Today’s ever-evolving companies are looking for two things in their digital transformation strategies: disruption and simplicity. Organisations want the opportunity to embrace the latest innovations in the marketplace, but they also want the freedom to create something that works specifically according to their needs, without any unnecessary complexity.
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, a cloud communication, and collaboration leader, has been working on their “Rainbow” offering for combined UCaaS and CPaaS to help serve this new community of customers. The recently-announced Rainbow API Hub could be an exciting evolution for developers and organisations that want to eliminate the one-size-fits-all digital transformation strategy once and for all.
We spoke with Moussa Zaghdoud, the VP for Cloud at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise to find out more.
Tell Us About Yourself and Rainbow
Moussa is the Vice President of the cloud business at Alcatel-lucent Enterprise. This means that Moussa is responsible for defining the global Cloud strategy for ALE, implementing the right solutions for their marketplace, and ensuring the operation of the solutions in a wold wide perimeter.
In his time within the cloud section of Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, Moussa has had an incredible view of the rising popularity of the Rainbow Cloud, and the solutions it offers to modern companies. “Rainbow has been a huge success so far. We provide different offerings through the system, including both UCaaS for unified communication and collaboration, and CPaaS. The CPaaS system means that customers can build their own communication strategy using our state-of-the-art technology, without abandoning their initial investments.”
ALE’s Rainbow solution is now available in all continents, and its global presence is sure to accelerate thanks to the recent acquisition of Sipwise, which allows ALE to add a pillar of cloud telephony to their existing offering. “We’re building relationships between humans, machines and processes”
What is Rainbow API Hub?
Moussa told me that when Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise built Rainbow, they didn’t want it to become just another UC product. “We wanted it to be relevant to the market. To achieve that, we needed to create something that was both comprehensive and straightforward. We also needed to develop something that would work in any vertical of the market.”
Rainbow API Hub gives developers a platform where they can create their own applications using Rainbow powerful Realtime services . “As well as that freedom to create, we’re also helping our partners to develop additional sources of revenue through extra offerings in their cloud transformation path. What’s more, we can ensure that Rainbow is relevant for many different verticals, because we have Rainbow API Hub to customise the experience for anyone.”
Moussa noted that all of the ALE Rainbow services including video and messaging as well as all hybrid interactions are available through the Rainbow Hub, but developers can also access additional solutions for things like billing and administration too.
“We’re not just creating a UCaaS or CPaaS platform. We’re creating something that’s relevant to all of our customers helping them solving problems in their daily tasks.”
How Easy is It to Use Rainbow Hub?
As I explored the Rainbow Hub for myself, I noticed how simple it was for anyone to get involved. I asked Moussa how they had made the system so accessible for developers.
“We’re making it easier for anyone to get involved and start building solutions for their communication and collaboration needs. We’ve put together services and APIs so that if you want to create something new, you can simply jump straight in and potentially design something within a couple of days.”
ALE has developed a range of additional tools, sandboxes, and guides for developers making their way into the Rainbow Hub so that even if you don’t have a lot of experience in the place, you can still start exploring. “If you compare that to offerings from existing competitors so far, we’re certainly making the space a lot more accessible. You can even use the hub to create solutions for particular niche problems in your space.”
What is the Vision for Rainbow API Hub?
Already, the Rainbow API hub community has begun to grow at a rapid pace. Moussa told me that Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise has built their offering on three main tiers.
“The first tier is about customer engagement and user development. We want to help our customers to engage better with their end-users. The second tier is in operational efficiency. We want to make sure that every company has a dynamic environment where they can track events and automate processes accordingly.
Example: in a smart city, for security matter, if something goes wrong somewhere, there will be an dynamic space created automatically adding all necessary people needed, allowing them to interact immediately, with the right level of information and according to their own contexts. The third tier is the cultural change in the enterprise landscape; we want to give people the freedom to evolve and change, through access to the right information and new ways of communicating.”
Moussa told me that throughout every aspect of the Rainbow API hub, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise has focused heavily on simplicity, and making accessibility easier for the developer community.
What’s Next in the Future of Rainbow Hub?
I was keen to find out whether we could look forward to any new announcements about the Rainbow API Hub soon. Moussa noted that Alcatel-lucent Enterprise will consistently look for new ways to enrich and enhance the platform. “The most important thing to us is that we continue to develop relevance. That means that we’re not staying still with innovation.”
One area that Moussa and ALE believe will be important to the future of their developer community is AI. “Bots and AI are becoming essential to our strategy. We want to come up with technologies that enhance the business space, but every company has different needs. In the future, we believe that businesses will be able to create digital twins for their workers, that can eliminate repetitive and unnecessary tasks, and ensure that humans are focusing on the most valuable work in their space.”
According to Moussa: “It’s not just about giving people productivity, it’s about allowing them to take control of their time again. If you have the tools you need to get rid of day-to-day frustrations, you can focus your time elsewhere. That’s what we want to accomplish going forward.
