Trends come and go, but the truth is they don’t disappear as much as they evolve into different trends. Nowhere is this truer than in the communications space, where competition within the provider, vendor, and user communities drives innovation and development the likes of which we have not previously seen.

 

Today, a struggling economy has only strengthened the case for cost cutting, which has, in turn, helped drive attention to a relatively recent trend, SaaS (News - Alert), or Software as a Service. SaaS is effectively an extension of the hosted proposition into the general software space, whereby applications are offered to customers across IP networks instead of having to deploy them on-premises.

 

IntelePeer (News - Alert), recognizing the value proposition, is taking the SaaS model and adding network capacity and hardware elements to the software, turning it into what it calls CaaS, Communications as a Service. Simply put, CaaS is about enabling voice communications in both business and consumer applications.

 

“We look at Communications as a Service as SaaS with some extras inside it,” explained Charles Studt (News - Alert), vice president of product management and marketing at IntelePeer. “Bundled together with hardware and the network, it becomes more than just software — it becomes communications.”

 

Microsoft (News - Alert) architect Joe Hofstader explained CaaS as such:  “I see SaaS as something of a request-reply paradigm, where you send some data out and wait for data to be returned, or for some processing to happen on the back end. On the other hand, CaaS is there to connect disparate endpoints over disparate networks. That’s the key differentiator."

 

To bring about this shift in service delivery and, ultimately, the end user experience, IntelePeer launched its AppworX platform, which Studt describes as a platform for the next generation of communications that “provides the bridge between the communications world and the application, software, and IP worlds.”

 

The idea is to easily allow rich media communications – voice, video, and data – to be embedded into other applications, and then deliver them seamlessly to the end user. AppworX becomes the enabler in this scenario, allowing developer to create the communications-enabled applications in-house, quickly, making communications a part of the applications themselves and, therefore, an enhancement to the overall user experience.

 

The kinds of applications Studt already sees emerging from this new model include a range that extends from the consumer world to the business domain.

 

For instance, a Facebook (News - Alert) plug-in can be used to deliver content and collaboration capabilities between Facebook members and groups. Or, a Microsoft Outlook plug-in can leverage AppworX to integrate conferencing, collaboration, voice messaging, and SMS functions within the Outlook interface.

 

Appworx can also be used to enable group broadcast messaging, for instance, to a musician’s fan base, to announce a new concert date or a new album. For an even greater value proposition, such a blast can be combined with audio content, such as a clip of a new song — including an SMS link as a call to action to allow users to purchase the song.

 

The truth is, the possibilities are nearly limitless when developers are afforded the opportunity to add voice, video, or text communications to their products, which is the transformation IntelePeer is bringing about with AppworX, simplifying the communications development process and its prerequisite development.

 

“It’s really the complexity of telco that’s going away,” said Studt.

 

While Studt says voice is still the driving application, he says video is growing, and he is seeing many applications using a combination of media (e.g., voice and SMS, voice and video), tying them together to enhance the user experience.

 

After all, the end game is all about the user experience. Whether in the business or consumer space, the user experience is what drives success, and the ability to intuitively communicate with colleagues, friends, and community members using a variety of media options is the future of communications. With its AppworX platform, IntelePeer is helping the future meet the present.

 

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