Choosing a WhatsApp customer support platform in the Gulf: a checklist

Switching support platforms after a year is expensive: the conversation history, approved WhatsApp templates, the help centre, the team's habits. The questions below are ordered by how hard each is to undo.

What cannot be changed later

  1. Is WhatsApp connected exclusively through Meta's official API? (Unofficial methods get banned, and the number and its history are lost.)
  2. In which country is data held, and is that stated on a public page and in a data processing agreement?
  3. Can conversations and contacts be exported in full on leaving, and in what format?

What shows after a few months

  1. Is the price per seat or per volume? What will it be after the team doubles?
  2. Is the invoice a tax invoice that complies with the country's tax authority?
  3. Is the help centre genuinely Arabic: search that understands word forms, Arabic URLs?
  4. Does the platform integrate with the store (Salla, Zid) so the order appears inside the conversation?
  5. Are there SLAs, CSAT and reporting, or only an inbox?

What to test in the trial

  1. How long does it take to invite an agent and set their permissions?
  2. Does the agent see the state of the 24-hour window before sending?
  3. Is the interface fully Arabic, including email, notifications and invoices?
  4. How is a support request in Arabic answered, and how fast?

A provider that answers all twelve in writing is rare. That is the bar.