From Channels to Outcomes: CPaaS Becomes the Execution Layer for Agentic Customer Engagement

Frost & Sullivan's 2026 IT decision-maker (ITDM) survey was conducted to gain insights into the following end-user organizations' priorities:
- Current use of communications platform as a service (CPaaS) and open communications application programming interfaces (APIs), and adoption plans through 2029
- The use cases and expected outcomes that drive CPaaS investment
- Adoption stages, expected benefits, and preferred pricing models for agentic artificial intelligence (AI) in communications
- Purchase decision factors, investment objectives, and the communications budget outlook

The survey also aimed to understand:
- Growth opportunities for the programmable communications ecosystem, including CPaaS providers, communications service providers (CSPs), unified communications as a service (UCaaS) and contact center as a service (CCaaS) providers, and technology partners
- Differences in buying priorities by region, industry, organization size, and respondent function
- Changes in buyer priorities since the 2025 study

CPaaS has reached a turning point. The early wave of adoption has slowed, and the next phase of growth will come from turning pilots into production and deepening existing relationships rather than winning first-time buyers. What enterprises want from the platform has also changed. Trust, fraud protection, and customer experience now matter more than internal productivity, and agentic AI is moving from experiment to expectation.

This shift puts new demands on providers. Buyers want them to share the risk, carry more of the operational load, and show measurable results before scaling. The study examines where demand is strongest by region, industry, and buyer type, and what this means for pricing, go-to-market strategy, and product priorities. It then identifies the growth opportunities for providers and the questions enterprise buyers should ask before committing.

Author: Krishna Baidya