Reinventing the Art of Communication Through Enterprise Messaging Solution
The popularity of OTT platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat has led to fragmented Person to Person Messaging (P2P) and Application-to-Person (A2P), causing native messaging to be defunct. Despite this, SMS marketing continues to be a popular way of reaching out to customers.
Therefore, we must ask how this application can be more customer-friendly, customer experience-driven, and bring better business results than existing OTT applications. Before diving into the complexities of the current situation, let us know the basics of messaging.
There are two types of messaging. Firstly Person-to-Person (P2P) Messaging is used for personal reasons and between one set of sender and recipient. The second type is Application-to-Person (A2P). Messaging sends mobile messages from a business application for commercial or marketing purposes. On the other hand, Enterprise Messaging System (EMS) is a set of published enterprise-wide standards that allows organizations to send messages between computer systems with semantic precision.
The four kinds of mobile messaging are SMS & MMS Messaging, Push Notifications, In-App Messages, and Rich Communication Services (RCS).
Enterprise Messaging’s Undeniable Popularity in the 21st Century
To understand the enterprise messaging solutions demands, we need to accept that since the turn of the century, messaging has become increasingly important in business. Text messages have become a fundamental communication tool since the introduction of SMS (Short Message Service) in 1990. One study estimates global mobile business messaging traffic, including A2P and P2A across SMS, RCS will reach 1.64 trillion by the end of 2024. This is more than double the amount of traffic in 2019.
SMS made up 99.2% of all business messaging traffic in 2019; however, this number is forecast to fall to 59.3% by 2024. The pandemic has contributed significantly to the increase in messaging over the past couple of years. With remote working and online transactions, remote employees must communicate and collaborate in real-time, have closer relationships with customers, and have heightened security for their transactions.
Due to these dynamic changes, companies are increasingly using cloud computing to increase employee productivity and customer communication. In the consumer sector, messaging has also skyrocketed. The modern consumer expects fast responses to their queries, and many people use their mobile devices to shop, contact customer service, and pay their bills. Consumers spend more time texting or are spending more time texting with businesses, according to more than 60 percent of consumers.
Today, nearly 60 percent of consumers prefer messaging customer service and making reservations via SMS. As a result, SMS messages have emerged as one of the most effective communication methods between colleagues, companies, and customers. Companies and customers benefit from one-way or two-way messaging—messages can be sent and read quickly, even without a data connection, on any device, and feedback is near-instant.
Increasingly, businesses are becoming more prominent, and the markets are becoming more complex. As communication possibilities grow, geographical borders are becoming increasingly blurred. Consequently, enterprises need instant messaging to thrive in such a situation as it offers better connections, customer service, troubleshooting, and productivity. A consumer messaging app can help us understand enterprise messaging since it primarily connects users and allows them to share files and information.
Although most employees are already accustomed to popular messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, etc. they cannot use these apps to their capacity in a typical business model for several reasons.
A messaging app for an enterprise has many of the same features as other apps but with a few key differences because it involves sharing sensitive company information. Employees must have the right tools at the right time to maintain a consistent business tone.
The Rise of Enterprise Messaging
- It enhances customer experience due to the agility, flexibility, and adaptability of the technology
- It is boosting the A2P monetization opportunity to generate additional revenues at a lesser cost.
- A secure messaging solution delivers sensitive information and files under the highest security.
- Smart analytics & reporting get detailed reports on delivery with advanced graphical views of the executed campaigns and understand the factors affecting the campaigns’ efficiency.
- Enabling a controlled environment with controlled access to view reports and message details and manage marketing campaigns for uninterrupted growth.
How can Enterprise Messaging Solutions Change the Face of Businesses?
The factors making Enterprise Messaging a great decision are
- Enhanced problem-solving ability: In business, the quick ability to solve problems is an essential talent. The fast-paced world demands staying connected, and gathering regular updates is key to keeping the company running smoothly. Sharing information and getting feedback at lightning speed is one factor that makes Enterprise Messaging a treat.
- Digitization: Digitization focuses on becoming more interoperable, meaning they can easily exchange information with other businesses. Finally, businesses should also strive for transparency, allowing customers and other stakeholders to see exactly how the company operates. Enterprise messaging solutions offers delivery of real-time notifications and information sharing between clients, employees, and teams, thus optimizing the workflow process.
- Adaptability, Flexibility, and Mobility: Adaptability, Flexibility, and mobility are three critical features of enterprise instant messaging systems. Access to an instant messaging system from any approved device ensures an uninterrupted productive outcome.
- Cyber Security: The digital age is home to a new host of security concerns for businesses. But luckily, there are also new tools to help combat these threats. Enterprising messaging help protect your confidential business information with strong encryption and granular control over who can see message content and what can be shared.
Leveraging the Continuity of Enterprise Messaging on an Incline
Messaging provides more agility, flexibility, and accessibility for employee productivity and customer communication. SMS is used for business communication as a weapon of choice because of its effectiveness for colleagues and between companies and customers.
The benefits are clear messages can be delivered and read quickly on any device without a data connection, and feedback is instant in both directions. Three ways how to leverage the technology for the business benefit include
- A2P messaging solution can be a powerful tool for MNOs collaborating with other technologies to create a comprehensive consumer service strategy. By utilizing tools such as Wi-Fi, GPS, apps, QR codes, and social networks, MNOs can offer their consumers a wealth of options and possibilities.
- It can Monetize USSD Solutions because even though many people have smartphones now, many still use feature phones (see figure 1). USSD must remain relevant if telcos want to keep their operational costs low. Traditional calls and SMS have been money-makers for years, and telecom operators have always used USSD as a self-service tool for customers. However, USSD has even more potential in emerging economies where feature phones are still ordinary, enabling banking and payment services.
- It can encourage Enterprise partnerships as telecoms and specialized messaging providers to have the opportunity to shape and market for large enterprises. It has already been implemented, but large-scale implementation is necessary for future years to plug the gap in the enterprise communication domain.
- With advanced security features, as devices become increasingly interconnected, the potential for malware attacks and other exploits also increases. In the future, enterprise messaging solutions will focus more on reliably recognizing and securely communicating with devices that are one step ahead of current threats rather than just trying to keep up with them. At the same time, the industry will look into the requirement for more comprehensive encryption and authentication technologies.
Conclusion
Messages can increase revenue, customer loyalty, employee communications, and efficiency in an enterprise environment. For that reason, mobile network operators need to develop value-added, reliable mobile messaging solutions for their customers. Developing rapid, cost-effective global messaging strategies requires telecom operators to leverage enterprise messaging systems to further innovate their mobile messaging offerings.
Neha Mashruwala
Neha is a marketing strategist who manages the entire digital marketing gamut and mentors the team. She's adept in marketing planning and execution and uses her thought leadership for strategic utilization and deployment of available resources to achieve organizational objectives. Neha is a nomadic traveler who loves exploring new places and meeting new people while travelling and enjoys reading travel articles. Connect with her on LinkedIn