Who are tech providers?

Tech Providers are businesses that provide WhatsApp messaging services to other businesses. As a Tech Provider, you can do this by using Cloud API directly with Meta, or by partnering with a Solution Partner like Exotel who already offers these services, and who can extend their APIs, Messaging Platform, and Credit line to your businesses.

There are 2 approaches to get onboarded as a Tech Provider with Meta, as followed:

  1. Multi-Partner Solutions: This is for the those businesses who want to become a Tech Provider and partner with Exotel.

    1. Benefits: 

      1. You will get access to the Exotel APIs and avoid hassle of building and managing  the APIs on your own.

      2. You will get access to the Exotel’s Messaging Platform which consists of many benefits like Template Management, Reports, Analytics, Webhook management and more offerings.

      3. You will get easy access to the Meta’s Embedded Signup onboarding process for your end businesses to onboard and start using WhatsApp within minutes.

    2. To proceed ahead with Exotel, complete steps 1-6 mentioned below and reach out to your account manager or directly to us at [email protected].
       

  2. Independent Solutions: If you want to become a Tech Provider but not partner with a Solution Partner, you can follow the complete steps mentioned here as per Meta. 

    1. Please note, Exotel does not support this method yet of Tech Provider onboarding, but we are happy to explore and request you to reach out to  [email protected] for more information.

    2. Limitations:

      1. In this approach, Tech Provider will have to manage and own their own App and use the Meta native APIs. 

      2. There will be no access to Exotel APIs and the Messaging Platform.

      3. No additional support will be provided and you will have to reach out to Meta.

Terms of Service

You must accept our Tech Provider Terms of Service by clicking the Start onboarding button in the App Dashboard > WhatsApp > Quickstart product panel when you add the WhatsApp product to your app (described in a later step).

If you have already added the product to your app and did not accept the terms, you must return to Quickstart and accept the terms.

Let's Start

If you already have completed all the 6 steps required for a Tech-provider and opt for the Multi-Partner Solutions approach to use Exotel APIs, Platform & Credit Line, please jump to the Multi-Partner Solutions section below.

In case you are starting from scratch, please follow all the 6 steps and then proceed ahead with the Multi-Partner Solutions section below.

Tech Provider Onboarding Steps for Using Exotel as a Solution Partner

Step 1: Create a Business Portfolio

Create or use your existing business portfolio to ensure it has all required business details including address, website, email, etc. The portfolio must be owned by someone who can provide appropriate details during the business verification process.

Things to keep in mind:

  • You can have up to two business portfolios.

  • Ensure all portfolio information you provide is correct, otherwise it will be rejected during business verification. If your portfolio is not in good standing with Meta, then you won't be able to successfully onboard end businesses.

Step 2: Create a Meta App

  1. Go to the My Apps panel create a new business app and connect it to your business portfolio. Alternatively, you can connect an existing app to your portfolio by loading your app in the App Dashboard and skipping to step 3.

  1. If you create an app and aren't given the option to create a business app immediately, first choose Other > Next.

  1. Select Business.

  1. Complete the rest of the form. If you are unable to move past this step, try setting the Business portfolio dropdown menu to No business portfolio selected and proceed.

  1. Once the app is created, go into your App under the basic settings tab to update your domains, icons, etc.

  1. Add your privacy policy and terms of service URLs, which will be visible to users onboarding through Embedded Signup. To complete creating the app, select the Messaging category and save all changes.

Step 3: Add the WhatsApp Product

  1. From your App Dashboard, add the WhatsApp product.

  1. You will then be redirected to select your business portfolio and accept the Facebook Terms for WhatsApp Business and the Meta Hosting Terms for Cloud API.

Step 4: Test Business Messaging on WhatsApp (Optional)

  1. After accepting the terms and conditions, you will be redirected to the Quickstart panel.

  1. Click Start using the API, which will load the API setup panel.

  1. You will get access to a fully-featured sandbox that includes a test phone number starting with a "555" area code to send and receive messages. 

  2. You can allowlist up to 5 numbers in the sandbox environment. When adding a real phone number, make sure it's not registered on any other WhatsApp products, otherwise you won’t be able to receive the OTP code.

  3. Important: 

    1. If you click the Add phone number button and add a real business phone number, after adding it, enable two-step verification. 

    2. You can do this by going back to the Quickstart panel and clicking Manage phone numbers in the Phone numbers box. 

    3. This loads the Phone numbers panel in the WhatsApp Manager. 

    4. From there, locate your phone number, click its settings icon (the gear icon), then click Two-step verification and complete the flow.

Step 5: Scale your solution

Once you have a WhatsApp integration set up, you can start onboarding your customers by selecting the Onboard Customers option on the Quickstart page.

Step 6: Complete Business Verification

  1. Select Start verification in the Provider verification step to apply for Business Verification if you have not already done so, and ensure you have uploaded the required official documents. 

  2. Please follow the guidelines on domain verification.



  1. Once all the above steps are completed, you can now connect your app with the Solution Partner app to proceed ahead to build a Multi-Partner Solutions.


Multi-Partner Solutions

Multi-partner solutions allow Solution Partners and Tech Providers to jointly manage customer WhatsApp assets to provide WhatsApp messaging services to their customers. 

  1. For example, if you are a Tech Provider and are unable to offer custom or full WhatsApp messaging services to your customers, you can work with a Solution Partner to offer your customers the Solution Partner's services.

  2. The basis of a Multi-Partner Solution is a partner solution, which is an agreed-upon configuration in the app dashboard that defines which customer WhatsApp assets each partner can access. 

  3. Once created and accepted, the solution can be used to customize the Embedded Signup flow. Any customers onboarded via the flow can grant asset access to all of the solution's partners APIs & Credit line.

  4. Embedded Signup Flow: Once implemented, customers who access it will see a customized version of the Embedded Signup flow, which makes it clear that by completing the flow they are granting WhatsApp data access to both partners:




  1. Credit Line (Billing): Customers onboarded via our Embedded Signup configured for a solution share the credit line of the Solution Partner (Exotel) associated with the solution.

    Important: Incase there are any business accounts which are already onboarded with the Tech Provider in the past and now want to migrate them to Exotel as a Solution partner then the credit line needs to be changed/configured manually. 

    1. Failing which, the business will not be able to send & receive the messages via the APIs.

    2. To do this, please reach out to your account manager and raise a ticket to our support team at [email protected] with the details.


Step 1: Initiating Solution Requests

  1. Solutions are initiated, accepted, and managed in the App Dashboard > WhatsApp > Partner Solutions panel.


  1. A Create a partner solution modal will open up asking to provide the Partner Solution details as shown below:

  1. Starting with the Solution Name, provide a Unqiue Solution name of your choice.

  2. In the Partner App ID field, provide the Exotel’s Partner App ID based on your Exotel account’s region. To find the correct App ID, follow the below steps: 

  3. Find the Account region by logging into your Exotel Account, under the API Credentials section as shown below:

  1. Here are the Exotel App IDs based on the region:

    1. If it is Singapore: Add this App ID: 3157993617821787

    2. If it is Mumbai: Add this App ID: 625245295712993

  2. Once the details are filled click on send, we will receive an email and Meta Business Suite notification notifying about the request. 

  3. The solution will appear in the solutions panel with a Pending status until we accept it after review. 

    1. If accepted, its status will change to Active. 

    2. If declined, its status will change to Inactive.

  4. Once accepted, this is how it would look like:

  1. Once all these steps are completed, please drop an email to your Account Manager or to [email protected] with the below details:

    1. Your Company Name

    2. Meta Business ID

    3. Solution Name

    4. Solution ID

    5. The Exotel App ID used in the solution

    6. Exotel Account SID

  2. Once these details are shared with us, our support team will verify the solution ID on Meta Developer Portal. If request from the given solution ID is received, the solution request will be accepted on the Meta portal and the Multi-partner solution will be enabled on the provided Exotel Account SID. 

  3. Support will accept or reject the request triggering a confirmation email to you.

You can now start onboarding your businesses using the WhatsApp messaging console: Refer to this guide.