How Pritam Karmakar Is Shaping the Future of Digital Business Tools

The way businesses interact with their customers has significantly changed over the past several years. As a result, many small businesses that are already juggling a small budget and limited resources struggle to stay abreast of emerging innovations and reach new customers. That's where tools like WhatsApp Business come in, providing scalable, user-friendly solutions that enable small businesses to meet their goals and connect with more customers.

It's a solution powered by innovators like Pritam Karmakar, a senior software engineer who's dedicated his career to solving practical business challenges through accessible digital solutions, helping millions of brands worldwide thrive. Thanks to his contributions, WhatsApp Business has reached 200 million monthly active users, reporting a 27% rise in sales and a 20% increase in customer satisfaction.

Empowering Small Businesses with Accessible Software Solutions

Pritam Karmakar, who got his start at the software company Grab, has always appreciated how technology can be used to solve everyday challenges. However, this is only possible when these solutions are accessible to anyone, regardless of their experience with technology. So when he took on a position at Meta to work on WhatsApp Business, he applied this same mindset with the aim of helping small businesses incorporate technology into their operations and marketing — without the learning curve.

'Many of these businesses operate in diverse conditions, with some owners lacking formal education,' explains Karmakar. 'This requires designing intuitive and straightforward features that anyone could use.' This means adopting a user-centric approach, where every aspect of a solution is capable of solving practical problems without complicating workflows.

It's an approach that's served Karmakar well in his time at Meta. As a senior software engineer, he's helped develop marketing messaging tools, scheduling features, and other key innovations for WhatsApp Business, empowering businesses to personalise their customer messaging while cutting through the clutter of traditional marketing channels.

Making the app accessible also meant developing technical improvements to eliminate user frustration and enhance customer satisfaction. For Karmakar, this meant making key contributions to WhatsApp Business' Android version, recognising the operating system's dominance in emerging markets where small and medium enterprises are increasingly prevalent.

Specifically, he optimised application performance, reduced load times, and ensured robust stability — improvements that made a significant difference on lower-end devices frequently used in underserved regions. These targeted improvements resulted in a consistent and reliable user experience across devices.

'I had to ensure that every feature solved real problems without introducing friction into business workflows,' Karmakar explains. 'The stakes were high: any flaw could disrupt millions of businesses that depend on WhatsApp Business for their livelihood. I approached every project with a focus on simplicity, reliability, and scalability, ensuring seamless experiences for users globally.'

Transforming Customer Engagement with Personalised Messaging and Scheduling

Karmakar's work also entailed a significant improvement to WhatsApp Business' approach to personalised broadcast marketing. Previously, its broadcast messaging capabilities required both parties to save contact information, severely restricting customer outreach.

But as Karmakar notes, 'Personalised messages allow businesses to effectively reconnect with dormant customers, announce new products, promotions, or sales events, thereby significantly improving visibility and customer engagement.'

To this end, Karmakar spearheaded the development of a more modern workflow for personalised messages, removing this barrier and allowing businesses to reliably deliver targeted messages to their entire audience base.

He also led the development of advanced scheduling features, allowing businesses to automate and pre-plan customer communications like promotional announcements, holiday greetings, and reminders — greatly reducing operational burdens.

This feature was praised by WhatsApp users as essential, with many describing it as a 'killer feature' for its dramatic improvement in operational efficiency and strategic planning.

Introducing Broadcast Messaging Limits for Monetisation and Message Quality

One of Karmakar's most critical innovations for WhatsApp Business was the introduction of broadcast message limits. These are monthly caps on the number of free broadcast messages that businesses can send, discouraging careless spam and encouraging a shift toward personalised, performance-based messaging.

This project involved creating real-time quota-tracking systems, designing messaging logic that would be compliant with future limits, ensuring platform reliability at scale, and embedding safeguards against spam and misuse.

Karmakar notes that this initiative yielded two key benefits: Supporting WhatsApp's goal of monetising communications while significantly enhancing user trust and message quality.

'This initiative not only introduces new revenue streams but also fundamentally changes how businesses approach messaging, emphasising quality and user relevance,' he clarifies.

Expanding Horizons: What's Next for Pritam Karmakar?

Looking forward, Karmakar hopes to continue to drive innovations that democratize technology for all, bridging gaps and creating solutions that are easy to understand and intuitive to use. In his current role, he's laying the groundwork for the digital tools that will shape the future, mentoring the next generation of software engineers at Meta along the way.

By continuously developing user-centric solutions and focusing on accessibility, Karmakar is enabling small and medium enterprises around the world to connect more effectively with their customers. Thanks to his contributions, WhatsApp Business is poised to remain a vital resource, equipping businesses everywhere with the tools to thrive competitively.