At Reverb24, Bandwidth shared several new developments aimed at improving enterprise communications.
Bandwidth recently held its first-ever customer and analyst event, Reverb24, at its headquarters in Raleigh, NC. Bandwidth is an interesting company because its platform powers most UCaaS / CCaaS industry. Most mainstream providers use its Communications Cloud, including Zoom, Webex, Five9, Nice, and others.
About 50% of Bandwidth’s $700M+ revenue comes from this business, but historically that was both a curse and a blessing as Bandwidth rode a wave of usage during the pandemic – when its partners were flying high during the pandemic, so was its business. But, last year (2023) saw the communications industry cool off, driving a decline in Bandwidth’s Global Communications Platform (GCP) business. The solution was to double down on its bets in selling directly to enterprises and to the largest text messaging platforms.
Over the past few years, Bandwidth has diversified the business with communications platform as a service (CPaaS), with 20% of its revenue in messaging growing at 30%+ and direct-to-enterprise (5% of revenue) growing at 25%. GCP will continue to be “steady as she goes” and help stabilize the company, but the enterprise and messaging businesses have become the growth engine.
These include solutions and services that deliver a more consistent global experience, simplified messaging management, and enhanced emergency services. Here’s a roundup of the top five announcements from the event.
1. Universal Platform for Global Communication
Bandwidth launched a new Universal Platform, providing a consistent global experience for real-time communications. The platform is built on Bandwidth’s global network, which recently underwent significant Internet protocol (IP) upgrades in Europe and the U.S. to improve overall reliability. Bandwidth has also expanded its infrastructure with two new data centers in Toronto and Vancouver.
“By adding new features, capabilities, and global network services to our platform, we’ve made it so much easier to work with a single trusted platform to enter into many new markets,” said David Morken, Bandwidth’s co-founder, chairman, and CEO, during a news briefing. This includes features such as voice authentication and expanded its API suite as well as the enhancements listed below.
The breadth of features is one reason why most UCaaS / CCaaS providers rely on Bandwidth. Think of it as the engine that powers cloud communications, enabling the vendors that build on top of them to focus on value-added features.
To further improve reliability, Bandwidth uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to monitor the network and detect issues. The technology helps reduce downtime and keeps the network running smoothly. It also ensures that communication services delivered via the Universal Platform are secure and meet standards like STIR/SHAKEN, which is designed to combat illegal robocalls and spoofed numbers by verifying call legitimacy.
2. Registration Center for Campaign Management
Bandwidth introduced a Registration Center, simplifying the management of text messaging campaigns through a single interface. The initial beta release focuses on short code registration, providing users with an easy-to-use interface and webhook notifications to guide them through the registration process.
The goal of the Registration Center is to streamline the experience by eliminating repetitive tasks. For example, once a user has submitted a short code brief, Bandwidth automatically applies the information to toll-free campaigns. Therefore, users don’t have to repeat the same details multiple times. This feature is intended to save time and reduce the hassle of managing messaging campaigns across different channels.
(Editor’s note: A ‘short code brief’ is a document that details a mobile messaging program and is required for obtaining a short code.)
3. Rich Messaging Capabilities with Google
Bandwidth has registered as a rich business messaging (RBM) partner with Google. RBM allows companies to send rich communication services (RCS) messages to customers with enhanced features like high-quality images, videos, emojis, and interactive elements. While RCS has been around since 2007, adoption has been slow due to a lack of interoperability between Apple and Android devices. Things changed when Apple announced its support for RCS, prompting mobile carriers also to embrace the technology. As a result, messaging providers, including Bandwidth, have been working to offer business-grade RCS.
(Editor’s note: RCS is a global standard supported by cellular carriers, though it can be used across different types of devices.)
Bandwidth is optimistic about the potential of RCS, supporting it in all major markets. That said, as more companies accelerate their rich messaging strategies, WhatsApp (used by 2.5 billion people globally) has become a leading platform for adoption and has largely functioned as a replacement for SMS/MMS, since RCS took so long to be adopted. Bandwidth is prioritizing WhatsApp as part of its rich messaging strategy going forward.
“We’ve hit a critical inflection point in the messaging market and are bullish about the opportunity that RCS represents. 2025 is the year that our industry takes a major step forward into rich messaging. That’s why Bandwidth has registered as an RBM partner with Google, setting ourselves up to enable RCS across key markets, just like we do with SMS,” said Caitlin Long, director of product management for programmable services at Bandwidth.
RCS has been on the horizon for over a decade as the heir apparent to SMS. The failure of RCS to become mainstream isn’t due to technology, as it has far more features than SMS. The problem has been agreement among the mobile operators and, notably, Apple stymied efforts by creating a walled garden around iMessage. Apple’s support of RCS removes a huge hurdle and will not only bring Apple/Android interoperability but with all the messaging apps.
4. Number Reputation Management for Spam Calls
Bandwidth developed a Number Reputation Management service, ensuring that important calls are appropriately displayed and more likely to be answered. Number Reputation Management helps companies monitor and correct how their phone calls are labeled, particularly when mistakenly marked as “spam.” Bandwidth’s solution has a dashboard for insights and alerts, giving companies a complete view of their phone number reputations. Notifications are sent when a number is potentially flagged as spam or scam so companies can act quickly. Bandwidth also helps carriers remove any incorrect labels.
The solution has a five-part system. First, it registers outbound phone numbers with major U.S. mobile carriers to reduce the chances of calls being mislabeled. Next, it allows companies to monitor their number reputations across the industry, including with major mobile carriers and consumer apps. Additionally, it consists of a display testing feature that checks how calls appear on different U.S. mobile carriers and operating systems.
“Number Reputation Management is designed to be simple and easy to use. As a carrier, we have exclusive access to data about your calling patterns. And the cherry on top is threshold alerting, so you can ensure you have all the resources you need to protect your number reputation. These tools provide actionable insights to help your enterprise regain control over your number reputation and maintain high-quality communications,” said Lauren Brockman, senior director of product management at Bandwidth.
5. Alternate Location Routing for Emergency Services
Bandwidth is set to launch Alternate Location Routing (ALR) in early 2025. ALR is an emergency service designed for mobile users outside the U.S. It routes emergency calls to the appropriate public safety organization when a user’s location changes. All companies have to do is set up and update pre-validated emergency addresses as users move through the mobile network. ALR tackles the limitations of conventional emergency services tied to fixed locations like office phones by providing the flexibility needed for today’s mobile workforce.
“ALR isn’t just another emergency solution—it’s a unique innovation that bridges the gap between traditional and next-gen global emergency capabilities. It solves what has traditionally been a very siloed, country-specific emergency services ecosystem by delivering a seamless, nomadic, compliant emergency solution,” said Morken.
ALR, accessible via the Bandwidth App, has built-in data center redundancies which helps prevent outages and service interruptions. One key feature of ALR is its emergency services application programming interface (API), which automates tasks like setting up devices (endpoints) and managing emergency addresses. Automation simplifies the process, so companies don’t have to deal with the complexity of managing emergency services across different regions.
Bandwidth’s Return to Office
One final note: this week, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy issued a mandate that workers would need to return to the office five days a week. Bandwidth had already made this move, and part of the visit to the campus was for investors, customers, and analysts to see what Bandwidth’s version of return to office looks like. Bandwidth CEO David Morken told me the company wanted to remove any possible barrier to having people return to the office and “make it awesome.”
The interior of their headquarters was built with collaboration in mind. While there are obvious cubes and offices for people to call home, there are also several open collaboration spaces, meeting rooms, work pods, phone booths, and more. Any way one wants to work can be accommodated.
What’s more interesting is the supporting infrastructure. The Bandwidth campus has a full-size gym, cycling tracks, jogging trails, a soccer pitch, frisbee golf, a basketball court, and a Montessori school for daycare. The company provides 90-minute lunch breaks so employees can work out, shower, and return to their desks.
This type of campus is easier for Bandwidth to build in Raleigh, NC, than it would be if a company were in Manhattan, Seattle, or Silicon Valley, as there is much more available land. But there is still a good lesson to be learned.
If you want employees to be happy returning to the office – and Bandwidth employees seem to genuinely like it – make the workplace more than cubes and offices. I do believe having people in the office adds to culture, and 4-5 days a week in the office will (again) be the norm, but it needs to be done thoughtfully.
