Message for the channel
In a commercial tweeting world SMS need not be overlooked, says Peter Tanner
Tanner: Two-way SMS in particular is an unexploited opportunity
The potential of text messaging has been largely lost on the business world. Yes, companies have used one-way SMS to confirm appointments or delivery times, or experimented with the medium for advertising. Yet they often don’t enable the recipient to respond in a way that closes the loop and completes an automated database transaction.
Do this and the business possibilities seem endless. Credit card transactions could be verified quickly, without requiring the customer to call a helpline and queue. Engineers could sign themselves offsite for health and safety purposes (and be prompted if they forget), or provide regular updates on the status of a job, automatically triggering the scheduling of new work.
While some of the above transactions could be completed using a BlackBerry and email or a special application, this requires a big investment, rendering the opportunity impractical for a majority. It also requires that the recipient is carrying the right device, and is tuned in to the right messaging medium when the interaction is initiated.
SMS can be better than BlackBerry and timelier than Twitter. Text messaging is supported by all mobile devices, used by the masses, and is simpler and quicker than mobile email or a specialist software application. It requires little additional investment or training.
As Twitter use increases, the possibilities of a targeted 160-character message are dawning on businesses. Add two-way SMS – coupling incoming text messages with an original outgoing message - to an existing business process and the content of the reply can be automatically fed directly back into the organisation’s database, so that the next step in the process can be taken.
Organisations may save thousands of pounds by reducing the burden on call centres and redeploying staff. For instance, if a hospital patient responds to their SMS reminder of their appointment, saying they cannot come, a new appointm ent can be automatically issued and confirmed.
SMS messaging also means that compliance requirements can be met by providing easy and complete traceability of the interaction, including sequence and time information.
The real potential of closed-loop text messaging will be seen when the big software vendors and their development and integration partners begin rolling out applications with the two-way SMS facility already built in. Microsoft has already announced it will exploit the technology with partners, alongside many other developers.
Applications already exist that let businesses embed an SMS option into Microsoft Outlook, so individual users can send and receive linked text messages from their PCs. This is done without costly, individual inbound numbers.
SMS can be useful in sales, customer service, distribution, accounting or administration.
With the ‘reply’ issue addressed, SMS promises a small but significant revolution in business and customer relationships – breaking down boundaries, enabling direct interaction and bringing greater speed and efficiency.
Peter Tanner is the founder of Boomerang