The State of CPaaS 2025: A Wake-Up Call and a Roadmap to Intelligent Engagement

At CASA25, one of the most anticipated moments was the keynote by Andrew Collinson—our Research Lead and a telecoms veteran with nearly four decades of experience. With humor, honesty, and clarity, Andrew unveiled the findings of the State of CPaaS 2025 report, challenging the room to think differently about our industry—and inspiring them to act.

“You Are the State of CPaaS”

From the moment Andrew stepped on stage, he made it clear: this wasn’t going to be just another stats-filled presentation. “I wrote this report,” he said, “but you are the state of CPaaS.” The crowd, slow to respond at first, quickly caught his energy as he asked for a louder welcome.

That set the tone: CPaaS is not a static category. It’s a living, evolving ecosystem. And the people in the room—platform builders, telcos, developers, investors, partners—are the ones shaping its future.

A Researcher Who Didn’t Get CPaaS (At First)

Andrew admitted something few in the industry would dare say out loud: despite decades in telecoms and years running a research company, he didn’t really “get” CPaaS until this past year. “It’s a concept about concepts,” he said, “and the language we use to describe it often makes it harder, not easier, to understand.”

That led to one of the report’s strongest insights: CPaaS needs a new story. One focused not on acronyms and abstractions, but on outcomes, value, and transformation.

Enter: Intelligent Engagement

Through hundreds of conversations and dozens of case studies—many pulled from our Service Provider Playbook—Andrew developed a new frame for the industry:

“You are not just in CPaaS. You are in the business of Intelligent Engagement.”

This phrase, inspired by conversations with leaders at Infobip, Sinch, BT, Q Advisors, and many others, captures something essential. It reflects the shift from tactical tools (like SMS alerts) to strategic transformation (like AI-powered customer journeys).

“Intelligent Engagement,” he explained, is:

• The real outcome enterprises are buying.
• A better language for differentiation.
• A more effective way to connect with decision-makers.

In contrast, the term CPaaS—even though it’s familiar to us—often loses customers in technical jargon. “If your pitch takes 5 seconds to decode, you’ve already lost the room,” Andrew warned.

Strategic, Not Just Tactical

One of the most powerful findings from the report: CPaaS isn’t just tactical. It’s increasingly strategic.

Across dozens of case studies, companies using CPaaS tools weren’t just solving communication issues. They were:

Scaling operations. Personalizing experiences. Building more adaptable, AI-ready businesses.

Strategic value—like improving agility or enabling growth—showed up more often than expected. It’s not just about better CX. It’s about building businesses that can evolve.

The Case Directory: Real Proof, Real Impact

Much of this analysis was made possible by CPaaSAA’s Service Provider Playbook—a massive resource of over 90 real-world examples. Andrew read every case. Then he read them again. And again.

“The value is already there,” he said. “We just need to surface it.”

That’s why we’re launching the Case Directory—a searchable, growing library of CPaaS use cases, business outcomes, and quantifiable results. This is where strategy meets storytelling. And it’s one of our key tools to unlock faster growth and broader adoption.

From CPaaS to Intelligent Engagement: A Maturity Journey

The report outlines a clear evolution path:

• Tactical CPaaS – SMS alerts, reminders, basic messaging.
• Customer Experience Management – multi-channel orchestration, automation, analytics.
• Intelligent Engagement – AI-powered, insight-to-action systems that enable real-time responsiveness.

Where’s the opportunity? Mostly at the far end of that curve. Businesses want insight-to-action loops. They want faster decision-making, more responsive operations, and tools that drive outcomes.

So, How Big Can This Get?

Everyone’s favorite question: is the $100B market real?

Andrew gave us three forecast scenarios:

• Steady Growth (~11% CAGR) → ~$55B market.
• Mid Case (~18% CAGR) → ~$73B.
• Ambitious Case (~25% CAGR) → ~$100B.

Yes, that last one is possible. But only if the industry gets serious about:

• Educating the market on new messaging channels like RCS and WhatsApp.
• Engaging telcos with network APIs.
• Showing how voice—now enhanced by AI—is a source of innovation again.
• Cleaning up fraud and inconsistencies in delivery, especially in gray areas of the industry.
• Talking about outcomes, not acronyms.

As Andrew put it: “You sit at the intersection of cloud, telecom, and AI. You’re already growing at 21% CAGR. You have every reason to be excited.”

Where the Money Is (and Isn’t)

A key insight from the closing slides: CPaaS isn’t just competing with UCaaS or CCaaS—it’s encroaching on digital marketing and customer care.

• ~$600B is spent on digital marketing.
• ~$300B on customer care.
• Much of that is poorly measured, riddled with fraud, and ready to be disrupted by better engagement tools.

This is the real prize. And CPaaS—if reframed as Intelligent Engagement—can go after it.

What Comes Next?

Andrew ended with a challenge to the audience:

Stop selling tech. Start selling outcomes. Don’t hide your value in jargon. Share your wins. Build a shared narrative that helps the whole industry grow.

The State of CPaaS 2025 isn’t just a research report—it’s an open invitation to every CPaaS provider, telco, and partner to evolve the story, raise the bar, and build the future together.

→ Download the report

Everybody can download the full State of CPaaS 2025 report here.

→ Contribute to the Case Directory

Got a great use case? Help grow our industry’s collective evidence base. Reach out to contribute to the Case Directory.

→ Continue the conversation

Join our Working Groups and events leading up to MWC Barcelona to shape the next wave of CPaaS growth.

Let’s stop talking about CPaaS like it’s a product category. It’s a movement. And it’s time we act like it.