CaaS

Communications-as-a-Service (CaaS, typically pronounced ‘cass’) is an outsourcing model for enterprise communications. Such communications can include voice over IP, instant messaging, collaboration and videoconference applications using fixed and mobile devices. The CaaS vendor is responsible for all hardware and software management and offers guaranteed Quality of Service. CaaS allows businesses to selectively deploy communications devices and modes on a pay-as-you-go, as-needed basis.

This approach eliminates the large capital investment and ongoing overhead for a system whose capacity may often exceed or fall short of current demand. CaaS offers flexibility and expandability that small and medium-sized businesses might not otherwise afford, allowing for the addition of devices, modes or coverage on demand. The network capacity and feature set can be changed from day to day if necessary so hat functionality keeps pace with demand and resources are not wasted. There is no risk of the system becoming obsolete and requiring periodic major upgrades or replacement.
- (some information from Gartner Group, 2008)

What is SaaS?

Software as a Service (SaaS, typically pronounced 'sass') is a model of software deployment where an application is hosted as a service provided to customers across the Internet. By eliminating the need to install and run the application on the customer's own computer, SaaS alleviates the customer's burden of software maintenance, ongoing operation, and support. Conversely, customers relinquish control over software versions or changing requirements; moreover, costs to use the service become a continuous expense, rather than a single expense at time of purchase. Using SaaS also can conceivably reduce that up-front expense of software purchases, through less costly, on-demand pricing. From the software vendor's standpoint, SaaS has the attraction of providing stronger protection of its intellectual property and establishing an ongoing revenue stream. The SaaS software vendor may host the application on its own web server, or this function may be handled by a third-party application service provider (ASP). This way, end users may reduce their investment on server hardware too.
- (from Wikipedia)

Web 2.0 is a trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to facilitate creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users. These concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and hosted services, such as social networking sites, wikis, blogs and folksonomies (the practice of categorizing content through tags). Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use the internet.

What does Web 2.0 have to do with my business?

More and more users (customers) are becoming proficient in Web 2.0 methodologies and terminologies.  Many of today’s customers make a decision on which product or service they will buy based on the degree to which the product or application is up-to-date with these features which the user is accustomed to using. They are becoming standard, and products, applications and businesses that are slow to adopt may risk losing customers and will definitely not attract certain new customers without the Web 2.0 features and applications.

In line with that, businesses and enterprises that offer products and applications with bleeding-edge, new, flashy Web 2.0 apps and features will attract attention immediately, will gain first market share, and those users will spread the word, further penetrating market share as adoption increases rapidly. So a business that not only embraces Web 2.0, but uses it to its advantage by offering advanced apps and features such as voice, stand the best chance of rapidly acquiring and retaining customers and users.

IntelePeer’s CaaS Global Online Community is designed to enable Web 2.0 communications decision makers to stay up-to-date on the latest news that’s important to their business. Bookmark this site to ensure you’re on top of the latest happenings in the CaaS space.

Large corporations, government agencies, and colleges and universities may operate their own networks to drive greater efficiencies through high-quality call origination and termination services. They require a proven migration path from TDM to IP services, offering seamless connectivity, network consolidation and advanced service capabilities, but this is difficult if not impossible to build in house.

Enterprises are typically looking for the following in delivering communications services:

• Intelligent routing of millions of unique routing paths based on Quality of Service and traffic-type metrics
• Worldwide connectivity for IP communities
• Navigation and self-customization of SIP configurations, both locally and globally
• Bridging, transfer/connect, and load-balancing functionality for IVRs and conferencing applications
• Direct dialing for inbound telephone numbers
• Toll-free inbound call services
• End-to-end VoIP origination and termination
• Network provider for VoIP/PSTN calls routed to/from the voice and data network

Not able to build all of this infrastructure themselves, they turn to CaaS solutions which provide ready-made packages of customer solutions, making it easy for them to create and resell solutions for users, customers, and in-house.

A CaaS solution that works for enterprises and large organizations must have real-time call rating, online access to billing invoices and rated call detail record data, industry-leading SLAs, 24x7x365 technical support with immediate and direct access to technicians, proactive monitoring to make the unpredictable less so, and flexible solutions tailored to their specific industry business needs.

IntelePeer’s CaaS Global Online Community is designed to enable enterprise communications decision makers to stay up-to-date on the latest news that’s important to their business. Bookmark this site to ensure you’re on top of the latest happenings in the CaaS space.