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| WhatsApp brings its Business API to the cloud |
WhatsApp begins beta testing of the new cloud-based WhatsApp Business API hosted by the parent company's meta infrastructure.
The company says that with the move to the cloud, the API integration setup time has dropped from a few weeks to a few minutes.
This allows businesses to transition faster to the WhatsApp Business API platform to communicate with customers who choose to receive messages.
The company has steadily expanded its API over the past couple of years and it has become one of the primary ways for free messaging apps to generate revenue from its services.
Businesses these days pay via WhatsApp per message, and the price varies depending on the number of messages sent and the region you are in.
The current (non-cloud-based) API is now adopted by tens of thousands of large companies, including brands like Vodafone, BMW, KLM and Iberia.
Continue to support this older version of the API. WhatsApp is currently not considering forcing the company to move to a new cloud-based version. And both APIs are free to use.
Companies using the WhatsApp Business API work with solution providers such as Zendesk or Twilio, making it easy to integrate the API into client backend systems.
In these cases, WhatsApp is mostly part of a company's customer communication strategy. You can also communicate with customers on other channels such as SMS or other messages, email, etc. However, this API integration process usually takes up to a month.
WhatsApp wants to speed up the introduction of its business API
The new cloud-based API is designed to make things easier by providing an easier and faster technology integration process.
Beta testers of the new API include dozens of existing WhatsApp solution providers such as Zendesk, Take, and MessageBird.
Zendesk said: “The WhatsApp Business Cloud API is a huge step forward in reducing the complexity of using WhatsApp for service providers like us and our customers.
At the time of publication, the way people communicate with businesses has changed. Today, more than 175 million WhatsApp users send messages to the company every day. This trend is on the rise, especially in non-US markets such as India, Brazil and Indonesia.
A survey conducted by WhatsApp last year found that users prefer messages over calls. In some major countries, 75% of users said they wanted to communicate with the company through messages.