Have You Written a Comms App Yet?: Page 2 of 2

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Second, go on a scouting trip around your enterprise. UniComm Consulting offers suggestions to almost all our customers about where to look. This sponsored white paper has a rigorous structure for where the opportunities are for communications-enabled business processes (CEBP), and CPaaS is precisely the toolkit needed for successful transformation of communications-intensive business processes.

We also suggest functional ideas such as those listed below. A few examples are offered, but please, please don't take this as a complete list. You can find hundreds of transformative ideas in every vertical industry sector. Find these opportunities by looking at the business processes and at the usage profiles within those processes (list at bottom of this link):

• Notifications and interactions -- Think Uber, airlines, shipping updates, payment updates, project due dates, all sorts of reminders, and much more. These can make your users happier, can help avoid process delays or waste, and can reduce human protocol conversions (i.e., someone reading information to another person from a screen).
• Process or workflow monitoring -- This is standard practice in a network operations center, but what about all the rest of the business units or departments? Are sales being booked at the forecasted rate? Is production running at targeted levels? What is the average patient wait time in the clinic? How many shoppers are in your stores at this time (at least those with your app on their phones, but even those who can be counted on the security cameras (i.e., where is your attention required, right now)?
• Streamlining the highest-volume or highest-value business processes (because those are the two cases that use up the most human resource and capital) -- 1% improvement in your highest-volume process is worth a lot of money; 50% improvement in a low-frequency but high-value process can be worth a lot, too.

      - Instant messaging bots have been winners for years. These are now even smarter and especially good for internal processes. Check inventory and even get replenishment with a bot. Find an expert or an approver instantly with a bot. Check out your prospect's profile before your call with a bot. So much here!

      - SMS-based or even speech-enabled bots are the new lode. Here's where you think Uber, as a CPaaS-based business model. Any industry with mobile employees -- field or on-premises -- or with retail customers has opportunities.

• CPaaS plug-ins or connectors to the departmental business applications -- In many cases this can eliminate the need for a PBX license for that user. For example, connect your field service app to CPaaS so that calls or SMS texts come from the app, not the IP PBX and so that customers call or contact the field service rep through the ticket interface on a Web page or mobile app. Just ask the IT applications director for a list of the SaaS apps that your enterprise is using and figure out which have useful, valuable CPaaS or API connectors.
• Support trends toward mobile devices -- Eliminate desk phones and PBX numbers, using mobile-only options. Well, this one has been on the table for a decade, but now feasible and economical. Take a look, and ask department heads who they see as mobile-only candidates -- you may be surprised.

Hmmm, this seems just like how IVR apps were found and proliferated through department discussions.

Third, make a business case for the best ideas you find in the most receptive and cooperative business units. If you find the ideas are pervasive, then you may want to push CPaaS forward as an IT strategic initiative. But, usually, it's best to have a track record of tactical successes as the proof point of the strategic proposal.

Also, the economics may be exceptional. Now that communications functions have been broken down into small, flexibly usable pieces, you no longer need to think about a major capital investment. The barrier to innovation is very low. This means that if you can find great improvements for your business, you're sure to have a very high ROI on your project.

Yep, you guessed it -- same as with IVR.

Hope this is interesting to you. If so, enjoy building your app (I am), enjoy your CPaaS explorations at Enterprise Connect, and then enjoy transforming your organization's workflows (and your job and career). See you there!

Learn more about APIs & Embedded Communications at Enterprise Connect 2018, March 12 to 15, in Orlando, Fla. Register now using the code NOJITTER to save an additional $200 off the Regular Rate or get a free Expo Plus pass.