The Ultimate Cloud Migration Checklist

CLOUD APP DEVELOPMENT

Article | February 18, 2022

Contents 1. Effective Migration to Cloud Communications with the Right Tools 2. Leveraging Cloud Communications to Grow Your Small Business ROI 3. Business Communication Simplified with Cloud Communications 4. CPaaS Solution Providers for Small and Medium Businesses 5. Analyzing Cloud Communications: The Backbone of Digital Transformation 6. Conclusion Real-time cloud communication using a communications platforms as a service (CPaaS) starts with integrating your existing communication stack with the cloud technology software you already use. Cloud communications has given rise to some of the most effective methods of communication. Timely communication helps in well-coordinated deliveries of products and product development projects. This article will discuss how to migrate to the cloud correctly, how a small business can generate ROI with cloud communications, the features of CPaaS, and using CPaaS for the digital transformation of an organization. 1. Effective Migration to Cloud Communications with the Right Tools Choosing the right tools in the migration process is the key to achieving a hassle-free and flawlessmigration to the cloud. Getting support from the cloud product whenever needed is one of the critical factors when considering migration to the cloud. Make sure the cloud hosting complies with your company's security protocols and creates a workflow to seamlessly integrate the cloud access within your organization's existing framework. When migrating your company's data to the cloud, these are some ideas to consider. Making your network ready for the cloud Making arrangements to avoid failure Choosing the right tools in the process of migration to the cloud Accessing the cloud for support when needed. Make sure the cloud product you choose provides on-demand support. Consider the security aspect of your cloud communications platform Cost-effective cloud communications platform Further reading: “The Ultimate Cloud Migration Checklist” 2. Leveraging Cloud Communications to Grow Your Small Business ROI Cloud computing needs no initial setup cost but is conveniently billed monthly or annually. Using this, your small business can free up time and resources to focus on core product development and research. You don’t need to invest resources in an expensive setup to support your business growth or in external managed services. On the contrary, cloud computing offers unlimited expansions and contractions with the click of a button. This allows decision-makers to scale up and down automatically as per the business requirements for the desired performance. Most importantly, the cloud’s ability to create on-demand virtual machines for the purpose of testing and exiting them when not in use is highly commendable and widely utilized. In the fast-paced world of software development, your software product can lose ground if you don't develop new ideas and get them out faster in a time frame of one to two weeks. With cloud computing, your deployment would take just a few hours rather than weeks. Your small business must consistently roll out new features to create a superior product that meets customer needs. The cloud supports your product development and deployment with a continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) approach. The cloud's on-demand virtualization capabilities, flexibility to create and exit multiple instances, and cloud deployment speed can help your product generate a consistent and exponential return on investment (ROI). This will enhance your business' profitability for all the stakeholders by inviting new growth avenues. Further reading: “Detailed Analysis of Cloud Deployment Models” 3. Business Communication Simplified with Cloud Communications Connect, communicate, and collaborate for a faster and better workflow with CPaaS. Get fully integrated, tailored facilitation to help your teams work better with the cloud. A better-coordinated team helps elevate your customer service. It, thus, helps enhance cloud communication productivity and increase your return on investment with the use of WebRTC-based real-time cloud communication. WebRTC is a free, open source framework to allow mobile apps and software to make real-time voice calls using an application programming interface (API) integration. Current WebRTC implements the Opus and VP8 codecs with a bandwidth of 6–510 Kbit/s and supports constant and variable bit-rate encoding. WebRTC encryption is a multi-layer security measure that uses Secure Real Time Protocol (SRTP) and needs a SIP firewall proxy connection with TLS 1.2 or 1.3 secured with digest authorization. CPaaS helps with integrating features into your existing system, such as: Real-time Voice: Making outbound voice calls, inbound call routing, WebRTC-based calling, and on-demand SIP trunking are all part of real-time communication (RTC) and cloud telephony. It allows the real-time exchange of voice data in browsers with the help of cloud API integrations and zero time lag. A few cloud-based unified communications systems using cloud phone systems now seem to be moving to WebRTC as well.Read More: Usefulness of Cloud Integration for Businesses Real-time Messaging: Send notifications, alerts, and progress statuses from your business number with a facility that allows customers to respond. The various technologies that allow real-time messaging include application-to-person (A2P) SMS, Rich Communication Services (RCS) business messaging, over-the-top (OTT) business messaging, and push notifications. WebRTC APIs are used for real-time messaging. Real-time Video Conferencing: Send and receive images, videos, and many other media and file formats with the help of the cloud in real-time. Achieve video quality of 1080p at a latency of 400 ms with WebRTC CPaaS, depending on your service provider. This helps fix a wide range of issues and improve the uptime of your systems. This feature also applies to live online gaming, live shopping, live healthcare, watch parties for sports and other live events, live educational classes, live auctions, a live virtual and extended reality experience, and more. The advanced WebRTC-based video conferencing systems from the CPaaS vendors cater to a minimum of 17 participants and a maximum of 3000 participant-sessions. A higher number of participants calls for implementing an XDN architecture. Real-time Social Media Messaging: Deliver rich customer experiences using WhatsApp and other instant social media messaging. You can send and receive multimedia messages and files, share your locations, and see if your customer received the message. Proxy Number Masking: Getting things done while maintaining the privacy of your phone number is easy. It is essential to connect two distinct parties without revealing their phone numbers. A cloud proxy protects sensitive data (e.g., PCI data and PII) by acting as a stand-in for the cloud server that stores the data. Between the client and application server, the cloud proxy adds a layer of firewalling to handle all the requests. Due to the elasticity of the cloud, this process happens instantaneously, providing enhanced security features to the existing WebRTC-based real-time cloud solutions. Now that we've talked about cloud communication solutions, let's talk about some CPaaS solution providers for your business. Also read: "4 Ways Businesses Can Protect Their Cloud Servers" 4. CPaaS Solution Providers for Small and Medium Businesses "According to Allied Research, the API management market is projected to reach $41.5 billion at a rate of 34.5% CAGR by 2031, with APIs for text, voice, video, and payments witnessing massive growth." A host of CPaaS cloud communications solution providers supply different types of API-enabled CPaaS solutions. Businesses use these to reach out to their customers or leads: human resources to hire candidates, customer relationship management (CRM) streamlining, political campaigning, advocacy groups, non-profits, consultants, and resellers. These are a few simple, yet powerful, CPaaS solutions from various vendors that suit your business functions. Our suggestion is to compare the offerings of one cloud communications provider with the others before making your final choice. Anywhere365has API-enabled CPaaS solutions for customer service, enterprise communication, cloud contact center solutions, reporting, dialogue intelligence, interactive voice response (IVR), an attendant console for Microsoft Teams, an attendant console for Dialogue Cloud, and no code for Dialogue Studio. Their AI chatbots and voicebots handle more than 25% of inbound dialogue. For the best customer experience, you can create a personal IVR and amaze your customers using Anywhere365. It helps drive your customer data to boost your customer experience by using AI to answer routine questions. It runs on the Microsoft Azure security architecture, known to be one of the most secure cloud solutions. As they are IoT-ready, they are ideal to be used for management, control rooms, and emergency responders in conjunction with IoT. Cloudcall’sAPI-enabled CPaaS solutions range from broadcast SMS to CRM integration, local presence, reporting, and SMS. Their integrated approach enables you to access powerful features through API integration without leaving your CRM or ATS. Their rich feature set includes click-to-call, screen pops, local presence, history, voicemail drop, and real-time coaching. Their range of solutions creates one of the leading telephony systems. Use cases include recruitment, sales, and customer service. Their solutions are capable of driving workplace digital transformation, enhanced CRM adoption, and an insight-driven culture. They capture data from all channels of communication and organize the CRM records for a streamlined view. IntelePeer’scommunication API is capable of voice, SMS, social messaging, workflows, and more. Their solutions are more focused on contact centers. Their award-winning omni-channel communication solutions power automation with AI and analytics. Their solutions are focused on financial services, healthcare, retail, and utilities. Their communication APIs include no or low code, omnichannel automation, actionable insights, and are AI-ready. Their communication API platform improves customer experience (CX) ratings by 31%, improves revenue by 28%, and cuts costs by 53%. Their platform is compatible with on-premises cloud and hybrid cloud, enterprise security, quick deployment, and a global reach. Kaleyrahas SMS, Voice, WhatsApp, Push Notification, Email, Video, RCS Messaging, MMS Messaging, and other API-enabled CPaaS solutions. Financial institutions, e-commerce players, over-the-top (OTT) companies, software companies, companies that help with logistics, healthcare providers, retailers, and others trust their mobile communication services. Their range of tools includes contact centers, flow builders, conversations, numbers, lookups, premium SMS, chatbots, verifying, verified calls, verified SMS, campaign management, and direct carried billing. Their solutions help businesses reach, engage, and manage customers instantly, keeping the data safe and secure with their enterprise grade security features. Plivooffers CPaaS solutions that use APIs, including an SMS API, an MMS API, a Voice API, and an SIP calling API called Zentrunk. They handle more than one billion API requests a month. They are also solution providers for number lookup and phone numbers for career portals. Build an omnichannel contact center with the help of the Contacto solution. Their strong consultative support in setting up communications for your business and a reliable uptime for their platform help businesses keep up with the customer experience. Despite their simple appearance, the software contains complex tools and applications. Depending on the business volume, they have a wide range of plans to cater to the needs of different businesses. Prompt.iohas support for 10DLC, toll-free, and short-code API-enabled CPaaS solutions for texting and voice calls. They have modernized text messaging by combining fast, reliable delivery with the ability to exchange structured data and close business all in one single end-to-end mobile experience. Additionally, they offer HD video MMS, microapps, conversations, broadcasts, automations, smart links, a library of responses, a team, channels, and contacts. Their solutions are focused on political organizations, advocacy groups, non-profits, and commercial uses. However, they can be relevant to several other industries as well. SendbirdChat is a chat API; Sendbird Calls is a voice API; and Sendbird Desk is a mobile-based chat platform. Turning your app into a streaming platform is possible with Sendbird Live, and streamlining customer conversations is possible with Sendbird’s Unified Inbox. They have a dedicated UIKit for chat that allows for the rapid deployment of amazing chat messages. They cater to industries ranging from marketplaces to digital health, social and online communities, gaming, on-demand services, retail, and financial services. Their use cases include support, sales, marketing, operations, streaming, and user conversations. They assist your developers with API integration. TextUsallows SMS API integration for customer service, recruitment, prospecting, and more. SMS automation, campaign management, A/B testing, and analytics insights are possible with TextUs. You have better control over your text messaging campaigns with their organization mapping, opt-out management, analytics insight, and white-labeling for your brand. Their solutions are oriented towards staffing and recruiting, human resources, higher education, healthcare, sales, sports franchises, transportation, and logistics. Their communication API is aimed at getting faster replies. Voximplanthas three main APIs for voice, video, and automated voice: programmable voice, programmable video, and a dialogflow connector. They provide innovative real-time communication tools with full control over voice, video, and messaging. The Voximplant Kit has solutions for omnichannel contact centers with features such as CRM integration, omnichannel marketing, and AI-driven response. Their use cases include the banking, automobile, human resource, logistics, on-demand delivery, technology, food service, marketplaces and classifieds, retail and e-commerce, travel, healthcare and education industries. The Whispirplatform is capable of cloud-automated workflows, message builders for text campaigns, smart reporting analytics, and pay by text SMS payments for buyers and sellers. Using CPaaS, it enables you to send and receive your payments 85% faster. Their solutions aim to help people communicate with other people using technology without losing the human touch. Their platform is capable of automated workflows, message builders, smart reporting, and pay by text options. Their solutions touch on channels such as email, voice messaging, and WhatsApp. They provide integrations for CRM such as Salesforce, ServiceNow, Kenexa, Okta, OneLogin, and more. Since we've discussed about about cloud communication solutions, we can learn how these systems make communication easy and safe. Also read: "Managed Cloud Services: the Benefits of Outsourcing Cloud Management" 5. Analyzing Cloud Communications: The Backbone of Digital Transformation Migrating your company's data to the cloud to embrace digital transformation is the best place to begin thinking about a more connected, collaborative, and informed workforce using CPaaS. The more time you save using cloud services, the better you can focus on product research and development. Keeping abreast of new market opportunities is critical for cloud-based innovation. Implementing new technologies necessitates the use of the cloud. The cloud's resiliency, security, cost, and capability improve your core business functions without setting up and maintaining an IT infrastructure. The cloud infrastructure makes digital transformation quick and efficient, making it ready for an in-house remote workforce and external virtual teams. It also gives regular phone systems more communication methods, like automatic call distribution, call queuing, call recording, and voicemail forwarding. Data gathering, sorting, and making sense of the cloud communication data touch points allow your company to get better customer insights and analytics. Combining data from all communication channels produces a seamless and better customer experience. Improve the customer experience while also accelerating product development by implementing new technology and real-time cloud communication. The cloud allows users to access information from any device, such as an IoT device. Users are seamlessly connected thanks to secure access control. As a result, you don't tend to lose your data in the event of accidental deletion, corrupted hardware, or the loss of a device because the cloud backs up your data. With the cloud’s high utilization rate due to automatic load balancing, zero infrastructure setup cost, lower energy costs, and reliability, cloud communications help companies move towards sustainability and greener operations. 6. Conclusion “The CPaaS industry is forecasted to reach $34 billion in sales by 2026, and by 2025, as per Gartner, 95% of businesses will have API-enabled CPaaS.” This presents a tremendous opportunity to implement CPaaS. Small, medium, and large enterprises can develop cloud communication-enabled APIs to work with their setup to enhance it dramatically. With the increasing rate of mergers and acquisitions happening worldwide, CPaaS holds promise for integrating business communications using APIs, not just internally but from a customer service perspective as well.

CPaaS,Cloud Communication,CLOUD APP DEVELOPMENT

Article | November 29, 2022

Continuous intelligence (CI) relies on the real-time analysis of streaming data to produce actionable insights in milliseconds to seconds. Such capabilities have applications throughout a business. In today’s dynamic marketplace, new CI applications that use data from various sources at any given time might be needed on very short notice.The challenge is how to have the flexibility to rapidly develop and deploy new CI applications to meet fast-changing business requirements. A common approach employed today is to use a dynamic architecture that delivers access to data, processing power, and analytics capabilities on demand. In the future, solutions also will likely incorporate artificial intelligence applications to complement the benefits of traditional analytics. Increasingly, cloud-native is the architecture of choice to build and deploy AI-embedded CI applications. A cloud-native approach offers benefits to both the business and developers. Cloud-native applications or services are loosely coupled with explicitly described dependencies.

CLOUD APP DEVELOPMENT

Article | March 26, 2022

Microsoft currently features old-school solutions that are growing relatively slowly (Office and Windows) and new cloud solutions that are growing tremendously (Dynamics 365 and Azure). If the company stays in its current form, Microsoft stock will keep steadily advancing. But because the company’s total top and bottom lines are never going to increase much more than 30% or 35% per year, the shares are never going to deliver truly huge returns. But that would change if the company was to spin off its rapidly growing cloud businesses. In such a scenario, the current owners of Microsoft stock would receive shares in a cutting edge cloud services company (let’s call it Azure), and shares in a company focused on providing old, mostly PC-based software to businesses and consumers.

Article | February 10, 2020

With the huge amounts of data in all fields, a future in the cloud is imperative to help deal with this explosion of data, especially in the field of intelligence technology. This is the reason why the US Central Intelligence Agency is updating its cloud technology. The agency has recently released a draft request for proposal for its Commercial Cloud Enterprise contract.The C2E tens of billions contract will be a multi-award commercial cloud computing contract with a five-year base period and two five-year options for a period of performance of up to 15 years, according to nextgov.com.In a March 2019 presentation by the Directorate of Digital Innovation, a division of the CIA, the department outlined its vision for C2E. It would be broad and include infrastructure, platform and software cloud services supporting a broad range of users, with a variety of security clearances and a worldwide presence, as reported by techcrunch.com. The principal C2E Program objective is to acquire cloud computing services directly from commercial cloud service providers with established records for innovation and operational excellence in cloud service delivery for a large customer base,the department stated in the presentation.Apparently, the agency prefers to avoid all the attention that the Pentagon’s JEDI cloud procurement process got, and quietly go about its business.