Utilizing Twilio as an Integration Component for Software Platforms

Over the last couple of years as software demands for new features that help to drive automation have exploded, we have looked to leverage existing a service called Twilio. Twilio is a powerful service that helps to take control of the data management and communication models that many of our backends interact with.

Below in the video we discuss a brief introduction to what it is and how we utilize it to maximize client’s requests. For an example of a project that utilizes feel free to check out the HomeownerNow customer story.

Tony: One of the technologies we have recently been integrating a lot into projects or considering to integrate via the output of workshops or client needs, is a program or software called Twilio. Why?

Jake: So Twilio, it’s a big organization. They’ve got a whole suite of service. They also own a company called SendGrid. At the end of the day, it’s all about communication. And so, Twilio’s main — their modus operandi, if you will, is being able to programmatically control phones. And so, be it calling people, texting people, doing some type of chat. And then SendGrid is more focused on emails and email marketing. But when you think about it as a whole, it’s communication. It’s, how do you continue the conversation that you have in your app to your users outside of that app? How do you make it so that they’re continuously engaged in what you’re doing? Or, on the other side, how do you make it so that you can automate things in a way that frees up your staff to do other pieces? So, for example, say we’re trying to match you with somebody in your local area for some type of service. You can call in in Twilio, and we can use Twilio and leverage its services to ask you a few questions, get to know a little bit about you, and actually find something or someone that matches your criteria, send it back to you and automatically connect you on the phone with them without ever having to talk with a human being. And we can also do the same thing with chat. And the beauty of Twilio is that both of those pieces of functionality are controlled in the same space. And so, if all of a sudden we decide later on, “Hey, we want to add another question,” we do it in this one spot. And now chat, text, and voice has all changed accordingly. And so, being able to have that power and utilize something like that is incredible. And it can be game-changing for a lot of clients — just being able to automate certain things or to send text messages out to people like, “Hey, you’ve got a dentist appointment next week.” I know I’ve gotten those text messages. That’s Twilio that powers those types of integrations.