The Capability Was Never the Problem
The capability was never the problem. Coordination is. Six years of working groups, roundtables, partnerships and research keep pointing at the same finding — and CASA26 in Amsterdam is built to test it.
The capability was never the problem. Coordination is. Six years of working groups, roundtables, partnerships and research keep pointing at the same finding — and CASA26 in Amsterdam is built to test it.
Partnership is the word every operator reaches for. Three questions separate a real one from procurement with a photograph attached — and why that argument is what CASA26 is built around.
Three earnings beats in seventy-two hours, three completely different verdicts from the market. Seven weeks to CASA26 — and nobody’s bingo card survived the summer.
“This is the biggest period of innovation since the internet — but we’re innovating and disrupting faster than ever before. Buckle up.”
It started with a warning.
Not about AI. Not about APIs.
But about the industry itself.
Charles Reed Anderson, analyst, strategist, and telco provocateur, took the CASA25 stage with one of the most unforgettable keynotes of the event. It was fast. It was sharp. It was uncomfortable. And it may have been exactly what this industry needed to hear.
His message?
Telcos have built everything — and monetized nothing.
And unless something changes, they risk repeating the same pattern with AI, APIs, and the next wave of digital disruption.
Charles kicked off with the line that set the tone:
“All bars, no bucks.”
Telcos have poured billions into infrastructure — from GPRS and 3G to 4G and now 5G. But again and again, the profits went elsewhere:
“We’ve overhyped the networks, oversimplified the use cases, and underdelivered against the promise.”
Telcos are exceptional at connection. But when it comes to collection — actual monetization — they consistently fall short.
The heart of Charles’ argument was clear: Tech doesn’t matter unless it solves a real problem.
Innovation isn’t about 5G, AI, or “smart cities.” Those are just enablers.
What matters is the pain point you solve, who you partner with to solve it, and how you monetize it.
He shared a campaign from Singtel during their 5G launch. It tried to explain to everyday consumers the differences between SA and NSA network modes.
“No one cares. They care about what it does for them — not how it works.”
Too often, the industry is still marketing technology instead of value.
Charles pointed to Telstra as an example of what can happen when a telco genuinely commits to innovation:
For a moment, they had it all: new services, rapid time to market, genuine differentiation.
But over time:
The result? An innovation engine that once led the region is now struggling to maintain momentum.
“Even if you build the right thing — if the culture, buy-in, and skillset aren’t there — it won’t scale.”
Then came the slide no one will forget.
Charles explained the network API ecosystem through a Dutch vending machine cheeseburger — yes, really.
Here’s the breakdown:
“If you understand how to get a burger from FEBO, you understand the network API ecosystem.”
The takeaway?
In this new stack, CPaaS vendors are the orchestrators.
Telcos are at risk of being commoditized, unless they start acting like full-stack solution providers — or at least learn to partner with them.
Even worse? Hyperscalers and system integrators are now building their own orchestration layers — their version of Deliveroo — and they’re coming fast.
Instead of riding the AI hype wave, Charles challenged it.
95% of GenAI projects deliver no measurable business impact. 70–88% of digital transformations still fail. Most companies don’t have clean data, robust systems, or the right strategy.
Even more dangerously: GenAI hallucinates.
Charles shared how ChatGPT invented a scandal involving Uber Eats and a racist chatbot. He almost put it in a keynote deck before realizing it was completely fabricated.
“That could have ruined my credibility. Now imagine it’s your company, your brand, your chatbot.”
We’re pushing GenAI into production with no governance, no safeguards, and no real understanding of the risks. The brand risk is real. And it’s rising.
Charles then sounded the alarm.
MVNOs have already chipped away at traditional telcos — with better CX, sharper brands, and faster operations. But now, AI-native platforms are emerging.
He described a founder who built and sold an MVNE platform, then discovered the power of agentic AI and moved to Silicon Valley to build it all over again — AI-first.
These startups don’t need large teams.
They don’t need legacy systems.
They don’t sell SIMs. They sell outcomes.
And it’s not just the consumer market.
“Imagine AWS launching its own enterprise phone, preloaded with its AI stack, bundled for every developer team worldwide. Who needs a telco?”
We’re on the edge of seeing hyperscalers bypass operators altogether — and telcos may not see it coming until it’s too late.
Charles left the crowd with five immediate takeaways. These weren’t buzzwords. They were a survival guide:
Charles didn’t offer a tidy ending.
He didn’t say “everything will be okay.”
He ended with this:
“You’re either part of the disruption… or you’re in its way.”
And if you’re in telco, cloud communications, or CPaaS, this was your wake-up call.
The AI era is not coming. It’s already here.
The question is whether your organization — your culture, your partners, your mindset — is ready.
That’s what CASA is all about: not just talk — but real use cases, real change, and real outcomes.
At CASA25, Miruna Anastasoaie, a particle physicist turned telco transformation leader at KPN, delivered one of the most refreshing keynotes of the event—not because of dazzling AI demos or grand future visions, but because of her brutally honest, human, and deeply insightful take on what really matters when a telco wants to transform with AI: culture, mindset, and leadership.
If you thought transformation was about plugging in tools or writing slick AI strategies, think again.
Miruna didn’t come to KPN to maintain the status quo. With a background in astrophysics and a career spanning academia, banking, and telco, she’s seen how hard it is to change large systems from the inside. But she also carries a scientist’s mindset: clear end goals, tolerance for the unknown, and a commitment to iteration.
“In physics, you might know your destination and your first step—but you must relearn at every step. That’s the mindset I brought to KPN.”
And she didn’t come because she thought telco was glamorous. Quite the opposite.
She assumed KPN was too old, too well established, with too much history, a company with deep heritage and complex legacy systems. But when a former colleague pitched her the transformation journey underway, she thought:
“If we can change an operator like KPN, we can do anything.”
KPN isn’t lacking in tech. It has one of the most complex IT landscapes Miruna has ever seen. But that complexity comes with history—and emotion.
Many of the systems in place have been serving the company for 20 or 30 years and were built by people who have grown with KPN during that time. Letting go of those “babies” isn’t just a technical task—it’s personal.
“That’s why, even as a tech nerd, I focus on the cultural side of transformation.”
Changing mindsets is harder than upgrading tools. Because tools can be bought. But to use them well, you need clarity of purpose, leadership courage, and the ability to unlearn.
Miruna challenged a popular misconception head-on:
“Is this really an AI problem? Or is it a mindset problem?”
She described meetings where everyone was focused on “getting the best LLM,” without understanding that an LLM without retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) is just a parrot.
The obsession with new tools misses the point. No tool solves your core issues unless your foundations are solid:
And perhaps most importantly:
“No supplier can solve our problems for us. Partnerships are important but you still own your problems. And ultimately you solve them from the inside.”
One of the biggest laughs—and biggest truths—came when Miruna spoke about the focus on use cases when she joined:
“It was like everyone was planting their own flower. But AI needs to work at scale, not in silos.”
Instead of spreading dozens of use cases across departments, she emphasized building shared journeys, connected processes, and interoperable AI systems that can grow with the business.
Use cases aren’t the goal—they’re just the first step. And they shouldn’t distract from the hard work of unification.
Many companies either freeze when faced with AI uncertainty—or jump headfirst into implementation with no structure.
Both are dangerous.
Some people thought they weren’t ready and wanted to cancel. She asked them, “What do we have?” When they listed it out, it was enough to move forward.
Miruna shared how her own team faced this when preparing for a board meeting:
“Delimit the known from the unknown. That’s what makes you strong.”
This mindset—that clarity trumps perfection—is what she calls the “physics of reinvention.” Take the first step. Reassess. Iterate.
When asked about agentic AI, she warned about another common trap: deploying too many agents too fast without guardrails.
“Ten agents solving a broken coffee machine may just argue with each other.”
Building agentic systems is like building teams—you need clear roles, coordination, and governance.
Throwing more energy at a system doesn’t help if the direction is off. In fact, it creates waste. Smart AI implementation is thoughtful, slow at first, and deeply structured.
Identity First. AI Second.
Perhaps the most powerful moment came near the end:
“Who are you, really? What’s your identity as a company? AI should help you—not define you.”
Too many AI projects start from the tech and forget the soul of the business. KPN, under Miruna’s leadership, is flipping that script.
She spends her time educating, challenging assumptions, and asking the tough cultural questions:
What is KPN’s purpose? What do we want to become? What are we willing to change—and what should remain?
Transformation isn’t linear. It’s messy. It’s full of false starts and difficult conversations. But as Miruna reminded us:
“If you want impact, you have to do things differently. Not because you know better—but because you’re not afraid to fail and learn.”
And that’s what real AI transformation looks like.
Not plugging in a tool—but shifting a mindset.
Not buying intelligence—but building it—together.
Jonathan Bean and Rob Kurver Close Day 1 of CASA25 with a Fireside Chat on What’s Next for Communications
As Day 1 of CASA25 came to a close, the tone shifted from urgency to opportunity. In a fast-paced fireside chat, Jonathan Bean, CMO of Sinch, joined Rob Kurver, Founding Partner of the CPaaS Acceleration Alliance, to reflect on the day’s discussions and project what’s next for the communications industry.
Spoiler alert: it’s big.
Jonathan opened with a challenge to the room: let’s stop being cynical.
In an industry often obsessed with what’s broken, it’s easy to forget what’s been built. “When I joined CPaaS six years ago from the software world,” Jonathan shared, “the total ecosystem profits were around $200 million. Today? Billions. That’s a 10X increase.”
The takeaway: progress has happened. But we haven’t talked nearly enough about the customer—the real people and businesses benefiting from this transformation. “On my way here, almost every touchpoint was powered by one of our platforms. We’re already creating intelligent experiences, and that momentum is only increasing.”
The conversation quickly moved to the next act. Inspired by CPaaSAA’s narrative of CPaaS 1.0 (SMS), CPaaS 2.0 (multi-channel), and CPaaS 3.0 (intelligent engagement), Jonathan made it clear: “We’re entering a new phase—one shaped by AI and orchestration.”
But this isn’t about fear. “For some players, it’ll be disruptive,” he admitted. “But for others, it’s a chance to create even more value across the ecosystem. AI, especially agentic AI, will radically shift how we think about engagement. We’re already seeing LLMs interact with our APIs in fascinating ways.”
Instead of treating AI as a threat, it’s time to build bridges—to become the infrastructure layer for AI-native companies. Or as Jonathan put it, “Our biggest customers may not even exist yet—they’re being founded right now.”
For the past decade, CPaaS players helped companies aggregate access to messaging, voice, video, and email channels. But the future lies in orchestration—guiding meaningful customer journeys across these channels with intelligence baked in.
The goal? “Outcomes, not APIs.”
Sinch and others in the space are shifting from being mere pipelines to becoming engagement platforms, where developers, startups, and enterprises can build customer experiences that adapt, learn, and deliver.
This aligns strongly with the CASA25 theme of Intelligent Engagement—moving beyond just messaging to full-stack, AI-enhanced customer interaction.
One of Jonathan’s most compelling points came when discussing the startups entering the space: “They’re vibe-coding apps on the weekend and just want their app to send an SMS or email. They don’t understand telco legacy. They don’t care. But we can onboard them through email, and then guide them into the world of messaging and regulation.”
In other words: onboard simple, then educate.
This generation doesn’t want to learn how to navigate telco red tape. They want platforms that work—fast. And whoever solves that friction stands to win their loyalty, and their volume.
In closing, both Rob and Jonathan emphasized partnerships and ecosystem alignment. The day had started with warnings—about disruption, about AI, about the death of telcos—but it ended with hope.
As Jonathan put it, “Each of the partners we’ve had on stage today has a huge future. It all comes down to agility and customer centricity. Sure, we face headwinds—but the opportunity is so much bigger.”
This isn’t about resisting change. It’s about accelerating it—together. CPaaS players like Sinch, alongside telcos, AI startups, and enterprise partners, are laying the foundation for a new infrastructure: Intelligent Engagement at scale.
Aggregation was Act 1. Orchestration is Act 2. And with agentic AI, the curtain’s rising on Act 3.
Let’s make sure we all have a role to play.
Adnan Saleem’s CASA25 talk shows how voice can be telcos’ most powerful AI opportunity—built directly into the IMS core, no apps required.
For decades, voice in telecom was the sleeping giant. Outside of a few quality-of-life upgrades—from narrowband to wideband audio—it remained largely unchanged. Until now.
At CASA25, Adnan Saleem, CTO of Software & Cloud Solutions at Radisys, took the stage with a bold message: Voice is back, and it’s becoming the new frontier of AI innovation inside telecom networks. More importantly, it’s becoming a new revenue stream—right inside the IMS core—without the need for new apps, new devices, or developer ecosystems.
These are telco-native, AI-powered voice experiences and solutions. And they change everything.
We often talk about 5G, APIs, or edge compute as revenue enablers. But Radisys is doing something radically pragmatic: turning the 1 trillion voice minutes flowing through telco networks every month into high-value, intelligent services.
Let that sink in. One trillion voice minutes per month, globally, over traditional operator networks—not OTT. These calls already run through IMS cores, where Radisys’ Engage platform lives. That’s where AI meets voice, and telcos meet new monetization.
And it’s not theoretical. Five Tier-1 operators are already deploying or commercializing Radisys’ AI-powered use cases today.
Radisys’ approach is radically simple and refreshingly telco-centric:
If you have a phone and a number, you’re in.
Everything is embedded in the network. The user just dials, picks up, or lets their personal AI assistant take over. AI is no longer tied to apps. It’s part of your core telco service.
The Engage platform enables a full stack of AI-powered voice services before, during, and after the call:
These aren’t future concepts. They’re running in the IMS core, on real operator networks, today.
The most compelling demonstration? The telco-native personal assistant.
Subscribers can talk to a private, AI-powered assistant over a standard voice call—just like calling a friend. Juno listens, knows the user’s preferences, understands context (from past calls, emails, documents), and takes actions: scheduling meetings, finding information, dialing contacts, providing suggestions when asked, or joining ongoing calls to take notes.
This is agentic AI, not ChatGPT with a phone number. It’s secure, sovereign, and subscriber-controlled. No data leaves the network unless the user wants it to.
Most telco innovations today require ecosystem-building, heavy IT, or new consumer behaviors. Radisys offers a refreshing alternative:
More importantly, it flips the script on voice. From being a declining utility to becoming the core channel for AI-powered services.
One standout example is fraud detection.
Imagine receiving a suspicious call—“This is the Bank of Canada, we need your details.” Radisys’ AI listens, detects red flags, and whispers a warning in your ear. “Proceed with caution—potential fraud detected.”
Better yet, it automatically logs, transcribes, and reports the event—regionally tuned to local fraud trends. This is real-time protection at scale, with models trained for each market and updated continuously.
Radisys has quietly powered real-time media infrastructure for over 180 global operators. With more than 15 years of deployment experience, they’re already embedded where it matters: in the media layer of the IMS core.
Their heritage makes them a rare breed: a partner that understands real-time, IMS, telco-grade reliability, and AI. Combine that with a platform like Engage, and you get telco-native innovation without the integration headache.
This isn’t CPaaS or over-the-top voice automation. This is native telco AI voice, built for scale, built for privacy, and ready for monetization.
Radisys didn’t just bring voice back—they brought it forward.
With AI running directly in the network, telcos have a clear path to:
✅ Launch revenue-generating services fast
✅ Differentiate with in-network AI experiences
✅ Compete without giving up control to third-party apps
✅ Serve every user, regardless of device
It’s time to stop thinking of voice as legacy. With Radisys, voice becomes the OS of intelligent engagement—no app store required.
At CASA25, Boris Maric, Commercial Excellence Officer at Infobip, took the stage with a bold statement: “Conversations are becoming the operating system of customer experience.”
Not the interface. Not the channel. The operating system.
It’s a radical reframing—but one that cuts straight to the heart of what Intelligent Engagement really means in this next era.
And Infobip isn’t just theorizing. They’re building. Testing. Scaling. Pivoting. Because for Boris and the team, it’s clear: if we don’t evolve from messaging to orchestration, someone else will.
Infobip’s journey is grounded in a simple but powerful insight: conversations are now the homepage of CX.
What used to be done across websites, apps, and disconnected touchpoints is now collapsing into a single thread—literally. One WhatsApp conversation. One RCS flow. One smart agent that knows what you need before you ask.
It’s the convergence of three forces:
This shift means the interface shrinks and the backend complexity explodes. If you’re doing it right, the customer sees a single, simple thread. Behind it: orchestration, personalization, security, failover, and real-time data—powered by a blend of CPaaS infrastructure and generative AI.
Boris introduced a simple but compelling model: Trust, Guide, Act.
It’s not about “blasting messages.” It’s about embedding value inside a conversation.
And when all three align? “The interface shrinks.” One thread. One customer. One intelligent engagement.
Infobip’s current focus includes:
But Boris emphasized a critical next step: evolving from isolated use cases to agentic workflows.
This means AI doesn’t just support the flow—it becomes the flow. Taking action, triggering transactions, orchestrating across systems.
In a world where AI eats SaaS, that shift becomes existential.
Boris didn’t shy away from the elephant in the room. Growth is slowing. Margins are under pressure. AI isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a disruptor.
AI is disintermediating SaaS, allowing enterprises to build more in-house.
Ecosystems are gaining power, simplifying procurement and increasing stickiness.
Messaging is commoditizing, and unless CPaaS evolves, it risks being relegated to the plumbing.
To lead in this new landscape, CPaaS providers must:
In Boris’s words: “We need to take the orchestration part and lead the entire industry.”
Infobip’s framework to navigate this shift breaks CPaaS into three interconnected layers:
The future? Not just richer conversations, but conversational operating systems—fully integrated, intelligent, and outcome-driven.
Despite the vision, there are friction points. Boris didn’t sugarcoat them:
But there’s a path forward.
Start with use cases that work.
Build them with startups and risk-takers, not just enterprises.
Orchestrate across channels, data, and AI—and make it seamless.
Infobip sees two key accelerants ahead:
Agentic AI – to drive real-time, autonomous action CPaaS as the orchestrator – leading enterprise and telco transformation
And Boris left us with this clear call to action:
“We sit on a ton of data. We already have the infrastructure. The next battle is orchestration. If we win that, we win the future.”
Watch this space. The future of customer experience is being rebuilt—one intelligent conversation at a time.
In our latest CPaaSAA Talk, I sat down with Jon Brinton, CRO of Crexendo, to talk about their role at CASA25 in Amsterdam this September. Crexendo is joining as a Silver Sponsor, and Jon shared why the company sees CASA25 as a must-attend event for the programmable communications ecosystem.
Crexendo – known internationally through its NetSapiens platform – powers service providers with UCaaS, CCaaS, and CPaaS capabilities. As Jon put it, “Think of us as the operating system that enables service providers to build and deliver complete communications ecosystems to their customers.”
Jon highlighted that CASA25 isn’t just another industry event. It’s a collaborative space where vendors, service providers, telcos, and innovators can come together to share insights and shape the next wave of communications. For Crexendo, that means connecting with peers, showcasing how their platform empowers partners, and contributing to discussions that matter for the future of CPaaS.
Crexendo has been expanding quickly, combining the strengths of UCaaS and CPaaS in a way that helps providers adapt to new customer demands. With service providers under constant pressure to deliver flexible, scalable, and differentiated solutions, Crexendo offers the tools to make that possible.
As Jon explained, CASA25 offers the perfect backdrop: “This industry is changing fast. CASA gives us the opportunity to step out of day-to-day business and really think strategically with others who are driving innovation.”
One of the key themes at CASA25 is vCons (Virtual Conversations) — an emerging open standard that defines how entire conversations (voice, video, messaging, context) can be captured, shared, and enriched. vCons provide a consistent, interoperable way to handle conversations across platforms, creating enormous potential for compliance, analytics, and AI-driven customer experience.
Crexendo is not only following this development — they are already working with partners who bring real vCon-based applications to market today. That means their ecosystem is moving beyond theory, putting vCons into action to deliver compliance solutions, new AI capabilities, and smarter customer engagement tools.
As Jon put it, “vCons turn conversations into data. That opens the door to entirely new business models — whether it’s compliance, analytics, or AI-driven engagement. At CASA25, we’ll be sharing how our partners are already monetizing this and why service providers can’t afford to ignore it.”
With CASA25 just weeks away, Crexendo is looking forward to engaging in conversations around APIs, vCons, service provider strategies, and the future of intelligent engagement. Their presence reinforces the collaborative DNA of CASA: fewer sales pitches, more real insights, and a shared drive to push the industry forward.
We’re thrilled to have Crexendo on board, and we look forward to welcoming Jon and his team to Amsterdam!
At CASA25, we are looking beyond the buzz to focus on the building blocks that will shape the future of programmable communications. One of the most important of those building blocks is vCon—a new open standard for representing conversations.
Why does this matter? Because as AI begins to transform communications, it needs structure. Large language models are powerful, but without a consistent way to capture and exchange conversational data, they struggle to deliver enterprise-grade results. vCon provides exactly that: a standardized “container” for conversations, whether voice, chat, or video.
Last week, we published a guest blog by Thomas Howe, one of the driving forces behind the vCon standard and the vCon Foundation. In his blog, The Power of a Definition, Thomas explained how having a shared definition of what a conversation is can unlock an ecosystem of AI-driven innovation.
At CASA25, Thomas will take the stage for a keynote session to explain why vCons matter, and why they are a cornerstone for agentic AI in communications. His talk sets the tone for a series of deeper dives:
Panel discussions will explore real-world use cases, from customer engagement to compliance and regulatory requirements. A hands-on workshop will give a small group of participants the chance to dig deeper into the standard and its practical implications.
The vCon Foundation and CPaaSAA members are already working together to turn this definition into impact. That means moving from theory to practice—building AI-ready communications that enterprises, service providers, and telcos can trust.
In short: vCon is the missing link. It connects the messy, human side of conversations with the structured, machine-readable world AI needs to thrive.
At CASA25, you’ll hear directly from Thomas and other pioneers shaping this future. Join us in Amsterdam this September to be part of the conversation—and to help shape what comes next!