Speaking to TechGraph, Pankaj Gupta Founder & CEO of EnableX.io has said, “The pandemic has given a strong fillip to video as a mode of communication. And this change is unlikely to be reversed even when the pandemic is over.”
Edited excerpts from an interview:
TechGraph: How does ‘EnableX’ look these days?
Pankaj Gupta: EnableX was started with a vision to redefine how the world communicates in real-time. The name itself reflects exactly what our company does – enabling real-time communication within organizations’ applications/solutions through the use of our platform. We have built a cost-efficient, scalable and robust communication platform that helps businesses provide an unmatched customer experience by creating smarter and meaningful communications at every touchpoint across the customer journey.
EnableX is one of the few communications providers that can deliver a truly unified, end-to-end communication experience, because they own the entire stack themselves, from APIs and AI to unified communications. EnableX customers can now choose from an extensive portfolio of APIs (video, voice, SMS, virtual number) to create apps or select ready-to-use, proven Video Meeting and Webinar applications.
Recently, we have launched ‘FaceAI by EnableX.io’ which is a disruptive offering harnessing the power of emotion AI over live video, to further enhance customer experience through emotion-related data insights.
TechGraph: How do you feel ‘EnableX’ stands out from others who are already in this business?
Pankaj Gupta: We are uniquely positioned in the market as one of the few global players with a complete suite of services, ranging from Communication Platform-as-a-Service (CPaaS) to Video Communication Software-as-a-Service. Businesses can leverage EnableX.io to develop an omnichannel experience – allowing users to communicate on any device (Android, iOS), browsers (Chrome, Safari, etc.), and channels (voice, video, and messaging).
EnableX also supports multiple deployment options to fit businesses’ goals, budgets, security, and compliance needs. Most CPaaS providers offer CPaaS on a public platform that cannot address several critical enterprise use cases such as having a business process workflow within a protected environment, local data storage compliances, etc. For such requirements, we provide the flexibility to run real-time communication within their private cloud environment, on their data center, or as a hybrid of both. This enables businesses to use the service within their preferred, safe and controllable environment.
In addition, our Next-generation CPaaS is complemented by AI and Machine Learning capabilities. For example, our FaceAI capability uses AI to provide deep insights into the emotional impact of each conversation by analyzing live video, allowing our users to tailor their customer experience to a whole new high.
TechGraph: Could you walk us through the key services offered by EnableX?
Pankaj Gupta: EnableX is a communication platform for integrating real-time communication into mobile applications and workflows. It provides developers and service providers with powerful APIs to create video, voice, and messaging conversations with ease.
From one-to-one chats to large-scale broadcasts, EnableX.io makes communications more flexible and personal, helping enterprises stay ahead in the digital world. Providing feature-rich Video and Voice APIs as well as SMS, Chat, and Number APIs, EnableX.io is one of the few players in Asia-pacific offering a full-stack of communication capabilities with all the necessary toolkits to develop innovative and engaging communication experience. In addition, we offer ready-to-use Communication solutions such as webinars and Video Conferencing.
Soon we will also be offering easy-to-use, low-code APIs for a new layer of workers beyond developers, who are focusing on developing a highly engaging customer experience but want an easier development process.
TechGraph: With the 5G rollout process speeding up, How EnableX is going to capitalize the same?
Pankaj Gupta: We are at the doorstep of a virtually buffer-less era. 5G will deliver a giant leap in networking speed, helping companies like EnableX.io provide a far better experience in live video communication as compared to today.
With 5G boosting network speeds to more than 20 times faster than the current 4G standard, glitchy video calls and freezing videos will be a thing of the past. We consider this as an enormous opportunity to create even more engaging customer experiences.
We anticipate many innovative businesses will tap on this “next wave of speed” to create new immersive experiences by overlaying video calls with Virtual and Augmented Reality, 3D imaging, holographic calls, gamification, and more. We, at EnableX, are already working towards such use-cases in the Education, Healthcare, and Retail sectors, amongst others. To say the least, we are geared up to capitalize on the wonderful opportunities that 5G will bring.
TechGraph: How do you prepare for the highly disruptive AI space?
Pankaj Gupta: We have been a highly agile and technology-driven enterprise since our inception. At the backend, we have been leveraging AI/ML techniques to analyze network operational metrics and identify opportunities to improve network performance.
On the other hand, we have also actively used AI to power our solutions in multiple ways and deliver business intelligence to our customers. From the basics of Background Blur and Noise Suppression to using Emotion AI for more meaningful and insights-driven conversations, AI has been a constant area of investment for us. Taking into account the success of the AI-based solution in our CPaaS offering, we now aim to augment the same in our Video Conferencing (SaaS) solution as well, which is being widely used for online education, recruitment, and retail amongst others.
TechGraph: How is the response so far of your Face AI Facial Analysis and Emotional Recognition solution?
Pankaj Gupta: Through Face AI, we have successfully enabled companies with deep insights into the emotional impact of each conversation. Our FaceAI API coupled with Live Video has brought substantial benefits for businesses in a highly customer-centric environment.
TechGraph: What are the latest innovations and developments at EnableX?
Pankaj Gupta: EnableX.io is helping enterprises stay ahead in the digital world. This year, we will be offering on-premise deployment to enable businesses that are remotely located or highly regulated to have all or part of the infrastructure hosted on-premise, which is not provided by many CPaaS providers.
While, we are currently providing the on-premise deployment on a customized/ad-hoc basis to the businesses, moving forward we will be coming up with a defined scheme/SOW for quick automated and seamless deployment in any environment.
Besides, we are also adding some key features to our video conferencing solution including Noise suppression, background noise cancellation – both involving the use of Machine Learning, real-time multilingual translation – Speech to Text, etc. We are also embedding our Emotion and Affective AI solution into the Video Meeting/Webinar platform allowing for smarter communication with the audiences.
For businesses looking for a ready-to-use-in communication platform, we are working to introduce low-code APIs for faster implementation with some flexibility for white-labeling.
TechGraph: The past nine months have been challenging for businesses. How did you deal with the pandemic?
Pankaj Gupta: While the pandemic brought tough times for most businesses, we were fortunate to be in the set of businesses that have managed to see continued growth during this period.
We’ve seen 100% growth quarter-over-quarter in the last few months and are now generating good revenues with a growing number of paying customers for our platform. The number of developers on our platform has grown exponentially and we see the rate of growth only increasing as we further scale up our sales and marketing efforts
The year 2020 saw key trends taking a centre stage, Firstly the increased adoption of video conferencing as an alternative to face-to-face meetings across industries.
Secondly, the rising demand for omnichannel experience to communicate on their preferred channel – voice, video, email, messaging, etc. On any device which has created a need for communication APIs that allow for this flexibility. Therefore, concerning the stated facts, we will be focusing on making customer experience a notch higher, a new set of improved enhancements including quality, advanced features, advanced analytics, orchestration, and automation, etc. We will also be focusing on enhancing our communication APIs (especially video API) to help companies deliver unique value and improve CX excellence.
TechGraph: Which are the key sectors driving the growth of EnableX?
Pankaj Gupta: The key sectors that are driving the growth of EnableX include Education, BFSI, and Healthcare. Amid Covid, the dynamics for each industry have changed.
We saw a huge spike in the use of our platform by educational institutions ever since the pandemic hit the world, pushing schools, colleges, and other institutions to turn to digital platforms to ensure continuity of operations. Using EnableX, they could seamlessly enrich the teaching and learning experience with security solutions that are packed with collaborative features such as screen sharing, co-annotation, and whiteboarding.
The BFSI sector is in an evolutionary phase where its priority is to provide safe transactions and fraud prevention as well as improve processes and customer experience. With EnableX, one uses cloud-communication platforms for various processes and services like KYC, self-service video kiosk, video-enabled customer service which streamlines the business by integrating voice, video, chat, and everything into the banking application or workflow.
The healthcare sector is also empowered by the intervention of CPaaS. Virtual care has become a must-have for doctors, nurses, clinicians, and patients especially in a world impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic where patients visiting a doctor becomes challenging. With EnableX.io carrier-grade platform and scalable APIs, healthcare providers could easily and quickly integrate high-quality and secure video and audio calls within their telehealth app, allowing patients to seek medical consultation remotely. Moreover, the HIPPA compliant platform comes with encryptions for added layers of security.
TechGraph: What are your expectations for the year 2021? What are the future trends that you are expecting?
Pankaj Gupta: The pandemic has given a strong fillip to video as a mode of communication. And this change is unlikely to be reversed even when the pandemic is over. In 2021, as we continue with remote working, video is a key channel for collaboration, learning, and communication.
From small business owners to schools and universities and global MNCs—all have turned to video to connect with employees and clients.
In this lieu, initiatives such as the 5G rollout are seen to be fast-tracked to provide for ubiquitous mobility. It will allow businesses and people to seamlessly connect anytime and anywhere via video calls over smartphones; making large-scale mobile video conferencing and live streaming even smoother.
Besides, the Communication-Platform-as a-Service (CPaaS) market remains booming and is expected to rise in value to $10.9 billion by 2022 (source). The industry is expected to witness the significant growth of omnichannel marketing, the intersection of IoT and CPaaS, the use of WebRTC as the de facto technology for live video, and much more.
