In short
CPaaS (communications platform as a service) gives developers programmable building blocks such as numbers, call control, and APIs. That is the right choice when you want to build and run the whole calling layer yourself. Consig is a finished patient-outreach stack: telephony plus number reputation, patient authentication, deterministic and generative call flows, compliance monitoring, and warm handoff, already integrated and in production for healthcare.
At a glance
| Capability | CPaaS | Consig |
|---|---|---|
| Automated calls | Yes | Yes |
| Hand-off to live agents | No | Yes |
| Agentic or deterministic flow | Deterministic | Both |
| Number / reputation management | No | Yes |
| Authentication / identity | No | Yes |
| Compliance monitoring | No | Yes |
| Who builds the call logic, consent rules and handoff | Your engineering team | Included, configured in the portal or via API |
| Healthcare-specific compliance (TCPA, HIPAA, state AI rules) | Your responsibility to design and maintain | Tracked by the compliance engine and enforced per call |
What does a CPaaS actually give you?
A CPaaS exposes telephony as an API. You get numbers, the ability to place and receive calls, and programmable call control, and you pay for what you use. For a team that wants full control and has the engineers to build on it, that flexibility is the point.
What a CPaaS leaves to you is everything that makes a patient call work: deciding whether the call is allowed, getting it answered instead of labeled as spam, verifying who picked up, running a conversation that cannot go wrong on a sensitive topic, and passing the patient to the right person. Each of those is a project of its own, and in healthcare each has compliance consequences.
What would you have to build on top of it?
On the Consig comparison, CPaaS covers automated calls with deterministic flows, but not handoff to live agents, number and reputation management, patient authentication, or compliance monitoring. Building those yourself typically means adding a voice AI vendor, an identity vendor, a reputation and caller-ID service, and your own rules engine for TCPA, consent, and state AI disclosure law.
Consig's view, from building voice platforms for decades, is that stitching those pieces together from different vendors leads to a fragile stack, and that the end-to-end approach is the only way to manage the growing complexity of compliance and keep the patient experience consistent.
Why does getting the call answered change the math?
A CPaaS can place a call, but it does not make the call trusted. Carriers and analytics engines label and block calls before they ring, and 86% of unidentified calls now go unanswered (Hiya). Consig handles caller ID and number reputation behind the scenes through carrier relationships, so calls show up as your organization. See Getting Through for the research.
When a CPaaS is the better fit
- You want to own and operate the entire calling layer, and have the engineering team to do it.
- Your use case is not patient-facing, or does not carry PHI or healthcare consent rules.
- You need generic programmable messaging and voice across many non-healthcare workflows.
When Consig is the better fit
- You need patient calls live in weeks, not after a multi-vendor build.
- Calls carry PHI and must stay within HIPAA, TCPA, and state AI rules on every attempt.
- Answer rates matter and you do not want to manage number reputation yourself.
- You want one integration for telephony, authentication, AI, compliance, and handoff.
Frequently asked questions
Is Consig a CPaaS?
No. Consig includes telephony, but it is a patient-outreach platform rather than a set of building blocks. Numbers, dialing, and reputation come with it, alongside patient authentication, governed AI conversations, compliance monitoring, and warm handoff, all configured for healthcare.
Do we need a CPaaS contract to use Consig?
No. Consig includes the telephony layer, including numbers, dialing patterns, branded caller ID, and number reputation management through carrier relationships. There is no separate CPaaS contract or carrier setup on your side. See integrations.
Can we still build our own logic with Consig?
Yes. Workflows and voice agents can be configured in the Consig portal, directly as JSON, or through the API, and they can mix deterministic and generative stages. The difference is that consent, reputation, authentication, and handoff are already there.