Notifications are so integral to the digital experience that they often go unappreciated. You likely recognize their value, but what you may not realize is the significant effort that goes into making them work. They have to be programmed for multiple platforms, designed in a quickly digestible manner, and delivered in seamless, unobtrusive ways.
Suhas Deshpande has cracked the code and simplified notifications for developers worldwide. He's the founding engineer for Courier, a user-friendly, multi-channel notification platform that allows developers to quickly program notifications and tailor them to their app's users.
Learn more about Deshpande, his early career, and how he's changed the way developers implement notifications.
Deshpande's First Lines of Code
Suhas Deshpande has always been fascinated by technology and finding ways to apply it in real life. While working for a library in 2010, he noticed that the process for digitizing books was quite outdated, so he created a better inventory system that the library soon adopted. This experience ignited Deshpande's passion for tech as he realized the impact he could make.
After graduating college in 2012, he jumped into the professional tech world. Some highlights of his early career include developing a banking app for Capital One that featured one of the first AI chatbots—a platform now used by 60 million people and praised for its robust capabilities. He also worked for Mode, where he developed a centralized SQL editor that users can use to write, execute, and manage SQL queries right in their web browser. Thanks to its collaborative features and user-friendly interface, it quickly became a hit among data scientists.
At his current company, Courier, Deshpande has created an API that eliminates the pain of building a robust notification system from scratch. Because of his work, Courier is capable of processing and sending millions of notifications every month.
The Difficulty in Developing a Successful Notification System
If there's one issue that Deshpande has identified as a common pain point for developers attempting to implement a robust notification system, it's that they struggle to design an automated routing logic (an algorithm that determines the best way to deliver notifications to users). Without reliable routing logic, notifications can get delayed, missed, or sent through less optimal channels, leading to a poor user experience and potentially critical information being overlooked.
He doesn't necessarily blame developers who struggle with this—a good routing logic takes a lot of time and effort to create because of all the variables you have to consider: changing user preferences, the urgency of the message, and the effectiveness of different communication channels (such as email, text messages, and push notifications). And as the app grows, the developer must also scale, refine, and test the algorithm to ensure it continues to behave as expected.
Deshpande is solving this problem at Courier by designing a multichannel API that effortlessly handles various kinds of notifications and routes them seamlessly. The platform allows developers to fully automate notifications, set up their own routing rules for them, and customize them in a way that respects user preferences.
Courier comes complete with several developer-friendly tools, including:
- A drag-and-drop editor to set the prioritization of notification channels
- Branching logic and conditionals that create complex routing rules based on specific criteria
- A single pane of glass for developers to quickly add new channels, switch providers as needed, debug issues, and manage routing
Thanks to these tools and Deshpande's hard work, setting up routing rules and a full-fledged notification system has become easier than ever.
Deshpande's Impact on Developers and Users
Suhas Deshpande has always believed that notifications should enhance a user's experience and help them achieve their goals without annoying them with irrelevant or poorly timed messages. They should also be adaptable to the ever-changing needs of modern communication without being slow, expensive, or outdated.
It's these principles that drove his work and propelled Courier to success, resulting in a beloved API that drastically simplifies a traditionally tricky part of application development.
For companies that want to deliver a better notification experience, reach more potential users, and grow their revenue, Courier is the way to go. Sign up or request a demo today.
