Organizations can benefit from the scalability of cloud-based voice communications as they look to grow their business. According to UC Today, nearly 20% of the companies surveyed adopted unified cloud-based voice services during or before 2020. A programmable voice solution can provide scalability in the cloud if you ask the right questions and find an ideal cloud-based communication provider.
A voice application programming interface (API) makes integrating programmable voice into a company’s system or software simple and helps you configure the voice service to meet your company’s or client’s requirements.
As a developer working on your company or client’s programmable voice solution, a voice provider with scalability will provide a lasting solution for the organization and its users. Here we’ll explore both the questions and considerations for choosing a solution that offers scalability for your client or company. We’ll start by looking at the benefits of programmable voice solutions.
The Benefits of Programmable Voice
Programmable voice allows developers to integrate voice into an organization’s system, CRM, app, or software. The developer can use an API from the provider to expedite and simplify integration rather than coding the API from scratch. Programmable voice allows an organization to use enterprise-grade features from a cloud-based provider alongside their private branch exchange (PBX) and devices like IP phones, software phones, and mobile devices.
A programmable voice API from a cloud provider delivers nearly limitless scalability, allowing an organization to add users and phone numbers or port over phone numbers from a configuration portal. Incoming and outgoing calls can be simultaneously sent and received using a SIP trunk.
The company can use vanity phone numbers for a memorable phone number and direct inward dialing (DID) to identify incoming and outgoing calls. A programmable voice service from a cloud provider lets an organization continue communicating outside the office to provide hybrid and remote work opportunities and business continuity.
The right programmable voice APIs provide the following benefits and features:
- Caller ID or CNAM to allow users to assign a name or identifier to a phone number, allowing users to see the identifier when the call is incoming.
- E911 to provide an address to emergency services when 911 is called.
- Dynamic call routing for more reliability.
- Call detail records (CDR) to provide information to the organization, including name, number, date, time, and call duration.
- Unified texting and calling through a single phone number to ensure a consistent user experience.
- Phone number masking to provide a two-way anonymous call for sensitive applications like ride-sharing, e-commerce, and dating.
Related: A Guide for Voice API for Developers
How Programmable Voice Helps Developers Provide a Solution for Their Company or Client
While programmable voice will provide several benefits and help your company or client communicate more effectively, it can also make implementation and configuration easy for you, the developer. As mentioned above, using an API from a telecommunications provider can save time compared to building an API from scratch. Voice service can typically be integrated and configured into an existing system or software in a few lines of code and is ready for use in minutes.
A programmable voice solutions provider should offer developer resources with their API to make integrating and configuring the solution in your preferred programming language fast and easy. Established voice API providers offer quickstarts for your microservices, use cases, and articles to help you implement the solution for your client or company in PHP, .NET, Python, and other languages.
Related: What Is a Programmable Voice API?
What to Consider When Scaling Programmable Voice
Building a programmable voice solution that provides benefits to your client or company requires several considerations. When choosing a programmable voice solution, determine what the company’s business needs are and how the company will need to scale. Consider what the voice service provider offers to find a scalable solution that meets the company’s needs.
How Will Your Client or Company Need to Scale?
Organizations require different types of scaling to meet their business needs. Some companies need to scale up exponentially, especially in their first few years, requiring a highly scalable solution. Other organizations need an elastic solution to scale up and back down frequently. Programmable voice in the cloud allows organizations nearly unlimited options for scaling.
Scalability: Companies That Scaling Up for the Foreseeable Future
Rapidly expanding businesses, like startups, can see vast growth over periods as short as one year. These companies need nearly unlimited capabilities to scale up and serve an exponentially growing number of users in various locations. For example, technology giants that began as startups, such as Netflix, generated 88% user growth in the first year, and Slack managed to generate 534% user growth in the first year.
Organizations planning for growth should invest in a programmable voice solution with flexible payment plans, allowing the service to scale up without added fees or expenses or a loss of voice service when the provisioned call time is expended. An organization should also choose a voice provider with reliable service throughout their intended geographic locations and the ability to scale services up on demand to meet the demands of user growth.
Elasticity: Companies That Scale Up and Back Down Frequently
Small and medium-sized businesses may not have the resources to easily scale their on-site communications for a busy season, event, or product launch. Programmable voice solutions offer scalability whenever the business needs it without investing in on-site infrastructure and IT resources that need to be scaled down later. Technology leaders can use the elasticity of the cloud as a primary component of reducing their cloud service expenses by 15 to 25%. Elasticity allows a business to adapt dynamically to its needs, scaling up and down with fewer consequences.
An organization that needs to scale up and back down frequently can find a suitable voice solution by looking for a provider with flexible payment options to keep the organization from paying for voice service they cannot use or for not having the service required. The voice provider should be able to quickly adjust the number of users and calls required to facilitate the organization’s business needs.
Questions to Ask a Programmable Voice Solutions Provider
When choosing a programmable voice solutions provider for your client or company, make sure the provider can meet the organization’s needs for scalability to ensure long-term support. Understand the voice provider’s options and pricing to determine how well they will scale for your client or company’s needs.
What Pricing Plans Does the Provider Offer?
A programmable voice solution can save a company by reducing reliance on on-site infrastructure and systems for communication. The service partner provides the security and maintenance of the infrastructure and resources in the cloud.
Your client or company can pay for the voice service on a metered or per-minute plan or a monthly flat rate, depending on the provider. A metered plan is generally more cost-effective, especially for organizations needing to scale up frequently or up and back down for product launches, seasonal business, and other events.
This plan type allows the company to pay only for the minutes used, whether the call volume is lower than average or several times higher than average. A flat rate plan may result in unintended expenses if the organization needs to buy a larger monthly allowance of minutes and cannot use the entire amount.
How Will Scalability Work?
If your company or client requires scalability, the programmable voice partner you choose should be able to scale with the company limitlessly and quickly. Startups can grow quickly and need communication systems that can satisfy their growth.
For small and medium-sized businesses, demand for voice service can increase depending on the season or promotion. Companies dependent on seasonal or project-based work need a flexible programmable voice solution that will easily adapt to their business. An ideal programmable voice solution will allow service and price to scale with the users and phone calls being made.
How Reliable is the Provider?
Reliability is essential when an organization needs 24/7 communication within its software or system. Users expect to connect with applications in various locations and at any time. An ideal programmable voice solutions provider will have a reliable network with rate centers worldwide.
A voice solution should provide 24/7 reliability and more than 99.99% uptime to ensure your company or client’s communication is always ready. It should provide a carrier-grade experience and features like physical failover networks to ensure a stable connection.
Get Started with a Programmable, Scalable Voice Solution
Scalability is necessary for organizations with growing communication needs. A programmable voice solution with scalability will let your client or organization add users and phone numbers, and make as few or as many calls as they require, often without paying for more than they need. With a voice solution in the cloud, you can easily integrate voice service and provide a solution that will meet the company’s long-term demands.
Flowroute is a scalable solution offering the extensive capabilities of the Flowroute HyperNetwork™ for both scalability and reliability on a metered pricing plan that lets you pay only for the minutes your company uses. Flowroute voice integrates into a company’s software or systems with an API and can be configured using a simple configuration portal. Phone numbers can be added or ported over quickly, and the network dynamically scales with demand. Contact us to get started with Flowroute today.
