It has been declared dead on many occasions, but there’s life in the old dog yet! This certainly seems to be true of good old SMS.
Free of charge, so-called OTT apps, led by the Facebook subsidiary WhatsApp, have in the meanwhile become the messaging platforms of choice for the majority of people. Companies, on the other hand, continue to turn to SMS for business-critical A2P communication (application-to-person) – a trend which is expected to continue according to a prognosis by Belgian telecommunication wholesaler BICS.
In the light of the fiercely competitive app market, the experts place the onus on digital service providers (DSPs) to do more to retain customer loyalty. That’s why they are increasingly integrating SMS into their services to send notifications and alerts as well as to maintain customer contact – including in areas where 3G and 4G data connections are only available in a limited capacity – as outlined by the authors in the messaging chapter of the “BICS Report 2018”. In addition to its use by companies, the experts state that better scheduling capabilities also contribute to SMS keeping its head above water for some time to come.
According to BICS, cloud communication platforms (CPaaS) – such as those offered by Retarus – are also changing perceptions and conceptions of how companies can communicate with their customers, consumers and subscribers. In terms of business processes and logistics, companies are able to use SMS to inform customers on the status of an order, for instance, or airlines can inform passengers of changes in the status of a flight such as delays or gate changes.
Other use cases are identified by the sector experts in the fields of security, data protection and fraud prevention, for sending one-time codes to facilitate two factor authentication (2FA) in order to complete the registration process on websites or for online services. Furthermore, banks or other financial service providers can use an A2P SMS messaging service to confirm the identity of clients and authorize payments.
A2P SMS Services by Retarus
With Retarus’ Enterprise SMS Services you can send and receive urgent, critical information conveniently around the world via the Retarus infrastructure – in line with your requirements and irrespective of the recipient’s location. You can find more details here or directly from your local Retarus contact person and turn Retarus into your A2P company.
