Chatbot platform Gupshup partners with WhatsApp Business for enterprise messaging

Gupshup's APIs will allow enterprises to establish a brand presence on WhatsApp Business and manage customer support more effectively.

Silicon Valley-based smart messaging platform Gupshup has partnered with WhatsApp to integrate its APIs with WhatsApp Business (WhatsApp’s B2B offering) and provide early access to enterprises.

Gupshup announced that it has already enabled WhatsApp for Business for brands like Citibank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, and DishTV. Its single programmable smart messaging API will allow these enterprises to build a brand on WhatsApp Business and “orchestrate rich conversational messaging experiences” for customers.

Gupshup revealed that it has enabled IndusInd Bank’s ‘Banking On-the-Go’ feature for customers that allows them to track their account balances, view mini statements, reward points, and other notifications on WhatsApp.

Kotak Mahindra Bank, meanwhile, has started sending its ‘811’ digital account welcome kit videos to new customers who opt in to receive bank messages on WhatsApp. They can even place statement or cheque book requests, and seek answers to FAQs on WhatsApp.

Ravi Sundararajan, COO, Gupshup, said in a statement,

“We are excited to be among the first to provide solutions to enable enterprises early access to WhatsApp Business, and to be taking this instrumental step towards simplifying how businesses and consumers communicate with each other.”

Ever since WhatsApp Business rolled out in January 2018, several enterprises have been using it informally to send updates to customers and offer service support. Consumer internet companies like Swiggy, MakeMyTrip, BookMyShow, RedBus, and so on are sending delivery updates and ticket information respectively to customers through WhatsApp.

Besides WhatsApp Business, Gupshup APIs also work with more than 30 communication channels including Facebook Messenger, Twitter, SMS, web, app, etc.

Founded in 2004, Gupshup's messaging platform is used by more than 36,000 developers building services. Over 4.5 billion messages are processed every month. Its platform provides tools for the entire bot lifecycle enabling developers to quickly and easily build, test, deploy, monitor and track bots.

WhatsApp Business, on the other hand, has an active user base of three million. It is operational in select markets including India, Indonesia, Italy, the UK, the US and Mexico. The app is aimed at generating revenues from businesses even as WhatsApp’s consumer messaging app continues to be free for its 1.5 billion users.