Infobip is a global leader in omnichannel engagement that is powering a broad range of messaging channels, tools, and solutions for advanced customer engagement, authentication, and security. To learn more, Pulse 2.0 interviewed Infobip’s Vice President of Revenue Alex Ball.
Alex Ball’s Background
As the VP of Revenue, Ball is responsible for strategically expanding relationships in various industries for Infobip in North America. And as a seasoned executive with over ten years of experience in enterprise sales, Alex is passionate about working with companies and individuals to modernize their customer experience strategy and enable companies of all sizes to leverage their cloud-based CX solutions. Having joined Infobip most recently from Genesys where he was the Vice President of Sales, he led sales organizations that oversaw the growth of cloud sales from under $1 million to over $100 million. Based out of Northern Virginia with his wife and two young sons, Ball enjoys traveling with family, frequent visits to Walt Disney World, and coaching his son’s basketball teams, and he is a graduate of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
After a short time spent in professional sports, Ball spent most of his career in the customer experience space: working (not competing) and accounting.
“I started in account management and customer success before moving into sales and then sales leadership,” said Ball. “I think the customer experience space is one of the most interesting and compelling areas to be in over the next 10 years. And our big focus is that true customer experience is more than just the contact center. It’s part of marketing, it’s part of sales and service.”
Core Products
What are Infobip’s core products and features? “At a core, our Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) is the largest globally. Our focus of being the go-to platform for other platforms to build and scale on helps us power some of the biggest and most important global platforms,” Ball shared. “As part of our platform, highly focused fraud detection, spam filters, multi-factor authentication, automated registration processes, and more add to our strength. On top of our platform, we have strategic SaaS offerings focused on business users of all sizes. Moments (marketing automation), Conversations (cloud contact center), and Answers (AI-powered bot technology) can bring the power of our communications platform to businesses large and small with an easy-to-use, intuitive user interface.”
Biggest Milestones
What have been some of Infobip’s biggest milestones? “Infobip was founded in Croatia in 2006 and launched our first API in 2008. As we continued to grow and expand, first focusing on Business-as-a-Service for mobile operators, eventually evolving into a CPaaS solution which launched in 2016,” Ball explained. “In 2020, we received an investment from One Equity Partners, which helped facilitate strategic acquisitions of OpenMarket in 2021 and Peerless Network in 2022.”
Customer Success Story
When I asked Ball about a customer success story, he cited that one of the most successful customer stories globally is with Uber.
“Across the board, Uber leverages Infobip for a variety of different services, including Number Masking, Global Connectivity for OTP, and user engagement over SMS,” Ball pointed out. “Number masking for call anonymization solved safety challenges. Anonymization hides user numbers, making them more comfortable with calling. Infobip’s SMS connectivity with fast and reliable OTP delivery helped Uber achieve quick entry to new markets. This is a crucial first step when entering any market, aiding quick and secure app adoption for both drivers and passengers. Uber also uses SMS to quickly communicate peak times to drivers. This ensures that passengers can get an Uber ride anywhere at any time – without investing great effort.”
Total Addressable Market
What is the total addressable market (TAM) size that Infobip is pursuing? “The TAM for our solutions is massive. Over $25 billion in just messaging alone, but when you factor in contact center, marketing automation, and our new focus in Conversational Cloud, the total TAM is over $50 billion.” Ball assessed.
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Infobip from its competition? “Our differentiation really comes from what I call the wrapper around the platform. To many customers and consumers, a message is a message – it looks the same, delivers the same, etc.,” Ball revealed. “But the reason our customers stay with us and grow with us is our wrapper around the platform – support, account management, carrier management, registration management, communication and speed. This allows us to differentiate and create value for our customers.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of Infobip’s future company goals? “Our goal is to be the go-to platform for all platforms. In addition to that, we’ve launched our Conversational Cloud focused on building the next evolution of CX. While CX has moved from in-person to e-commerce and online, to multi-channel and omnichannel, the next evolution is the conversational experience,” Ball concluded. “Allowing customers and consumers to engage with brands in a human-like conversation all the way from marketing and initial touch base, through the sales and commerce side and flowing naturally into the support and post-sales experience.”
