A2P SMS AND MOBILE ENGAGEMENT

Every good story has a beginning. A good beginning.

We open this course looking at the Telecommunications environment in which a great spark of an idea was born and how SMS came to fruition. It is easy to make assumptions about SMS but here we remove any ambiguity and give you a clear insight into a Mobile Engagement channel which has demonstrated clear longevity time and again.

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Take any ubiquitous Mobile Engagement channel in isolation and nothing drives conversion ratios and content to the hands of subscribers as well as A2P SMS.

Here we look at exactly what A2P SMS is, its characteristics that differentiate it from Person-to-Person (P2P) SMS and what is going on in the A2P SMS market globally. What is driving its rise? Who is turning to it for their content delivery? Isn’t all A2P SMS the same? We look at all this and more…

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A2P SMS may be the channel anybody with a SIM enabled mobile device can be contacted with in almost every country on planet Earth, but there are so many other Mobile Engagement channels out there which are driving traction with varying degrees of success.

We will have a quick helicopter overview of exactly which they are and the key factors determining what is driving them in their different ways.

Do you know P2P SMS? Do you think therefore you know how the A2P SMS market is structured because it is very similar? Wrong. Very wrong. Things are definitely not perhaps structured in a way logic would determine.

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A2P SMS is typically viewed as something with a 1-way dynamic, but things have really changed in recent years. 2-way A2P SMS is becoming increasingly common but setting it up is not easy. Again, comparing it with P2P SMS and assuming it works the same would be a mistake.

More and more purchases of goods and services are moving online, but with this seemingly inexorable rise come increasing incidences of fraud. Data protection is also coming to the fore and it is not just across the European Union (EU), where data protection regulations are being implemented, with some infringements resulting in seemingly draconian commercial punishment. This is where 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) comes in.

2FA is no longer just a ‘nice to have’ and something companies and organisations implement as a product differentiator; rather it has become a ‘must have’. At the forefront of 2FA is the humble SMS but other channels are being used as well.

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These days there is an App for almost everything. Most of us will have heard someone respond to a question with ‘There’s an App for that’. The number of Apps worldwide is simply exploding. The fact is though that most of us use barely a handful of them each day so Apps have their work cut out to become and remain relevant, adding real value.  Push Messages relate to Apps.

Chat Apps are also known as Over-the-Top (OTT) Messaging and have been the leading contributory factor to the decrease of Person-to-Person (P2P) SMS volumes globally, as well as having a huge impact on the ‘traditional’ Voice world. Usage of Chat Apps is now creeping into B2C communications.

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Go to a Mobile Engagement conference almost anywhere around the world today and you will be hard-pressed NOT to hear mention of RCS. James looks here at its origins, the state of this channel today and development globally. RCS is commonly known as ‘SMS 2.0’ but to call it this is doing it a disservice!

Even though the concept of RCS has been around for a long time, Rich Communications as such is nothing new. Video has been around for basically decades and still has an important role to play in driving engagement but what is really starting to come to the fore now is AI/Chatbots. Little more than a couple of years ago, Chatbots were clunky but now they have become slick and fulfil many use cases. This module takes you through all of this.

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For too long, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) have failed to realise the opportunity that stands before them right now. Something that can earn them a growing revenue stream made up of almost pure margin. We are talking here about A2P SMS.

The monetisation of all inbound A2P SMS into MNOs globally should be by now little more than a tick box exercise, something all do as a matter of course. Unfortunately, this is not the case and many are still to understand the amazing traction A2P SMS can bring with it. And all for a zero CAPEX outlay given the possibility of revenue share deals with partners. James takes you through what to look out for when deciding upon a strategy to implement and how to go about choosing the best partner(s) for the job.

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As you will have learnt up until this point, Mobile Engagement is about more than just SMS. That said, SMS remains a key pillar of it and will do so for the coming few years given its ubiquity. It just works.

Organisations of any size can benefit from switching on to a pro-active approach where Mobile Engagement is concerned. The real increase in transaction volumes is being driven by Enterprises.

Margins in Wholesale are decreasing and tend to be in a state of flux; thus, an increasing number of companies are looking for more stable revenue and margin streams and Enterprise Messaging can fit this bill. Enterprises have very high expectations when it comes to support levels though and with increasing privacy regulation and the such globally, it is important to understand all the key factors to take into consideration when considering a move into this area.

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