Webhook

What is a Webhook?

A webhook is an automated message sent from one system to another the moment a specific event happens, delivered as an HTTP request to a URL the receiving system has registered in advance. In telecom and communication platforms, webhooks are the standard way a calling or messaging platform notifies a business’s own backend systems about events like a call ending, a message being delivered, or a payment being confirmed.

How webhooks differ from polling

Without webhooks, a business system would need to repeatedly ask a platform, “has anything happened yet?”, known as polling, wasting resources checking for updates that usually haven’t occurred. A webhook flips this: the platform pushes a notification to the business’s system the instant something relevant happens, so there’s no wasted checking and events are reflected in near real time rather than on the next polling interval.

Common webhook events in a voice or messaging platform

• Call status updates: notifying a backend system when a call starts, ends, or is missed.
• Message delivery status: confirming whether an SMS or WhatsApp message was delivered, read, or failed.
• IVR input events: passing along which keypad option a caller selected, so a business system can react accordingly.
• Recording availability: notifying a system once a call recording has finished processing and is ready for retrieval.

Use cases

• Syncing call outcomes into a CRM automatically, without manual data entry.
• Triggering follow-up workflows, such as sending a satisfaction survey immediately after a call ends.
• Real-time dashboards that reflect call and message activity as it happens, rather than on a delay.

Benefits

• Real-time responsiveness: systems react to events immediately rather than on a polling delay.
• Lower resource usage: avoids the overhead of constantly checking for updates that haven’t occurred.
• Simpler integration architecture: a well-designed webhook is often easier to build against than a polling-based integration.