How is CPaaS ValueFirst leading a revolution in the IT Sector?

Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) is a cloud-based delivery model that lets you add voice, video, and messaging features to your existing business software using APIs. In the enterprise industry, many companies hesitate to embrace CPaaS due to a variety of justifiable and legitimate reasons. Most of these round up to the fact that these companies do not wish relinquish ownership and control over the business systems, especially marketing communications. A leader in the industry, ValueFirst connects businesses with their consumers over telecom (SMS & Voice) and internet (Chatbot, Email & OTT) channels.

In 2003, Vishwadeep Bajaj founded the startup with a very lean team. In conversation with CiOL, Bajaj, now the CEO of a 400-people strong company, outlines the success story of the company. He talk abut how CPaaS will become a part of the New Normal and the roadmap of the company to further revolutionise the CPaaS industry.

Customer

CPaaS saw a huge shift in India following the pandemic when businesses across the globe had to speed up their digital transformation. By 2018-19, businesses, majorly BFSI and E-commerce including the retail segment, were already on the path of digital streamlining; however, the pandemic just pushed them to adopt it faster. This gave rise to many opportunities for ValueFirst. We had clients in Travel & Hospitality, BFSI, E-commerce, and retail, and now this segment has been extended to Health care, SMBs, startups, as well as new sector businesses like EduTech, third-party software service providers, and even traditional businesses like Automotive and Manufacturing. Our notable clients include Google, IndiGo, TATA Motors, P&G, InfoEdge, and Axis Bank.

CPaaS started with revolutionizing the SMSes focusing on user notifications around transactions, to begin with. With CPaaS starting to prove itself, developers started asking for more communication channels, product features, seamless integration, plug-and-play tools, and global coverage. IP Messaging was the evolved version of SMS which could independently be executed on the phone network. This phase saw CPaaS that all sizes of organizations of all sizes, small and big, pursued. Later, new channels such as Voice, Email, Chatbots and more became a part of CPaaS.

The Challenge

Just like any other country, India comes with its own sets of infrastructural and policy challenges. 5G technology is much awaited by the Indians. This will enhance enterprise communication which means CPaaS opportunities will strengthen. PwC estimated that the adoption of 5G technology will add $1.3 Trillion to the Global GDP by 2030. It will create a $1 Trillion economic impact on India by 2035. According to Ericsson Mobility Report, India will have 350 million 5G subscriptions by 2026, accounting for 27% of all mobile subscriptions.

There is huge business potential for CPaaS players like us in this, and navigating through spectrum prices, and spectrum availability as well as the delay in the rollout etc. are some of the issues the government has to tackle to make it viable as soon as possible. By 2022, with an initial rollout of 5G in India, the picture will be much clearer.

The other challenges are recurring in nature and something we can navigate with time. However, even for a limited period of time, they do have a business impact. Lack of awareness in the leadership teams of traditionally oriented companies, lack of skilled resources and knowledge of upkeep of CPaaS services, restricted cloud capabilities or dependency on cloud service providers, etc. continue to be some of the challenges for us.

The Solution

Much of the solution to these challenges lies in how soon the Government of India and related policymakers implement their plans. The CPaaS industry has to make a robust representation to the Indian Government. Bigger players like Twilio have already entered this market and with ValueFirst’s acquisition, their positioning is much stronger now. This means better customer service, better acquisition and better representation for us.

The awareness around CPaaS is building well. We have already seen actual implementations and success under the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic. ValueFirst worked closely with the  Government of Karnataka to set up a WhatsApp-based COVID-19 helpdesk. The chatbot would help people answer queries about the pandemic, request help, and solve multiple similar problems. These kinds of integrations and their awareness can help both the government and end-users.

Enterprises have become more focused on software-based CPaaS solutions; an increase in spending by verticals such as Telecom, BFSI and IT will further boost the growth of CPaaS. There have also been demands from third party platforms that work closely with enterprises and SMEs to deliver communication-based services, this will extend to more verticals and vendors in the future. CPaaS as an industry has become exciting for people, which means better prospects and skilled people.

Benefits such as extremely low overhead costs, negligible risk factor and increased ROI potential, make CPaaS the essential revolution for businesses in 2021 and beyond, well-suited for India.

The Team

Gurmukh Singh (COO), Vishwadeep Bajaj (CEO), Himanshu Kumar (President, Strategy & Initiatives), Debamalaya De (CTO)Today ValueFirst is close to 400 people spread across the globe. During the COVID-19 outbreak, the first quarter de-grew by 20%. A large segment of ValueFirst’s clientele was in the travel, aviation, and FMCG sectors. However, the outbreak only strengthened us as a team to work more. Eventually, ValueFirst was able to ride the wave and turn things around.

We rode on the tide of the digital transformation and launched some pathbreaking products. These include Botsup (no-code chatbot platform) and NotifyHub (carrier routing switch). Around this time when people laid off and shut down their shops, we added 90 new family members to our joyful family.

Our ability to transcend through the bad times and scale as and when needed is how our customers also see us. Now we help them perform 2X better than how they were performing, and the results make them choose us. 

Implementation

I think in recent times, the COVID-19 outbreak was the major difficulty that any business could face. It impacted us as well. The fact that we were losing revenue on certain segments- like Travel & Hospitality, but we were gaining interests from newer segments too was overwhelming. The uncertainty around the pandemic impacted how our offices would physically operate, and how they would coordinate if completely online.

While we all remained physically distant, we were never socially or emotionally distant from our teams. To make sure our employees are doing well, our Human Resources launched multiple efforts to focus on psychological responses, signs of mental health issues, among others. Over the years, we have built a culture that allows our colleagues to take ownership and act with urgency; both of which prove to be extremely useful in these times.

It was during the COVID-19 period, we started our conversations with Twilio, the world’s largest CPaaS player which acquired ValueFirst eventually. 

Results

CPaaS is here to stay and it is only going to get better. Globally we are seeing a lot of acquisitions by CPaaS giants; this is to grab as much as one can to leverage the digital needs of the customers. By customer orientation, the market in India is largely focuses on IT, Telecom, Retail, Online Commerce, Healthcare services, and BFSI. These segments will continue to need services that can communicate, retain and engage with their consumers.