A year ago, The State of CPaaS 2025 set out six paths for this industry. At CASA26 we scored each of them against a year of evidence. The verdict is mixed but directionally right.
Two paths were exceeded. AI Voice moved from concept to deployment, and operators entered with products in the call path. Trust moved from a reputational programme to a requirement of product architecture, and enterprises now rank investment in trust and compliance above investment in AI itself. Two paths are on track: industry AI, vCon and conversation data products, and mobile network APIs, where the first commercial deployments have landed. One is partial, the Intelligent Engagement narrative. And one is behind: RCS.
The industry did best where customers were already asking
It is worth reading the scorecard as a pattern. Voice and trust, the two paths that were exceeded, are the two where enterprise demand was visibly pulling. CPaaSAA’s research in March 2026 showed members reporting four to ten times year-on-year growth in enterprise demand for AI Voice. Trust is the same story from the buyer’s side.
Now look at where the industry was pushing. RCS grew quickly from a small base: Infobip reported RCS for Business traffic up 169% between the first halves of 2025 and 2026. But it is largely traffic that was already SMS or MMS, migrating. Mobilesquared reduced its RCS projections in March 2026, and the 2026 World Cup did not act as the catalyst the industry had expected. The report’s verdict is that RCS needs a model built around its own strengths. Run as the next wholesale SMS, it risks inheriting SMS’s decline.
Trust has a split verdict for the same reason. It exceeded expectations in enterprise demand for intelligence and is behind in SMS messaging, where trust continues to fall.
The narrative has travelled. The evidence has to catch up.
The Intelligent Engagement idea has moved well beyond CPaaSAA. Sinch used Intelligent Engagement Platform language at MWC26, and Infobip’s 2026 Trends aligned closely. That is a good problem to have, and the report scores it as partial success for a precise reason: the words now need substance. The test is evidence that players in this field can occupy a sustainable industry position.
That is what the other posts in this series look at: where the value is landing, and whether the industry is the one capturing it.
The full scorecard, with the evidence behind every verdict, is in The State of Intelligent Engagement 2026.
Researched and written by Andrew Collinson of Connective Insight, commissioned by CPaaSAA.