Just SMS me

This move towards using SMS technology as a business communications vehicle is simply an innovative form of Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

However, while the cost per message is inexpensive and represents a massive reduction in communications costs, SMS solutions are complex, requiring users to undergo training and the organisation to undergo major IT changes to incorporate this new functionality.

The new CellSys SMS solution from SMS Cellular Services offers a non-invasive approach to an organisation's back-end systems, allowing for easy integration with existing infrastructure and the desktop user's environment.

Rob Airey, managing director of SMS Cellular Services, says: "An enterprise scalable SMS solution should allow employees to send SMS messages directly from their workstation.

"There are many areas of cost saving when using SMS in place of conventional contact mechanisms like phone calls, letters and faxes. It's not just the cost of the physical communication that is more expensive. Conventional methods are more time consuming, a factor which translates into higher staff costs.

"Another drawback is that many communication methods aren't targeted and personal. With SMS technology the communication is targeted at a specific person and is delivered to them directly."

Airey says the high-volume SMS messaging system allows retailers to automatically notify account holders of the due date for instalments and specify the amounts due. Service industries such as insurance or medical aid companies can notify policy holders if monthly payments have not been received and if their coverage is therefore at risk.

But inbound SMS is the biggest growth area for automated CRM systems: "Customers or account holders are able to send text requests for information to a call centre SMS service and get a response directly to their cell phones.

"Personal attention can still be paid to customers while staff costs are kept to a minimum, since generic requests can be fielded by an automated process, while those requiring human intervention can be routed accordingly."