Latest news with #NikilaSrinivasan
Time of India
09-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
In case telcos missed the message earlier, OTTs do a voice over
WhatsApp's entry into enterprise voice calling is poised to disrupt telecom companies' revenue streams, challenging traditional IVR systems with AI-powered solutions. Businesses like Redcliffe Labs are already adopting WhatsApp voice, anticipating a significant shift in customer interactions. This move threatens telcos' enterprise voice revenue, a crucial and rapidly growing segment, as OTT apps continue to dominate business communication. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Over-the-top (OTT) communication platforms such as WhatsApp are set to eat into the enterprise voice revenues at telecom companies after seizing a lion's share in business messaging that is now increasingly routed through apps instead of recent foray into voice calling for enterprises is set to challenge the traditional IVR telephony. And coupled with AI agents, the development could well remodel India's call centres from what they are such as Thomas Cook , Redcliffe Labs, HCG Hospitals and Sobha Realty have already gone live with WhatsApp Calling, which is scheduled for general availability beginning July Kandoi, CEO, Redcliffe Labs expects WhatsApp voice to account for 30-40% of its voice interactions within the next 2-3 years, while traditional telephony will serve as a fallback and for specific use the last 6-7 years, feature-rich OTT apps have made a headway into the $1 billion commercial messaging market once dominated by traditional SMSes. Gartner forecasts that out of the CPaaS (communication-platform-as-a-service) market expected at $3.2 billion by 2028, $1.6 billion will be dominated by OTT channels like WhatsApp and Google RCS.A similar conquest is expected in voice services. UK-based consulting firm GlobalData projects that India's telecom voice services revenue will shrink at a compound annual rate of 2.49%, falling from $11.5 billion in 2024 to $10.1 billion by companies referred to communication OTT players, or apps, as a "direct substitute" of telecom services which have long eroded the business of telcos without being regulated for issues like spam and fraud. Meta, though, said that instead of competing, the US major is keen on collaborating with telecom companies. "We partner closely with Telco Solution Partners who have enabled WhatsApp Business Calling API as part of their services and offerings," Nikila Srinivasan, vice-president (business messaging) at Meta told ET."We see an opportunity to drive strong partnerships with our telco partners to enable this innovative new calling feature."Thomas Cook, which introduced WhatsApp Calling for its forex prepaid card customers last month, has already shifted 14% of its toll-free queries to the platform within just 10 days. The move has helped the global travel firm reduce reliance on international telco partnerships by consolidating support through a single 24/7 WhatsApp account, said Deepesh Varma, executive vice-president, foreign exchange, Thomas Cook India. The app transitioned into a revenue channel for the company."Because of WhatsApp, we were able to reduce our call center cost by 25%, which we utilised for sales and made it a revenue center rather than a cost center," he said, adding that the company processes 600 sales transactions on WhatsApp within a diagnosis firm Redcliffe Labs said that 5-10% of the IVR calls have shifted to WhatsApp, particularly from digitally savvy and younger demographics as well as tier 2/3 cities. Wait times of calls have also reduced 25%.Further, AI agents can now empathise, engage and resolve customer queries remarkably well without the need of any human agent.
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Business Standard
02-07-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
WhatsApp shifts to per-message billing for businesses from per-conversation
Starting July 1, WhatsApp has shifted from a per-conversation to a per-message billing model for businesses using its platform. This marks a major change in how the Meta-owned app monetises business communication. Previously, businesses were charged ₹0.78 for an entire 24-hour conversation window, regardless of how many marketing messages were exchanged. Under the new system, each message is individually priced at ₹0.78. However, utility and authentication messages—used for non-promotional purposes like one-time passwords (OTPs) or account updates—will cost ₹0.11 per message, replacing the earlier flat rate for unlimited messages within a 24-hour session. Moreover, Meta-owned WhatsApp has also introduced volume-based pricing to "incentivise and reward growth" for businesses. Under it, businesses sending up to 25 million messages per month will be charged ₹0.115 per message, while those sending over 300 million messages will be billed at a reduced rate of ₹0.080 per message. The new pricing model is expected to make WhatsApp communication more expensive for businesses. However, Nikila Srinivasan, vice-president, Business Messaging at Meta, told the Economc Times that these measures will make the prices even more attractive. She further added that the pricing model has been updated to simplify structure. "It's how most businesses think of how they allocate their budgets and per message pricing just makes it a lot simpler for them because it brings more predictability. It's more valuable and utilitarian,' Srinivasan said, as quoted by the Economic Times. This pricing update comes amid a broader monetisation push by WhatsApp. Just last month, the platform introduced ads and subscription models in the Status and Channels section under the 'Updates' tab. For the first time, businesses now have the opportunity to run ads directly within WhatsApp itself — marketing a significant expansion of the platform's marketing. Until now, brands could only reach users in two primary ways: by sending paid messages, typically used by larger enterprises to share updates or promotions, and through click-to-WhatsApp ads on Facebook and Instagram, which directed users to open a chat on WhatsApp. This new feature marks a major step forward in making WhatsApp a standalone advertising channel.
Time of India
02-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
WhatsApp messaging to cost more for businesses in Meta's new pricing model
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills ETtech Businesses using WhatsApp for commercial messaging will likely see their monthly bills go up significantly as the Meta unit is changing its pricing model said this may trigger some businesses to reallocate their commercial messaging volumes to other channels such as the traditional SMS and Google RCS. But Nikila Srinivasan, vice-president, Business Messaging at Meta, told ET that volume-based tiers under the new model will now make the prices even more July 1, WhatsApp will start charging per-message rates instead of per-conversation, according to the latest pricing update on its website. Previously, all marketing messages in a 24-hour chat window were cumulatively priced at Rs 0.78. Now, every message will be priced at Rs 0.78, meaning that billable volumes for businesses will go utility messaging such as 'Thank you for shopping with us", WhatsApp will now charge Rs 0.11 per message, compared with the price with no limit on the number of messages in a 24-hour chat window. Still, WhatsApp's new pricing for utility messaging is cheaper than traditional SMS services at Rs 0.12-0.15, and also RCS, which is priced at Rs 0.20-0.25 in India.'The reason for us to do this is to simplify the pricing structure. It's how most businesses think of how they allocate their budgets and per message pricing just makes it a lot simpler for them because it brings more predictability. It's more valuable and utilitarian,' Srinivasan aggregators, though, said enterprises now may look at reducing dependence on WhatsApp and reallocate volumes to cheaper channels. India and Brazil are the largest revenue markets for WhatsApp with India historically having among the cheapest pricing, data showed.'Enterprises will take some time to adjust to the change because communication budgets do not change monthly,' said the founder of a communications firm. 'Hence, we expect some reallocation towards other channels or simple cut-down on marketing campaigns. But WhatsApp is emerging as a sticky channel and enterprises will need to address their needs where the customers are.'These changes come after a series of price cuts in the last 12 months as WhatsApp aggressively fought away competition from rival channels globally. For instance, in August 2024, WhatsApp cut business messaging prices by 16–97% in several countries, including by 63% in for the first time, has also introduced volume-based pricing. For instance, starting July 1, businesses which send up to 25 million messages per month will be billed at Rs 0.115 per message, while volumes beyond 300 million will be billed at Rs 0.080, according to a company blog. There is tiered pricing in between with the rate per message reducing with increase in goal of these changes is to enhance user engagement, said Beerud Sheth, cofounder and chief executive of communication services company Gupshup.'Interactive messages that generate user responses will prove to be cost-effective, as compared to one-way business messages. Therefore, businesses have to adapt. They have to focus on engaging the customer, rather than bombarding them with marketing messages,' he said.
eNCA
22-06-2025
- Business
- eNCA
WhatsApp introduces first major advertising features
SAN FRANCISCO - WhatsApp announced it will introduce its boldest advertising features yet, marking a significant shift for the messaging platform that has largely remained ad-free since its launch. The move is a sensitive one for WhatsApp, whose chief firmly denied a report in 2023 that said the Meta-owned app was exploring advertisements as it sought to boost revenue. Unlike Facebook, Instagram, and other social platforms, WhatsApp has maintained minimal advertising since Meta acquired it in 2014. Users and regulators have kept a close watch on whether the social media giant would seek to monetise an app that was primarily used to chat with friends and family, and was appreciated for its privacy. Until now, the platform's advertising consisted primarily of WhatsApp Business promotional messages to opted-in customers and some limited Status ad testing in select markets. The messaging app has no display ads in chat feeds or conversations. The company said it will roll out three new monetisation features exclusively within its Updates tab, which houses both Channels and Status features used by 1.5 billion people daily and became widely available last year. The company stressed that users who only use WhatsApp for personal messaging will see no changes to their experience, as all new features are confined to the separate Updates tab. "We've been talking about our plans to build a business that does not interrupt your personal chats for years and we believe the Updates tab is the right place for these new features to work," WhatsApp said. The new features include paid channel subscriptions, promoted channels in the Discovery directory, and advertisements within Status, WhatsApp's version of Instagram Stories. WhatsApp emphasised that the new advertising features are designed with privacy safeguards. "I want to be really clear about one thing: Your personal messages, calls and statuses will remain end-to-end encrypted. This means no one, not even us, can see or hear them, and they cannot be used for ads," Nikila Srinivasan, vice president of product management at Meta, told reporters. The company committed to never selling or sharing phone numbers to advertisers and said personal messages, calls, and group memberships will not influence ad targeting. "To show ads in Status or Channels, we're going to use basic information like your country or city, your device language and your activity in the Updates tab," Srinivasan said. The introduction of advertising represents Meta's effort to monetise WhatsApp's massive user base of over two billion monthly active users. Industry analysts have long speculated that Meta would eventually bring advertising to WhatsApp given its scale and engagement rates. The timeline for these features was not specified in the announcement. "They're going to be rolling out slowly over the next few months, so it might be a while until you see them in your countries," Srinivasan said.
Independent Singapore
18-06-2025
- Business
- Independent Singapore
WhatsApp to roll out 3 new monetisation features within its Updates tab over the next few months
- Advertisement - SAN FRANCISCO: WhatsApp is set to roll out three new monetisation features within its Updates tab, including paid channel subscriptions, promoted channels in the Discovery directory, and ads in Status, the app's version of Instagram stories, AFP reported. Meta's vice president of product management, Nikila Srinivasan, said the updates will be introduced slowly over the next few months, though no exact timeline was given. The new features include paid monthly subscriptions for users who want exclusive updates from their favourite channels, promoted placements to help channel admins boost visibility in the directory, and ads in Status that let users discover businesses and start conversations about the products or services being promoted. In a press release on Monday (June 16), the company said, 'We've been talking about our plans to build a business that does not interrupt your personal chats for years, and we believe the Updates tab is the right place for these new features to work.' - Advertisement - The Meta-owned company stressed that users who only use the app for personal messaging will not experience any changes, as the new features will only appear on the Updates tab. 'Your personal messages, calls, and statuses will remain end-to-end encrypted. This means no one, not even us, can see or hear them, and they cannot be used for ads,' Ms Srinivasan said. She noted that to show ads in Status or Channels, WhatsApp will rely only on basic details such as a user's country or city, device language, and activity within the Updates tab. 'We will never sell or share your phone number to advertisers. Your personal messages, calls, and groups you are in will not be used to determine the ads you may see,' the company said. - Advertisement - Users and regulators have been waiting to see how Meta would monetise the platform, mainly used for chatting with friends and family. Since acquiring WhatsApp in 2014, Meta has kept the app largely free of ads, unlike Facebook and Instagram. Until now, ads on the platform have been limited to WhatsApp Business promotional messages and some Status ad testing in certain markets. There are also no display ads in chat feeds or conversations. In 2023, the company denied reports that it was planning to bring ads into the app to boost revenue. /TISG Read also: Standard Chartered Bank boosts Bonus$aver maximum interest rate to 8.05%, bucking savings interest rate trend
