Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) has become foundational infrastructure for digital business, embedding programmable voice, messaging, and video into the applications where customers and employees engage. Enterprises are rearchitecting their communication workflows around programmable interfaces that unify data, intelligence, and automation. The platform reaches well beyond its messaging origins. It has become the connective layer between enterprise applications, cloud infrastructure, and carrier networks. In 2026, the industry cleared its technology hurdles and inherited a commercial one. Agentic AI, verified messaging, and network API exposure have moved past proof of concept. Enterprise value now depends less on what providers can build than on what customers can put into production, shifting the prize from connectivity to outcomes. AI is also eroding the developer experience moat that defined the first CPaaS era as models interpret APIs, route traffic dynamically, and arbitrate on cost and quality. Differentiation is regrouping around trust, orchestration, vertical depth, and proven delivery, even as telco-backed platforms and hyperscalers compress pricing and consolidation concentrates revenue among a shrinking set of scaled providers.

The main goal is continuous improvement.

• Is your organization prepared to rearchitect its communication workflows around programmable interfaces to unify data, intelligence, and automation?
• How has CPaaS become the connective layer between enterprise applications, cloud infrastructure, and carrier networks?
• What are the major companies benchmarked in this Frost Radar™, and how can you adopt industry best practices and gain a competitive edge over them?