Twilio Elastic SIP Trunking Delivers Global PSTN Access for Genesys Cloud

Twilio Elastic SIP Trunking Delivers Global PSTN Access for Genesys Cloud

Contact center managers and architects planning a migration to the Genesys Cloud service will encounter an important decision that they may not have given a lot of thought to. It’s about how best to connect their customers to Genesys Cloud. There are multiple PSTN connectivity options available to Genesys customers and each presents trade-offs that affect business agility, cost, customer experience and other factors.

Genesys offers a “bring your own carrier” (BYOC) approach, which gives organizations the flexibility to select their voice services for Genesys Cloud. This gives Genesys customers access to a range of PSTN connectivity services to fit their business needs. You can leverage global SIP trunking services from third-party providers, including Twilio, and realize geographic coverage, pricing, flexibility and other advantages.

Native Genesys Voice Services Offer Solutions for Any Deployment

The native Genesys Cloud voice services offer you the simplicity of one-stop shopping. It’s incredibly easy to purchase DID and toll-free phone numbers and activate PSTN services directly in the Genesys Cloud admin portal. You can also port numbers from a third-party service provider. This makes it quick and easy for contact center managers and architects to administer their end-to-end cloud contact center service.

Genesys offers voice services in the US, Canada and European Union. Services include PSTN points of presence and ability to purchase DID and toll-free phone numbers in those countries. For global organizations with a presence in other locations, choosing Twilio’s Elastic SIP Trunking may be a good fit for both your domestic and international needs. By combining both under a single provider, you may be eligible for additional cost savings based on your overall call traffic. Also, you may be able to gain outbound call routing efficiencies and costs savings based on your international needs.

What is BYOC?

Technically speaking, Bring Your Own Carrier (BYOC) is an open telephony interface provided by Genesys Cloud that connects to a compatible PSTN service provider, such as Twilio's Elastic SIP Trunking service. It enables Genesys Cloud to send and receive PSTN calls using a third-party service provider as the conduit. The interface adheres to the IETF Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and each concurrent telephony session is called a trunk. Thus, the PSTN access provider is known as a SIP trunking service provider.

Many cloud communications service providers have introduced BYOC support, including Zoom Phone, Microsoft Teams and Cisco WebEx. They recognize that decoupling PSTN access from their application services enables them to focus on their core competency while giving their customers freedom to choose SIP trunking services from a preferred supplier.

Genesys BYOC deployment model overview

BYOC Cloud provides a direct SIP interface between Genesys Cloud and the third party provider;

Genesys has verified compatibility between its Cloud service and several SIP trunking service providers. You can find them listed on the AppFoundry.

What are the tradeoffs with BYOC?

BYOC may not be the best choice for every Genesys Cloud customer. You should carefully weigh the advantages and disadvantages before plunging in.

BYOC Advantages

• DID and toll free numbers available in more countries, such as Asia and Latin America
• Low PSTN usage rates
• Flexibility to apply routing policies before hand-off to Genesys Cloud
• Fast phone number provisioning
• Simplified operations - Consolidate Genesys Cloud trunks with other trunk services (telephony, UC, conferencing, etc.)

BYOC Disadvantages

• Administrative complexity - A few extra configuration steps must be coordinated between the two providers
• Purchasing overhead - Time and effort required to select a SIP trunking provider and administer payments for an additional vendor

Who should use BYOC?

Based on our experience working with many Genesys Cloud customers, two use cases should consider BYOC: 1) Global organizations benefit from the additional international phone number coverage and associated improvements in customer experience; 2) High call volume BPOs and contact centers benefit from added costs savings when combining domestic and international traffic under a single PSTN provider.

In addition, you should consider BYOC if you want the flexibility and control to quickly and easily assign new services to your numbers and control call routing. For example, a SIP trunking service provider can route certain calls to alternative contact center services based on various criteria, including ANI, location or time of day. These types of options aren’t the specialty of a cloud contact center service provider.

Field-Proven Twilio Services for Genesys Cloud BYOC

Twilio Elastic SIP Trunking is a field-proven global PSTN connectivity solution for Genesys Cloud customers. With experience from deploying our SIP trunking services in multiple Genesys customer organizations, Twilio can help customers reduce usage costs and extend a local customer experience to users in approximately 100 countries.

The Twilio solution for Genesys Cloud BYOC is verified for interoperability and listed on the Genesys AppFoundry. “We’re excited to count Twilio as a partner,” said Zach Brettnacher, Director of Product Management, Genesys Cloud. “The Twilio Elastic SIP Trunking service is an excellent complement to Genesys Cloud, providing on-demand global PSTN connectivity to our joint customers.”

Twilio is a SIP trunking specialist, recognized by Omdia as a top ranked SIP trunking provider in the North American SIP trunking industry:

• Low costs - Toll-free and DID usage rates are among the lowest in the industry
• Phone numbers in 100 countries - Clean toll-free and DID phone numbers for purchase in 100 countries
• On-demand services - Phone numbers and trunk services in any country can be provisioned in minutes through the central Twilio portal or API
• Flexibility and control - A range of routing services and complementary applications can be added to your trunks
• Consolidation - Twilio SIP trunks can provide PSTN connectivity to all your communications services, including VoIP, UC, collaboration and communications-enabled applications

These advantages, combined with the reliability of the global Twilio Super Network and our auto-scaling capacity, make Twilio Elastic SIP Trunking an excellent option for joint customers.

Explore the Possibilities Created by BYOC

The BYOC capabilities of Genesys gives contact center architects and managers a range of choices. With a few clicks on the Genesys AppFoundry, you have access to leading SIP trunking solutions that complement Genesys Cloud and are fully verified so that you can deploy them with confidence. In the case of Twilio Elastic SIP Trunking, you have the added confidence that comes with successful Genesys Cloud customer deployments (see Genesys BYOC Cloud & Twilio Elastic SIP Trunking configuration guide).

This flexibility is a big win for customers. By pairing Genesys Cloud service with the SIP Trunking provider of your choice, you can increase contact center agility, reduce cost, and improve customer experiences.