AI set to disrupt pricing models for business communication services

Mumbai: Companies that provide call-centre and business messaging services are expecting a shift in the way they charge customers to a more outcome-based and bundled pricing structure from the traditional pay-per-message or pay-per-seat models, as artificial intelligence takes over voice and text conversations and reduces manpower costs, executives said.

“Call centres are still charging pay-per-seat...although there is a huge risk that that will be disrupted as AI reduces that cost significantly,” said Ivan Ostojic, chief business officer at London-based Infobip, which offers cloud-based communications tools for marketing, sales and support.

“We expect to see a telco-type model where I have some predicted consumption per user and then I can create a bundle for you — from SaaS or AI, down to the channel. It'll be like interaction, consumption conversation. And then there'll be bundles that secure you from price hikes or drops,” he said.

Communication-platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) companies like Infobip are now experimenting with unlocking use cases where the cost of implementation justifies the benefit incurred. Going forward, multi-channel conversations across SMS, voice, WhatsApp, RCS and in-app notifications could well be priced in bundles as AI agents automate workflows, industry executives said.

“Our pricing models vary depending on several factors, including the complexity of the use case, the extent of AI integration and backend systems involved,” said Deepak Goyal, chief business officer at Tanla Platforms, a Hyderabad-based company providing tools to help businesses communicate with their customers.

Although AI use cases are costlier than structured, rule-based conversational offerings, customers are willing to pay a premium as value created outweighs the incremental cost, he said.

For instance, Tanla ran a campaign for a retail brand where users were prompted to upload images of broken appliances via WhatsApp in exchange for an exclusive coupon. Although multimodal AI image recognition is expensive to deploy, this campaign achieved redemption rates as high as 30 times, Goyal said.

“GenAI based use cases are at an early stage of their journey and are yet to find a right pricing fit,” said Gautam Badalia, CEO of Route Mobile, another CPaaS company. “There is a significant cost involved in GenAI interactions based on the various engines available today.”

As AI agents unlock new use-uses in customer services, the pricing models will also evolve to be more outcome based, he said. “Currently, pay-per-message is the most prominent pricing model with AI agents.”

Route Mobile enabled an insurance company to use an AI agent which converses with users on WhatsApp to understand their profile and needs and suggests the most relevant policy. “This solution is targeted to overcome any human errors in policy suggestions and avoid potential mis-selling,” Badalia said.