Welcome to our interview with Srini Kalapala, Senior VP of Technology and Product Development at Verizon. Today, we explore how Verizon’s network APIs are reshaping global developer landscapes and enhancing customer experiences across industries.
Verizon’s network APIs empower developers worldwide, offering access to cutting-edge network services. Under Srini Kalapala’s leadership, these APIs drive deeper consumer engagement, brand loyalty, and business success. Leveraging Verizon’s 5G network, they accelerate digital transformation, fostering innovation and profitability. Join us as we unveil the impact of Verizon’s APIs on the future of connectivity.
Could you provide an overview of how Verizon’s network APIs are revolutionizing the landscape for developers globally and how they contribute to enhancing customer experiences across various industries?
Verizon network Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), enable the developer community to access network services and capabilities, allowing enterprises employing those apps to create deeper engagement with consumers across the customer journey driving a better overall experience and brand loyalty. These APIs are introducing cutting-edge network capabilities to enterprises and developers globally, showcasing the massive potential of Verizon’s 5G network, accelerating digital transformation within enterprises, and driving innovation, growth and profitability.
The Verizon API portfolio represents a broad array of functional areas, including network authenticated security, SIM and device management, network traffic prediction, quality management, edge site selection and routing, and many more. Verizon is making these and future APIs available through a variety of API aggregators, hyperscalers and through Verizon’s own API portal, thereby accelerating the adoption of these powerful network access tools.
With the incorporation of Verizon’s network services into applications, how do you envision these APIs driving deeper engagement with consumers throughout their customer journey, and what benefits does this bring to enterprises?
Verizon holds a wealth of value in our industry-leading network through applications and solutions that run over our network, and by serving as a critical customer touchpoint with enterprise and consumer customers daily. Access to those assets can help add value, drive growth, and increase profitability for enterprises in countless industries. Access to Verizon’s network services and customer touch points has the potential to add significant value for enterprises. Verizon network APIs connect developers, enterprises, and applications with our network services and data. That added functionality in applications and solutions enhances the application’s capabilities and customer experiences as well as drives innovation, growth, and profitability.
Can you elaborate on some specific use cases where developers have utilized Verizon’s network APIs to innovate and create value-added services, particularly in industries such as mobile banking and digital retailing?
APIs are used across countless industries to improve customer experience, drive profitability and accelerate digitization. Using a combination of Verizon APIs, developers can bolster multifactor-based fraud prevention by allowing an agent to authenticate a mobile number, SIM authorization, and other network-determined characteristics within a mobile application. This verifies user identity and device ownership, providing an application with a higher confidence score for critical apps. These capabilities can add valuable customer authentication, onboarding and fraud prevention services for multiple industries, including mobile banking and digital retailing.
What measures are being taken to ensure the security and integrity of the data accessed through Verizon’s network APIs, especially considering the sensitive nature of information involved in applications such as multifactor-based fraud prevention?
Verizon takes security and privacy very seriously and as such implements stringent security protocols, including end-to-end encryption and rigorous authentication mechanisms to safeguard the data accessed through our network API’s – ensuring the highest standards of security.
How does Verizon collaborate with industry standards bodies like CAMARA, GSMA OpenGateway, and TM Forum to ensure that its network APIs adhere to global standards, and what significance does this hold for developers and enterprises utilizing these APIs?
Verizon is collaborating directly with multiple industry standards bodies that are working to develop global standards for its APIs, including CAMARA, GSMA OpenGateway, 5GFF, and TM Forum, among others. Verizon has been involved in developing these standards and our network APIs adhere to them. This is critical as developers will need to incorporate standardized APIs across multiple carriers globally which will function on a wide variety of OEMs globally.
In what ways does Verizon facilitate developers’ access to its network APIs, both through its own API portal and through partnerships with API aggregators and hyperscalers?
Our goal is to make Verizon Network APIs widely available to developers across the globe so they are able to tap into our vast network services and capabilities, unleashing the power of 5G. To make them widely available, we are collaborating with a variety of API aggregators, hyperscalers and through Verizon’s own API portal. We recently announced an arrangement with Vonage to make Verizon network APIs available through its platform that makes it easy for a community of more than a million developers to embed communications capabilities into applications, systems and workflows. You’ll see many more of these collaboration announcements coming in the near future as we extend the accessibility of these powerful tools.
With the advent of 5G technology, how do you see Verizon’s network APIs leveraging the capabilities of this network to drive digital transformation within enterprises, and what role do they play in fostering innovation, growth, and profitability?
5G is shifting the perception of what’s possible. Verizon has led the way in developing and deploying 5G and accelerating 5G innovation. We have been using the latest technologies and platforms to deploy the most technologically advanced 5G. Verizon’s 5G network is virtual infrastructure from the core to the far edge. It combines end-to-end fiber resources throughout the network with a dense network of small cells and macro cells. Our industry-leading spectrum holdings provide an excellent foundation for rapid deployment of 5G, which has allowed us to provide a keenly differentiated experience for our customers and paves the way for extraordinary innovation and growth in the future.
5G is beginning to touch nearly every industry sector. We believe it will impact the global economy in a profound way and dramatically improve our global society. The capabilities of this new technology are almost unlimited. APIs are the gateway for organizations and enterprises to harness the power of 5G and use it to add innovations into their own operations spurring on digitization efforts and greatly enhancing interactions with customers, thereby driving value and profitability.
How does Verizon ensure that its network APIs remain flexible and scalable to accommodate the evolving needs of developers and enterprises, especially in dynamic and fast-paced industries?
Verizon prioritizes flexibility and scalability by leveraging cloud-native architectures and engaging in continuous collaboration with the developer community, ensuring our network API’s can quickly adapt and meet the evolving demands across industries.
Looking ahead, what are some upcoming developments or enhancements planned for Verizon’s network APIs, and how do you foresee them further empowering developers to unlock the full potential of Verizon’s 5G network?
We are focusing on APIs that improve customer security, ease pain points in customers’ interactions or allow for the creation of new experiences. Internally our own developers are working on the creation of new APIs. However, we know there is great value in collaborating outside of our own walls. A critical component of our collaboration with Vonage includes working together to identify and develop new network APIs based on various factors such as customer demand and technology maturity, enhancing existing APIs, and leading API distribution development.
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In conclusion, Srini Kalapala’s insights have illuminated the transformative power of Verizon’s network APIs in shaping a future where connectivity drives innovation and enriches customer experiences. As we navigate the ever-evolving landscape of technology, Verizon remains at the forefront, empowering developers and enterprises alike to unlock new realms of possibility. Thank you for joining us in this enlightening discussion.
By Randy Ferguson