Until quite recently, messages were things one individual created and sent to another human individual or group. But the power of enterprise messaging in an interconnected world of smart devices has exploded the potential, for a continual flow of information between systems and services, and people. SAP Digital Interconnect may have started with SMS messaging, but their latest release of Live Link 365’s suite of products for enterprise developers enables far richer potential for API-driven messaging on a truly global basis.
Product Manager, Michael Smith, explained that it’s a multi-channel product designed for companies to connect them to their customers, wherever they are and whatever channel they’re using.
Connecting enterprises to every customer
SAP Live Link 365 provides Messaging and MFA APIs, and comprehensive development resources to help developers incorporate messaging into their systems. Live Link’s Messaging APIs can connect companies to their customers in over 220 countries with SMS and the most popular social messaging apps, serving that last mile link which facilitates genuinely global enterprise operation. And because the tools are intuitive and comprehensive for developers to productively engage with them to design and create each bespoke app as it is required, return on investment is rapid and time to value promptly manifest for each implementation.
This is vital in our post-touch COVID world, where notifications now drive all aspects of customer interactions — as Steven Garcia, Chief Architect, states, “we’ve seen an increase in of at least 20% traffic across all messaging platforms. Notifications of appointments, that a package is on its way, delivery updates…”
And as Smith reflected, “We’re still in the middle of COVID, and while it’s hard to know which changes in behaviours will be transitory, the growth in online shopping has helped many people discover the sheer convenience of communicating with companies through messaging — so that increased online presence for brands, and the need for API-driven communication from companies to customers, is here to stay.”
Secure, instant, and effective
While the shift to e-commerce has facilitated economic activity throughout global lockdowns and restrictions, it has also introduced new risks, particularly for naïve users – but CPaaS has a role here too, and helps
provide new layers of protection. By integrating the ubiquity and accessibility of SMS into system messaging, Live Link enables businesses to connect in real time with their customers wherever they are, delivering secure and timely data to any device — such as one-time passwords for MFA (multi-factor authentication).
Removing the human vulnerabilities is key, given recent high-profile breaches in major social platforms traced to spear-phishing attacks. As Garcia, elaborated:
“we provide an enabling technology for companies to communicate to their customer base or their employee base by leveraging API services to connect straight into their enterprise services in a secure manner. This way there’s no concern about fraud, or concern about individuals gaining access to a system, or even having to support the system themselves within their own data centres”
The future of messaging
Digital Interconnect’s full-stack CPaaS provides a choice, whether a client wants a ready-to-run solution — from full contact centre to a business continuity package — or a far more DIY user-configurable approach offering completely custom build-your-own solutions, with the support of a growing developer community.
No wonder this functionality is attractive beyond IT circles, and by simplifying multichannel engagement complexity, CPaaS tools like Live Link are driving the digital economy for enterprise — while also giving customers what they increasingly expect and demand: timely and personalised interaction on their own device via their preferred channel or app. The engagement this generates speaks for itself, and clearly defines the future standard for business communications.
