NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel has beaten its rivals to the market in the $1 billion-worth cloud communications segment. The company became the first Indian telco to enter the space on Monday with the launch of Airtel IQ, a cloud-based communications platform that is designed to enable businesses deepen engagement with their customers.
“With just a slice of code, businesses can embed communication services such as Voice, SMS, IVR in their applications and digital properties across desktop and mobile,” the company claimed, adding that its clients will be able to communicate securely with customers over Airtel IQ since the communication is encrypted and all mobile/telephone numbers are masked.
The Indian cloud communications market is growing close to 20 per cent annually. The telco has already onboarded several big names to Airtel IQ’s beta phase, including Swiggy, Justdial, Urban Company, Havells and Dr. Lal Path Labs. Vivek Sunder, COO, Swiggy, said, “Secure communication between our customers, delivery partners and partner restaurants is key to our service enablement”.
The firm expects large call centre ecosystem, e-commerce and internet companies, start-ups, banks and those into manufacturing and distribution to be early adopters of the platform, given their need for omni-channel communications. According to Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO, Airtel Business, the new platform could translate into a 30-40 per cent cost reduction for enterprises as compared to traditional models.
One million businesses
Airtel is already a large player in the B2B connectivity space and serves over one million businesses with a portfolio that spans cloud, connectivity, security, etc.