of UCaaS, CCaaS and AI integration;
agility; price; analytics; and customer support.
Bandwidth now has a global presence following its 2020 acquisition of Voxbone, which had a
similar API-focused network. This positions Bandwidth for international growth.
Cisco
Cisco is a long-standing, publicly traded multinational technology company. Its Webex Connect
CPaaS offering has roots in its 2021 imimobile acquisition, which brought in an enterprise A2P
messaging provider with direct carrier connectivity across Tier 1 operators in North America and
Europe. It has the capability to sell Webex Connect in 53 countries and has additionally extended
this offering to its 3,500 collaboration channel partners who operate in these countries.
Webex Connect differentiates itself as an enterprise CPaaS provider via a focus on the
orchestration and automation of customer journeys across multiple channels, including rich text
messaging, WhatsApp, Meta (Messenger) and Apple Messages for Business, among others. Its
low-code visual flow builder allows for brands to construct, deploy, evaluate and iterate these
journeys. Integration of this technology into the Webex Contact Center allows customers to extend
this orchestration and conversation context to agent interaction. It is also now integrated with the
rest of Cisco’s offerings, including AI and CDP, and it also provides prepackaged integration to
several CRM vendors and other contact center and AI providers for example.
More recently, Cisco has mainly innovated via the integration of the imimobile acquisition with its
technology stack, marketing ecosystem and partner program.
CM.com
Netherlands-based CM.com is a publicly listed CPaaS provider. It continues to be strong in Europe,

where it is a licensed payment facilitation platform, while also expanding into the U.S.,
Asia/Pacific and Latin America. CM.com differentiates via its payment, digital signing, digital
identity and digital ticketing capabilities. It is the only CPaaS vendor with a licensed payment
service provider offering, enabling customers to accept both online and POS payments on its
platform.
Growth in the past year has been driven by messaging conversations, through advanced
messaging channels such as WhatsApp, as well as SMS A2P, and platform sales leveraging
messaging and voice. These conversations can be enhanced with chatbots, voice bots, marketing
orchestration, menus and quick response (QR) codes. CM.com supports payments such as iDEAL,
Apple Pay, PayPal and Google Pay, and integrates with e-commerce plug-ins and POS terminals.
CM.com offers a robust SLA, with CPaaS platform availability of 99.98%. In addition to APIs, SDKs
and IDEs, customers also have access to full self-service and modular-based low-code web apps.
Going forward, CM.com will focus on continued localization of services for individual markets,
building cross-product integration and expanding partner channels.
Infobip
London-headquartered Infobip provides one platform for developers and businesses. With a
global reach, 43 data centers, a private backbone, and approximately 700 direct operator
connections and worldwide offices, Infobip is a strong choice for multinational companies
(MNCs) and local enterprises.
In 2021, Infobip acquired OpenMarket and Peerless Network to deepen its U.S. reach, diversify its
portfolio and enhance its voice capability. Infobip has Anam integrated into products for carrier
security solutions, such as signaling and mobile identity.
Infobip’s roots are in CPaaS co-creation. It’s augmenting its platform with as-a-service products,
visual builders and professional services. Infobip is expanding developer mindset and content via
Infobip Shift and Netokracija (acquisitions). Infobip’s partner program, along with its Infobip
Exchange marketplace for developers and partners, enables telcos, resellers, SIs and ISVs to scale
communications and integrate solutions into third-party applications.
Infobip has a portfolio of business solutions, such as CDP (People), a customer engagement hub
(Moments), a chatbot platform (Answers) and a digital-first cloud contact center (Conversations).
It has a broad array of messaging apps spanning WhatsApp, RCS, LINE, ABC, Messenger, GBM,
Telegram, Viber, Instagram and Twitter, to which it is extending toolsets to straddle with a simple
implementation. Infobip expects continued expansion through acquisition, new messaging
channels and improved security offerings.
IntelePeer
San Mateo, California-based, privately held IntelePeer was founded in 2003. It has evolved from a
core network VoIP provider to a CPaaS provider through the development of its Atmosphere
Communications Platform. It has a direct sales force in North America and extends through over
1,000 channel partners to Europe and South America as well. Its go-to-market (GTM) strategy is
highly vertical-focused, with particular success in banking, financial services, insurance,
healthcare and retail.
It differentiates via its SmartFlows visual builder, which provides drag-and-drop access to
communication modules for designing workflows. It also offers the IntelePeer Marketplace, which
contains templates for common communication use cases that customers can leverage to
accelerate their solution development. These templates can be edited via SmartFlows, extending
this acceleration even to nondevelopers. IntelePeer maintains a robust set of third-party
integrations with a variety of CCaaS and CRM vendors, as well as integrated AI for smarter bots
from several hyperscalers. Its 99.999% guaranteed uptime for the Atmosphere Communications
Platform also differentiates it from some competitors.
Recent innovations from IntelePeer include the aforementioned Marketplace, as well as its new
vertical-focused GTM approach.
Kaleyra
NYSE publicly listed, U.S. headquartered and Milan, Italy-based Kaleyra was founded in 1999. The
company now operates globally, with a prominent presence in Europe, India and the U.S. Its
messaging and programmable audio/video capabilities were enhanced via its 2021 acquisitions
of mGage and Bandyer. It has seen success in providing consultative co-creation for solutions and
delivering reliable and safe CPaaS capabilities in vertical sectors, such as healthcare, financial
services, technology, e-commerce, logistics and education. Kaleyra also serves major global
brands and several Indian startup unicorn companies, providing their digital communications
capabilities for scaling engagement.
Kaleyra focuses on delivering end-to-end omnichannel solutions, built on a robust and secure set
of APIs and no-code capabilities (Flow Builder). These span authentication, SMS, MMS, voice,
video, email, WhatsApp, RCS/RBM (partnering with Google), and push notifications.
Kaleyra’s plug-ins enable integration into CRM, marketing platforms, help desks and e-commerce
systems. Kaleyra’s chatbot technology drives higher levels of customer engagement automation.
Its GTM positioning is by working as a co-creator with large global enterprises across multiple
industry verticals to deliver the outcomes they desire through Kaleyra’s omnichannel capabilities.
Going forward, Kaleyra expects an increase in demand for conversational use cases and increases
in demand for video and audio.
LINK Mobility
Publicly listed, Norwegian-based LINK Mobility (LINK) emphasizes a high-touch CPaaS approach
with local country sales, support and account management in Europe, North America and
expanding into Latin America and Asia/Pacific. LINK serves ~47,000 customers across logistics,
banking, retail, IT and communications verticals, along with aggregators and partners. LINK
enhanced its local-global strategy by acquiring Tismi (Netherlands), WebSMS (Austria),
MarketingPlatform (Denmark), AMM (Italy), Message Broadcast (U.S.), Altiria (Spain) and Xenioo
(Italy).
LINK’s high-capacity messaging platform provides APIs for SMS, RCS (more than 80 operator
connectors), Google RCS, WhatsApp, Messenger, Viber, Telegram, Instagram, Discord, Microsoft
Teams and Slack, along with email, voice and payments. It provides a conversational platform for
customer engagement. No-code/low-code portals can be built supporting notifications, marketing
and customer care use cases, along with self-sign-up options.
LINK has a developer ecosystem and a partner program, driven by in-country program managers
working with partners on implementation and end-user value creation. Developers can build
solutions using LINK connectors to third-party apps or use Azure Logic Apps and Power
Automate.
LINK will continue to focus on the developer community, invest in its service stack, extend use
cases through conversational APIs and omnichannel orchestration, and drive partner and
enterprise strategies.
MessageBird
Amsterdam-based, privately held MessageBird has a long history in this space, having been
founded as a CPaaS native in 2011. It has direct sales forces in 32 countries across six
continents, with channel partners to augment their offerings for particular market segments and
needs. It focuses on enabling digital citizens to build conversational experiences via no-code
building blocks. While it is strong in both Europe and Asia, it also has significant traction in the
Americas, the Middle East and Africa.
In addition to its visual builder capabilities, MessageBird differentiates from other vendors via its
breadth of messaging types. These include not just email, rich SMS and video, but also an array of
OTT messaging vendors, including WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, WeChat, Twitter,
Telegram, Viber and LINE. Its Conversations API allows developers to easily support rich message
types across all of these channels without recoding. It also differentiates by providing its own
integrated CDP and by providing Inbox, its omnichannel native contact center implementation.
Recent innovations from MessageBird include the addition of email via acquisition (SparkPost),
video (24sessions) and CDP (Hull), as well as the investment in improving the depth of use cases
supported in its Flow Builder.
Microsoft
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft entered the CPaaS market with its Azure Communication
Services offering in early 2021. As befits its status as a leading hyperscaler, it has personnel in
every major market in the world and a wide variety of channel partners.
The chief differentiator for Azure Communication Services is — unsurprisingly — its integration
with the rest of the Microsoft ecosystem. Integration with Teams and Microsoft Dynamics 365
allows for context from CPaaS bots to flow directly into the contact center, be it Microsoft’s own
or that of leading CCaaS vendors who have integrated with Teams. Visual builders in Microsoft
Power Apps and Power Automate ease the learning curve for existing Microsoft developers. Azure
Cognitive Services can be used to implement smarter NLP-based bots, sentiment analysis and
translation. Deployment of applications via the Azure ecosystem is supported well.
Given its relatively recent launch, the entire platform qualifies as a recent innovation by Microsoft.
Of particular note is its new Virtual Appointment Builder, which uses a wizard to allow branding
and configuration. It then outputs fully functioning apps for all personas for a virtual visit use case,
which can then be readily deployed via the Azure cloud.
Route Mobile
India-headquartered Route Mobile is a publicly held company with the bulk of its customers in
Asia/Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and a light presence in Europe or North America. It
provides global coverage for SMS and voice, with connectivity to 280 operators. It also provides
omnichannel communication across a range of messaging apps, including RCS, Google RBM,
WhatsApp, Meta (Messenger), Telegram, Viber and Instagram Messenger. Through its Customer
Experience Platform, branded CXPaaS, it adds capabilities in AI, bots, NLP, campaign
management, CDP, omnichannel workflows and analytics to support use cases in brand loyalty,
customer acquisition and engagement, and customer care. It also offers integration with
Salesforce, Zoho, Freshworks, HubSpot and Zendesk to enable brands to drive customer
engagement from those platforms.
In 2021, Route Mobile saw strong growth in demand for advanced messaging and email. Going
forward, it expects to see continued growth in messaging, chatbots, AI, mobile identity and fraud
management solutions. Leveraging recent acquisitions of Latin American-based cloud
communications provider Masiv, and Europe-based M.R. Messaging FZE, Route Mobile plans to
drive growth in those regions. It also plans to continue driving platform enhancements and grow
its developer-focused API program to drive further adoption.
Sinch
Sweden-based, publicly listed Sinch is a global CPaaS vendor that has expanded its geographic
and product portfolio via acquisition. In 2021, it acquired MessageMedia, MessengerPeople,
Pathwire, Inteliquent and Wavy, enhancing its capabilities for SMBs, email, developers, voice and
enterprise messaging. Sinch’s CPaaS offerings serve Western Europe, Latin America, North
America and Asia/Pacific. It supports communication types, spanning voice, SMS, email, video,
fax and OTT channels like WhatsApp, WeChat and Google (Business Messages), enabling unified
customer journeys across channels combined with an agent omnichannel view that aggregates
textual communications.
Sinch is expanding its low-code and no-code capabilities for additional roles and SMBs. It has
native integration with Salesforce, Adobe and Oracle. Sinch leverages SI partners to deliver full
solutions, integrate communications in other platforms and aggregate data. Partners also use
Sinch’s APIs to build their own customer bases for specific industries or geographies via Sinch’s
marketplace.
Sinch has many direct mobile network connections for SMS price competitiveness, which remains
attractive to MNCs and tech companies. Additional investments are in visual builders, AI, bots and
contact centers to extend Sinch Engage offerings to midsize enterprises. Through 2022, Sinch will
continue to integrate its acquisitions, enable cross-selling and consolidate its messaging
platforms.
Tanla
Hyderabad, India-based, publicly traded Tanla offers its blockchain-based Wisely platform to
CPaaS customers in India, the Middle East and elsewhere in Asia. This platform is unique, in that
customer messages passing through it are fully end-to-end encrypted between enterprises and
telcos, and are not accessible to Tanla, yet are fully verifiable in case of dispute. This platform is
deployable, either in the cloud or on-premises, allowing customers to leverage existing data
centers and network access. It has notably been entrusted to secure communications by the
government of India.
In addition to the above, Tanla differentiates via its unsurpassed array of supported messaging
types, including Google RCS, a variety of social media messaging types and many other OTT
messaging apps. Recently, Tanla announced an exclusive partnership with Truecaller for business
messaging in India and Kore.ai in five Asian countries, while also supporting NLP offerings from
Google, Microsoft and Amazon. It also supports a wide array of CCaaS and CRM integration.
Recent innovations from Tanla include its expansion outside the Indian market, as well as its
acquisition of Gamooga, its integrated omnichannel marketing automation platform.
Telesign
Marina Del Rey, California, U.S.-based Telesign is owned by Proximus, a leading European telecom
company. Telesign has a presence in the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Asia/Pacific. As a CPaaS
platform provider, Telesign’s emphasis is on Digital Identity solutions addressing MFA, trust and
secure communications. As one of the few vendors combining communications and digital
identity, Telesign offers solutions for customer onboarding, risk assessment, fraud detection and
prevention, account integrity, and omnichannel customer engagement. It also provides APIs for
voice, SMS, RCS, Viber and WhatsApp. Telesign backs up its solutions with a solid SLA and rapid
response to support requests. Currently, Telesign does not provide support for payments, AI, bots
or CDP.
Internal sales complemented by channel partners drive Telesign’s GTM strategy. Customers also
have the option of a self-service portal. Telesign has experienced strong growth, driven by use
cases in MFA, fraud management and OTP. Telesign expects to invest in regional expansion,
channel expansion, diversifying into new customer segments and growing its CPaaS marketplace
for third-party applications. While it currently provides integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365,
Braze, Iterable and Carbonite, Telesign intends to make investments to increase the number of
integrations to third-party enterprise systems.
Tencent
China-based public cloud provider Tencent started its IM chat messaging QQ in 1999. It has since
developed CPaaS targeting developers and software engineers in large and multinational Chinese
enterprises with APIs, SDKs, certifications and blogs to build messaging solutions.
Tencent’s CPaaS APIs cover SMS, voice, video and advanced messaging channels (WeChat, RTC,
push, email, RCS and in-app chat) and QQ. It has CDP, its own chatbots, NLP, Tencent Cloud
Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Tencent Cloud Text To Speech (TTS). Tencent’s chat
enables onscreen comments and coupons, along with audio/video chat, in-text gaming and use
cases in e-commerce, bidding, social media, finance, education and healthcare. It also provides
real-time audio and video integration on intelligent terminals for IoT scenarios like mines, ports,
home appliances and wearables.
Tencent Cloud Instant Messaging (IM)’s independent data center locations are in Singapore,
Germany, India and Korea, along with global access points and cache notes across Asia/Pacific,
EMEA and Latin America for quick developer integration. Tencent partners with telecom service
providers for SMS, SIP and data centers, along with partners for integration, service delivery and
vertical sales channels.
Tencent plans to deepen its presence in Asia/Pacific, EMEA and North America; advance its social
network, live entertainment and gaming capabilities; penetrate CPaaS further into its existing
customers, along with adding SMB self-service capabilities.
Twilio
U.S.-based Twilio remains the dominant North American CPaaS provider, while building stronger
positions in the other global regions. Foundational CPaaS services like SMS, basic voice, email
and multifactor authentication drive the current revenue base across a broad mix of customers,
including SaaS vendors, enterprises, SIs and native digital-first companies (like Uber). Twilio has a
strong brand with the developer community via certifications, hackathons and events,
complemented with rich APIs, SDKs and IDEs.
A major 2022 initiative is broadening the aperture of the Twilio business around the Twilio
Customer Engagement Platform (CEP) stack. This initiative centers around the 2020 acquisition
of Segment, providing a CDP; Twilio Flex contact center; and orchestrated digital conversations.
Customers can select all or parts of these applications and solutions in a composable approach.
A second 2022 initiative is providing more country localization for data as privacy requirements
become more severe.
Twilio has been integrating numerous acquisitions, including ValueFirst (India), ZipWhip (SMB)
and the Syniverse (cost structure). The company has a bring-your-own-approach AI, and actively
promotes the adoption of Google CCAI. Twilio’s presence in the healthcare sector continues to
expand with support of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Business
Associate Agreement and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) compliances.
Vonage
Sweden-based Ericsson closed the acquisition of Vonage in 3Q22. Vonage is now a wholly owned
subsidiary of Ericsson, operating separately. Gartner believes the acquisition will drive focus on
4G/5G and CPaaS, enabled by Ericsson’s telco relationships. Ericsson will combine its 5G
capabilities and R&D scale with Vonage’s capabilities to build new solutions and services, plus a
network for open developer innovation.
Vonage’s CPaaS capabilities yield a global CPaaS footprint spanning Europe, North America and
Asia/Pacific, and an open-source community of more than 1 million registered developers. Its
focus centers on enterprise developers, SIs and SaaS vendors, complemented by numerous
developer training and recruiting initiatives.
Ericsson through Vonage now has an expansive CPaaS portfolio, including basic messaging, basic
voice, advanced messaging, advanced voice, AI/bots, advanced video and verification. This
portfolio can be integrated with the company’s UCaaS and CCaaS offerings. A key initiative for
Vonage in the past year has been helping its customers expand from simple one-way SMS into
MMS and richer messaging channels, overlayed with conversational AI tech from its 2019 Over.ai
and 4Q21 Jumper.ai acquisitions. A low-code drag-and-drop visual builder branded as AI Studio is
in development and will be generally available in 3Q22.
Zenvia
Brazil-based Zenvia is now a strong Latin American CPaaS vendor following the 2020 acquisition
of Sirena, including a local presence in Argentina and Mexico. Zenvia takes a proactive approach
to professional services and consulting, given that many customers are still building out their
developer skill sets. The company continues to invest in its developer toolkit, complemented with
a visual builder.
Zenvia offers a broad base of CPaaS offerings — basic and advanced voice, basic and advanced
messaging, conversations, and prebuilt use cases (such as campaign manager, surveys and mass
notification). Support for WhatsApp is a major business thrust in the past two years, driven by
demand from its customer base for rich conversations. Conversational commerce, customer
personalization and customer experience are all major growth areas. This includes building out its
API connectivity to major software tools such as Salesforce, HubSpot and Pipedrive.
Zenvia is active in the acquisition front. SenseData was purchased in 4Q21 for building
personalized customer experiences. Movidesk was acquired in 1Q21 for building customer
workflows with integrated dashboards. Zenvia takes a bring-your-own-AI approach, with many
customers using Google CCAI, IBM Watson and Microsoft Language Understanding (LUIS).
Other Notable Vendors

Note: Vendors with italicized names do not meet a strict definition of CPaaS, which includes
telephony, but are included here regardless:
■ 100ms is a VPaaS provider that provides a platform for integrating audio and video into apps
and websites.
■ Agora is a specialist VPaaS provider focusing on low latency, low jitter for many-to-many video,
audio and VR streaming that aims to be robust in low-bandwidth situations.
■ Airtel IQ is a communications cloud suite for customer engagement using SMS, mobile or web
APIs and tools. It is powered by Airtel’s pan-India network.
■ Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALE) provides CPaaS, connecting existing UC and CC platforms with
CPaaS modes like voice, video, SMS, bots and third-party software applications.
■ Avaya OneCloud CPaaS allows developers to build CPaaS omnichannel capabilities into
Avaya’s suite of contact center and UC platforms.
■ Avochato provides orchestration tools for two-way conversations across different channels to
enhance digital engagement and personalized experiences.
■ BICS is an international communications enabler that has advanced its CPaaS strategy through
its 3M Digital Networks acquisition and is expanding CPaaS capabilities in Europe, Asia/Pacific,
the Middle East and Africa.
■ Clickatell is a South African company with a U.S. presence, combining messaging, chat,
payments and commerce to develop its Chat Commerce platform with low-code/no-code tools.
■ ECT-telecoms enables telcos to build their own low-code capabilities communications

channels or solutions for CPaaS. The platform integrates seamlessly into CSP networks (IMS,
4G, 5G and VoLTE).
■ EMnify is a German mobile vendor specializing in CPaaS through API-enabled IoT with SIM
cards.
■ Gupshup provides a conversational messaging platform for businesses to engage with

customers across a variety of messaging channels for commerce, marketing and support.
■ LiveSwitch (formerly Frozen Mountain) is a VPaaS provider that provides both cloud-based and
on-premises options for building apps that use high-quality, mass-scale video and audio.
■ Tech Mahindra (Comviva) (India) focuses on omnichannel for customer experience, supporting
messaging services in verticals such as telecom and finance, among others.
■ Mavenir acquired CPaaS enablement vendor, Telestax, and offers CPaaS solutions to
communications and tech service providers.
■ Mitto is a Switzerland-based provider that focuses on wholesale A2P, telco revenue assurance
and enterprise CPaaS in Europe, U.S. and elsewhere. Its CPaaS spans SMS, voice, email,
advanced messaging and omnichannel with a low-code/visual builder for campaigns and
conversations.
■ NetEase YunXin provides UC, 5G messaging platform, low-latency video and rich messaging
features in real-time audio, video and live streaming, along with voice and video AI optimization.
■ Nylas provides CPaaS to enterprises with a focus on email, calendar, and contact connectivity
and data intelligence extracted from the communications channels for enterprises to deliver
contextual and unified digital experiences.
■ Pexip is a long-standing meeting solution and interoperability provider that now provides
programmable access to those meetings via their client API.
■ Plum Voice provides a cloud-based, programmable IVR capability that supports SMS and
advanced voice capabilities.
■ Plivo is a U.S.-based enterprise-grade CPaaS provider with a premium carrier network, an API
platform for messaging and voice calls, and solutions for sales and support teams.
■ Proximus is a Belgian carrier that delivers CPaaS solutions to its mid-large customer base. It
takes a vertical approach and builds customized solutions leveraging Proximus’ CPaaS for
efficiency.
■ Soprano provides global enterprises and governments with secure enterprise-grade CPaaS
tools for network reach, scale, compliance and quality. Its omnichannel spans SMS, email,
voice, advanced messaging and location APIs. Soprano white-labels CPaaS to global carriers.
■ Syniverse provides a co-creation CPaaS approach, along with A2P and SMS, and CPaaS
Concierge service used by large organizations and technology vendors to reach global
customers.
■ Telnyx is a U.S.-based vendor that supports SIP trunking, voice, SMS, fax and IoT. It
differentiates by operating as a licensed carrier with a private backbone and a multicloud
strategy.
■ Tetherfi provides CPaaS tools to digitalize legacy contact centers. These CPaaS tools can also
build a fully native Tetherfi customer experience platform that can support BPO environments.
■ Voxology is a telephony-focused CPaaS (and UCaaS) provider that focuses on providing APIs
that conceal complexity within the platform instead of exposing it to the developer.
■ Zoom has a well-known video for business and consumer usage. It supports API-enabled
video, which allows Zoom functionality to be integrated into legacy platforms and digital
applications.
Market Recommendations
Some CPaaS vendors are building out CDP for dynamic intelligence of the customer base. Gartner
recommends the best approach for software engineering teams to assess the most suitable
vendor is to start by creating a vision of the use cases to be delivered alongside relevant
capabilities. Consider also co-innovation with your partners and enterprise customers. Gartner
recommends that assessments should not be based on just price alone, but on a combination of:
■ Geographical coverage
■ Omnichannel maturity
■ CPaaS capabilities for communications modes
■ Third-party integrations
■ Advanced security features
■ AI (ML and NLP) capabilities, along with bots and virtual assistants
■ Developer tools
■ Visual builders and ease of use for noncoders
■ Support, SI and consulting availability
■ Marketplaces
■ SLAs
■ Data residency as required
Evidence
Information included in this Market Guide comes from vendor surveys, briefings, publicly available
information, inquiries and end-user organization engagements.
From Gartner’s 2021 and 2022 end-user organization client engagements associated with CPaaS,
nearly 60% of them were with large and multinational enterprises. Sixty-five percent of these
engagements involved the IT function consisting of key roles, such as the CIO, CTO, head of IT,
enterprise architecture, software engineer leaders, infrastructure and IT operations. Other
functions, such as marketing, procurement, supply chain, customer service, professional services,
finance and strategy, can also be involved in decision making.
From SMBs, Gartner also witnessed CPaaS interest from a variety of different functions (general
management, marketing, finance and IT) for digital customer engagement.
Note 1: Mergers and Acquisitions

CPaaS is a rapidly growing market with new vendors and emerging technologies. Mergers and
acquisitions are occurring to add CPaaS as a capability, to plug technology gaps, to extend
geographic reach and to enhance go-to-market from a skill set perspective. Some key past and
recent acquisitions include:
■ Ericsson’s acquisition of Vonage
■ Twilio’s Segment (CDP) and SendGrid (email) acquisitions, along with Ionic (security) and
Electric Imp and MICROVISOR (IoT); Boku (for mobile identity), Zipwhip for SMB and ValueFirst
(CPaaS to extend depth in India)
■ Sinch’s acquisitions of MessageMedia (messaging capabilities and a expansion of its

Asia/Pacific presence), Chatlayer (AI), Pathwire (Mailjet, Mailgun & Email on Acid) for email and
to enhance developer capabilities, Inteliquent (voice and U.S. reach), among others
■ Infobip’s acquisition of Peerless Network (U.S. presence and voice), Anam (security/firewall),
Infobip Shift (developer conference), Netokarcja (developer documentation) and OpenMarket
(mobile messaging solutions)
■ LINK Mobility’s acquisitions of MarketingPlatform (CDP and marketing capabilities), Xenioo

(Matelab) for AI and bots), among others for conversational messaging, local presence and
reach
■ MessageBird’s acquisition of SparkPost (email), 24sessions (video), Hull (CDP and

omnichannel) and Pusher (real-time notification and in-app messaging platform)
■ Vonage’s Jumper.ai and Over.ai (for AI) acquisitions
■ Bandwidth’s acquisition of Voxbone to extend reach and voice capabilities
■ Zenvia’s acquisitions of D1 and Smarkio (enterprise SaaS provider with strong consulting
support for complex CX journeys), SenseData (customer success solutions) and Movidesk
(customer service and support)
■ Route Mobile’s acquisition of marketing email provider SendClean
■ CM.com’s March 2022 acquisition of Building Blocks a conversational commerce provider, to

add to CM.com’s prior acquisitions of RobinHQ.com a mobile e-commerce provider and other
ticketing, conversational and commerce providers
There are many others. Please see Market Share Analysis: Communications Platform as a Service,
Worldwide, 2021 for more detail.
Note 2
Gartner's Initial Market Coverage
This Market Guide provides Gartner’s initial coverage of the market and focuses on the market
definition, rationale for the market and market dynamics.
Note 2: Representative Vendor Selection

The 20 representative vendors addressed in this Market Guide are included because we believe
they offer a wide portfolio of CPaaS services of interest to enterprise customers. They have also
led the way with some innovations or have size and scale, and there has been interest from our
enterprise client base. We have tried to ensure the representative CPaaS vendors are spread
across the major five global continents — North America; Europe, the Middle East and Africa;
Asia/Pacific (including India and China); and Latin America. This year, we have added
hyperscalers, which are making inroads into CPaaS, along with a couple of sizable Chinese
vendors. Our inclusion is also depicted from end-user organization interest in the vendors we have
selected from >700 end-user interactions.
© 2022 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Gartner is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc.
and its affiliates. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without Gartner's prior
written permission. It consists of the opinions of Gartner's research organization, which should not be construed
as statements of fact. While the information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources
believed to be reliable, Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such
information. Although Gartner research may address legal and financial issues, Gartner does not provide legal or
investment advice and its research should not be construed or used as such. Your access and use of this
publication are governed by Gartner’s Usage Policy. Gartner prides itself on its reputation for independence and
objectivity. Its research is produced independently by its research organization without input or influence from
any third party. For further information, see "Guiding Principles on Independence and Objectivity."
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Licensed for Distribution

Market Guide for Communications Platform as a

By Lisa Unden-Farboud, Brian Doherty, and 2 more

Enterprises are focused on enhancing operational efficiency and customer engagement

Strategic Planning Assumption

■ Facilitate simplified access to an array of communications tools (spanning voice, SMS,

■ Build communications solutions

■ Improve business workflows

■ Enhance customer experience

■ Improve speed to market for new products and services

■ Foundational — These modules (green) are common communications APIs requested by

Figure 1: Five-Layer CPaaS Architecture

Figure 2: CPaaS Vendor Investment vs. CPaaS End-User Enterprise

Software engineering leaders should consider these conversational “everything” capabilities to

Visual Builders, Bots and Conversational APIs Drive Omnichannel Experiences

CDP Enables Predictive Intelligence for Personalization

CDP provides organizations with a deep, real-time understanding of customers. It is often

Local-Global Expansion Through Channel Partners

Programmable Voice and Cloud-Based Voice Infrastructure

Pricing Becomes Complicated

Expansion of Edge/IOT Use Cases 4G, 5G

CPaaS Vendors’ Wholesaling and White Labeling

Table 1: Representative Vendors in CPaaS and Communications APIs

Vendor Headquarters Main Advanced Messaging Video

8x8 Campbell, Asia/Pacific, WhatsApp, Meta Y

Alibab Hangzhou, Asia/Pacific WhatsApp Y

Amaz Seattle, Global Amazon Simple Email Y

Bandw Raleigh, North “Send-To” native Y

Cisco San Jose, Europe, Google (Business Y (based on

CM.co Breda, The EMEA and WhatsApp, RCS, Google N

Infobi London, U.K. Europe, RCS, GBM, Apple Y

InteleP San Mateo, North WhatsApp, Meta N

Kaleyr Milan, Italy & Europe, RCS and Google RBM Y

LINK Oslo, Norway Europe, RCS, Google RCS, N

Messa Amsterdam, Asia/Pacific, RCS (in trial), Google Y

Micros Redmond, Global Email (in preview stage), Y — SDK

Route Mumbai, Asia/Pacific, RCS, Google RBM, N

Sinch Stockholm, North RCS, Google RCS, Apple Y

Tanla Hyderabad, Asia/Pacific RCS, Google RCS, Y

Telesi Marina Del North RCS, Google RBM, N

Tence Shenzhen, Asia/Pacific QQ, WeChat, real-time Y

Twilio San North WhatsApp, email (Twilio Y

Vonag Holmdel, Europe, RCS, Google RBM, Apple Y

Zenvia São Paulo, Latin RCS, Google RCS, N

Source: Gartner (September 2022)

Table 2: CPaaS Vendor-Packaged Business and Intelligent Function Capabilities

Vendor IVR Support Omnichannel Chatbot/Voice NLP/Se

Alibab Y N N By Alibaba DAMO By Aliba

AWS Y— Y and Y— Y — Amazon Lex Y—

Cisco Y N Y Y — Bot builder, Y

Kaleyr Y Y— Y Y — Chat bots Y

Sinch Y N Y Y (Chatlayer) Y (Chat

Tence N N Y — Cloud Can be built on IM N

Twilio Y Supports Y Y — Via Y — Via

Source: Gartner (September 2022)

Table 3: Horizontal and Vertical Solutions and CPaaS Tools

Vendor Vertical Solutions Campaign CRM Emergency/E911 Con

8x8 Remote learning, Y Via third- Y Y

AWS Connected home, Y Y N Y—

Band Financial services, Y Y Y Y

Cisco Telemedicine, Y Y Notify for Y

CM.co Digital ticketing, Y Y Y Y

Infobi Y — Through Y CRM N Y