Show me the money: Real-World Case Study highlights and insights at CASA25
The Case Directory session at CASA25, moderated by CPaaS Acceleration Alliance’s research lead Andrew Collinson, brought together three sharp minds to explore how real-world examples can accelerate enterprise adoption of CPaaS, Network APIs, and Intelligent Engagement. Joining Andrew on stage were Amy Cameron (STL Partners), Robert Galop (Creo Solutions), and Hélène Vigue (GSMA). The conversation, while rooted in the Case Directory itself, became a much broader discussion about where enterprise demand really lies, what telcos are missing, and how partners can bridge the gap.
From Playbook to Case Directory
Andrew opened the session by introducing the Case Directory, a searchable repository of over 120 case studies drawn from the CPaaSAA Playbook, GSMA’s Open Gateway library, and other industry sources. The tool allows members to search use cases by industry, solution type, and business outcome, offering a fast way to see what’s working — from number verification APIs to customer engagement platforms.
“The idea,” Andrew explained, “wasn’t just to collect examples, but to make them useful — for inspiration, for learning, and maybe even as a sales enablement tool.”
He highlighted that most current case studies come from telecoms, finance, and technology, leaving whole sectors such as manufacturing, logistics, or agriculture largely untouched. That observation set the tone for the panel: if so much of the world’s economy depends on services and people, are we still focusing too narrowly on digital-native sectors?
“We’re Ignoring Half the World’s Workforce”
Robert Galop picked up on that point. Having worked across both enterprise IT and customer contact environments, he cautioned against over-focusing on digital-first industries.
“Two-thirds of global GDP comes from service businesses,” he reminded the audience. “Half the world’s workforce delivers services — yet most of our CPaaS use cases are still built for digital companies.”
For Robert, the next growth wave lies in bringing intelligent engagement to these under-served industries — those where people talk to people every day. “Automation and AI are great, but the real opportunity is in understanding conversations — capturing the voice of the customer through things like vCons (voice conversations in a standard format) — and using those insights to improve service quality and outcomes.”
Telcos Need to “Eat the Technology First”
Amy Cameron brought a healthy dose of realism from STL Partners’ enterprise research. Her assessment: enterprises may trust telcos, but they don’t see them as innovation partners yet.
“Enterprises usually put telcos fifth or sixth on their list of preferred digital transformation partners,” she said. “They see them as reliable, but not necessarily relevant.”
Her advice was simple but pointed: “Eat the technology first, then feed it to someone else.” Telcos, she argued, need to apply CPaaS and AI to their own operations — to improve how they engage with customers — before pitching those capabilities to enterprises. “They’re sitting on the data, the channels, and the customer base to do it better than anyone. They just don’t always use it.”
When it comes to enterprise demand, Amy sees a strong pull toward better connectivity, faster provisioning, and easier integration with IT systems — but not yet a rush toward telco-led transformation. She also noted that smaller, specialized service providers often outperform larger telcos because they act as consultants, packaging connectivity with practical solutions.
APIs Are Just Ingredients — Solutions Are the Dish
Hélène Vigue echoed that perspective from the GSMA side. “Enterprises don’t buy APIs,” she said. “They buy solutions to problems.”
Drawing on her experience with Mobile Identity and the Open Gateway initiative, she described how telcos are learning to embed APIs into real-world identity and security solutions. “In age assurance, fraud detection, or payment verification, mobile signals become part of a broader identity and access management solution,” she said. “That’s what enterprises want — not the API itself, but the problem solved.”
She noted that while early traction comes from financial services, demand is spreading across industries, from gig economy platforms verifying drivers to manufacturers ensuring trusted access to systems. The key, she emphasized, is partnerships: “Operators aren’t delivering these solutions alone. They rely on identity aggregators, security providers, and integrators to make it work.”
The Mid-Market Goldmine
The panel also converged on one overlooked segment: small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). Robert shared a recent case where a five-location hotel chain didn’t even know why customers were calling — until CPaaS analytics showed clear patterns. “They just needed simple insights,” he said. “That’s where we can make the biggest impact fastest.”
Andrew agreed, recalling his own experience running an SME unit inside a telco: “Large enterprises are complex, slow, and bureaucratic. Mid-market companies move faster and buy faster — if you solve a clear problem.”
Cloud Thinking, Network Delivery
The conversation naturally returned to network APIs — and what developers actually want from them. Amy shared findings from STL’s developer research: “When we asked developers what they’d pay telcos for, the top answers were network performance visibility and on-demand control — exactly what they already get from their cloud environments.”
In other words, developers get the value of APIs; they just don’t yet see it coming from telcos. As Amy put it, “There’s latent demand. It’s not about teaching them what APIs are — it’s about making them easy, available, and consistent.”
Hélène agreed, pointing out that Open Gateway is starting to make that happen — especially in China, where API adoption is surging thanks to clear regulation and strong government backing.
Audience Insights: “Make It Easier to Find and Use”
An audience member captured a sentiment shared by many: It’s still too hard to know where to find these APIs or how to integrate them. Both Hélène and Robert agreed — developers don’t naturally go to GSMA websites to search for APIs. They discover them through partners like Infobip, Sinch, or others.
As Hélène said, “The partner ecosystem is the delivery mechanism. Next year, we’ll put even more focus on making access and integration easier.”
Where Would You Invest?
Andrew closed the session with a playful but revealing challenge: If you had a pot of money to invest in telecom innovation, where would you put it?
Hélène chose age assurance — a hot, regulation-driven use case where identity APIs can deliver real social value. Robert naturally backed vCons — not just for analytics, but as the foundation for smarter automation and customer intelligence. Amy combined both ideas, saying she’d build a cybersecurity solution for small businesses that wraps these technologies into something simple, trusted, and easy to bundle with connectivity.
Takeaway: From Examples to Execution
The Case Directory is more than a library of success stories — it’s a mirror of where the industry stands. As the panel made clear, enterprises want simplicity, trust, and outcomes, not just APIs.
The challenge for telcos and CPaaS providers is to turn those case studies into living examples — solving real problems for real businesses, from financial fraud to age assurance to service automation.
Or, as Andrew summarized offstage later: “The magic isn’t in the number of APIs. It’s in how we use them to make businesses — and people — work better.”
Get Involved — Help Grow the Case Directory
The Case Directory is being released to CPaaSAA members as a shared resource to accelerate learning, collaboration, and innovation across the ecosystem.
If you’d like to contribute a case study, test the tool, or help expand coverage into new industries, reach out to andrew@cpaasaa.com or contact the CPaaS Acceleration Alliance team.
Your example might be the next one that helps the whole industry move forward.
