Enterprise text messaging Sixt AG Relies on Retarus Enterprise SMS Services

Proven Partnership

Retarus’ professionally managed premium SMS services have played a central role in Sixt AG’s electronic customer communications for the last five years. Retarus Mail2SMS and Retarus SMS for Applications are both used to send booking confirmations directly to the customers’ mobile phones. Retarus provides a mass text service for businesses that allows Sixt to send automated text messages to customers. The SMS services are also used to distribute important internal information.

Enterprise SMS Services for Mobility-Driven Communication

Companies that offer customers top-rate services simply can’t afford to compromise when it comes to communication. Anyone who rents a Sixt car naturally expects to be at any time provided with all the information they need. Nevertheless, premium customers are still price-conscious, which is why Sixt AG chose the Retarus Enterprise SMS Services as no internal resources are taken up by a communications infrastructure, maintenance work or software.

Flexibility within a Dynamic Market

By outsourcing its SMS communications processes to Retarus, Sixt now has access to unlimited delivery volume scalability, meaning that any necessary changes can be carried out easily and swiftly. Thanks to Retarus’ enterprise-grade SMS Services, the implementation of the DriveNow car-sharing joint venture between Sixt and BMW required minimal work and effort.

Starting out from Pole Position

In early 2008, Sixt AG’s SMS traffic started to exceed the capacity of the SMS solution it had in place at the time, so a new solution was needed in order to keep pace with future requirements. Instead of buying new hardware and software to achieve this, Sixt AG chose to go with Retarus Managed SMS Services. This not only resulted in a major reduction in SMS delivery times, it also led to a long-term improvement in terms of individual SMS processing. Helmut Haunerdinger, Network Manager at Sixt, recalls how easy it was to integrate the Retarus services into Sixt’s existing IT architecture: “Very little effort was required to incorporate the Retarus SMS services into our infrastructure. The exemplary technical support and high service quality impressed us right from the very beginning of the project.“

Customized Solutions

Depending on the case and application, Sixt uses two different SMS interfaces provided by Retarus. Thanks to the Retarus SMS API, some of the company’s SMS are processed by the Retarus SMS for Applications service which enables any number of different applications to be linked to the Retarus infrastructure using a secure HTTPS connection. The Retarus Mail2SMS service is used to schedule Sixt Limousine Service drivers by sending emails to Retarus’ infrastructure, from where the messages are automatically forwarded to the drivers via SMS. Within the first month of the Retarus SMS Services going live, Sixt was able to send a big mass of text messages to customers, most of which were generated by the Sixt online booking system and call center.

Significant Increase in SMS Volume

Within the first month of the Retarus SMS Services going live, a big mass of SMS, most of which were generated by the Sixt online booking system and call center, were sent. The number of SMS being sent is continuing to grow every month, but the Retarus data centers master this challenge with ease. This can be clearly seen by looking at the DriveNow car-sharing joint venture between Sixt and BMW which has led to a major rise in the number of SMS being sent. Customers who reserve a vehicle using the DriveNow service receive two SMS – the first one contains their booking confirmation, while the second one tells them where their vehicle is located.