At the beginning of 2017, we set ourselves a target to focus on developer delight and scale. As I look back at the past year, I am happy to say we achieved all of that and more:
- 3.2 Billion voice minutes and SMS messages combined
- 8 new SDKs released
- 3 new integrations
- Most advanced voice codec for best-in-class voice quality
- A completely revamped developer portal
- 50 new team members
- New and bigger office in San Francisco
- 25 new direct in-country telecom carriers for Voice and SMS across 43 countries
- Improved reliability, uptime, and support
We executed well to stay profitable for the fourth consecutive year and invested heavily in things that matter — our product and people.
Our biggest SDK release ever
If I had to pick a product update that mattered the most in 2017, it would be our new SDKs.
In October, we announced our biggest update so far: server-side SDK updates for Python, Ruby, Node.js, PHP, Go, .NET, and Java.
On the client side, we announced Browser SDK 2.0, the next version of our SDK for applications to integrate voice calling in the browser. With this update, you can now have visibility into call quality metrics, gather real-time user feedback, and have better flexibility to reduce CPU utilization, improve QoS, and configure an application based on user needs.
3 powerful integrations added
On the integration front, we started out with Integromat. The Plivo-Integromat integration lets you use Plivo’s capabilities in your Integromat scenarios to the fullest extent possible.
Just after that, we announced the integration of Plivo Connector for Microsoft Flow. With this connector, you can now integrate Plivo with 200+ connectors including the Office and Azure product suites.
We wrapped up our integrations for the year with the launch of Plivo for Zapier. You can now do so much more with Plivo by connecting it to the other applications you use, such as Slack, Gmail, and Google Sheets (and 750+ other applications on Zapier) to automate tasks in your workflow.
Best-in-class voice quality
Our focus on voice quality improvement got a big boost with our announcement of Opus codec support for our Browser SDK. Opis offers the world’s most advanced audio optimization, with reduced jitter, lower latency, and less packet loss. What does it mean for your business? With Plivo, you’re getting the best quality on your voice calls that’s technically possible today.
Bigger team and a bigger office
At Plivo, we believe in customer intimacy. Our high-touch customer engagement model has helped us stay connected with our clients. So, while adding customers and partners, we also continued expanding our team in key areas such as engineering, support, and customer success. We are now 140+ strong and hiring more.
Bigger teams need bigger homes. This year we moved into a brand new office in the heart of San Francisco on Mission Street. The area is bubbling with creative, passionate people from the coolest startups. We also announced our third global office in Dublin, Ireland, which is fast becoming Europe’s startup hub.
Expanded network and country coverage
In our business, direct carrier network connectivity has been one of our unique differentiators. This year we further expanded our carrier base to add 25 new in-country carriers across 43 countries.
Improved reliability and uptime
2017 was also a year of infrastructure scale-up for us. As we scaled the business, we invested in our infrastructure, which led to improved reliability and ensured an SLA of over 99.95% uptime for customers in the last 180 days. Our average response time per customer query came down by 50% with investments in people, processes, and tools. Improving reliability and predictability of the platform of is a continuous journey, and we will continue our investments in 2018.
If 2017 was interesting, I can promise you that 2018 will be nothing short of spectacular! Design, innovation, ease of use, and reliability will be central to everything we do this year. We will continue to listen to you, be personal in our approach, and reach out to you with our updates.
Venky
