If you are running a business, then you must have heard about UCaaS and CPaaS for sure. As they sound more or less similar, people tend to get confused with what it is and for what it is used. As both are key business communication tools, one must have clarity over these two to avail their benefits in full swing.
To all those businesses that are trying hard to understand the key difference between these two confusing terms – the article will enlighten you for sure.
Decoding the acronyms
Before digging deeper about what is UCaaS and CPaaS and which is a better option for you, decoding the acronyms is more than important. So, let’s get started.
UCaaS stands for ‘unified communications-as-a-service’ and can be used as an imperative tool to integrate various internal communication tools used by the enterprise within and outside the organization. It brings all the diverse communicating tools over single platform. Sometimes, it may be considered as a contemporary of Software as a Service or SaaS as both works on the same methodology – choosing the tools and features that are needed.
On the other hand, CPaaS can be stated as Communication platform as a service. Unlike UCaaS, it allows a business to create their communication tools. With CPaaS), they won’t avail the pre-made communication tools as per the needs. Rather than this, they will create their very own tool, which allows them to communicate across the world with the same efficiency and robustness.
The Key Difference
The key difference between these two is the way they operate. With UCaaS, subscribe for a service package from the vendor and avail all the facilities offered in that package. Though interchangeability of packages and upgrades are possible, hardly any vendor considers changes in the pre-made subscriptions for you. You need to find out your needs and pick the package accordingly.
Unlike this, users of CPaaS will get Software Development Kits (SDKs) and communication APIs from the vendor’s side. By using these two, businesses can create just-as-needed communication tools for the business. To make things easier, some of the vendors offer pre-built APIs as well.
Simply put, you can refer UPaaS as plug-and-play tools, while CPaaS is a custom-made business solution.
The Key Similarity
Though these two operate a little different from each other, they share one similarity, as well. Both depend on the cloud telephony/connectivity/space for key communication functions offloading. This cloud-space usage helps both of them to offer high bandwidth and low-latency services to the end-users.
The Key Features
The communication aids like VoIP calls, web-conferencing, voicemails, SMS, in-app texting, and video calling are some of the key features of almost every UCaaS available in the market. It comes with almost every common tool that is required for hassle-free communication. There is something or other for everyone.
Apart from pre-built API, you will not get anything ready with CaaS solutions. It is, moreover, like a blank slate over which you can write as you want/need.
The Key Technicalities Required
Well, as we have already mentioned that UCaaS is more of a plug-and-play sort of deployment, you need not own any specialized technicalities to bring it into practice. You can use it easily even if you are tech-novice. Mere knowledge of data-driven tools is more than enough. As the deployment and maintenance will be done by the vendor, you need not worry about anything else. To make things easier, you must ask for a free demo before you buy an international phone number with UCaaS.
Things are not that easy with CPaaS or Communication platform as a service. You need to have a whole bunch of skilled developers at your disposal to take care of tools generation, maintenance, and upgrades. All these hassles will cause headache only.
Which is the best choice for what?
UCaaS can be availed at low investment and sets the end-user free from any hardware and software deployment costing. Hence, it is the best choice for small or mid-sized businesses where key requirements are well-defined and can be catered with regular tools. However, if you are an enterprise whose business needs are growing on each passing day and have a strong back-end team at work, then using CPaaS is the ideal move.
UCaaS and CPaaS are two tools that can provide business communication and enables a business to improve customer satisfaction and be at their service around the clock. However, you need to make a clear and concise choice between the two to avail maximum benefits.
While UCaaS is the ideal pick for all those businesses that don’t have a strong team of developers and want to own a tool that is all ready to work, CPaaS is the best bet for enterprises needing the custom communication tools. So, ponder over all the above-mentioned points before you buy international phone numbers.
