Improving internal communications through SMS

Merry Christmas.
That’s what software programmer Neil Papworth texted in the world’s first SMS on December 3rd, 1992.

Since then, texting has exploded around the world with over 8 trillion text messages being sent every year…that’s 15 million texts every single minute. If you were born between the 1980s and early 2000s – a member of Generation Y – then chances are you regard talking via text as meaningful as a phone conversation.
But with text messaging being such an integral part of our personal lives, it’s easy to forget that the Short Message Service (SMS) was created to solve a painful and costly business problem that still persists at many businesses today: internal communication within a business.
When Neil Papworth sent the world’s first SMS, he was working to solve the problem of how to develop an internal paging system for employees at Vodafone. Ironically what started as a simple solution to a business’ internal communication problems ended up evolving into a tool used by billions of people around the world.

Text your way to $2.45 trillion
The worldwide purchasing power of the millennial generation (Generation Y) – everyone born between 1980 and the early 2000s – is estimated at being worth $2.45 trillion, according to a survey by Oracle Financial Services. If you have any Generation Y employees…a generation that has been sending 50 to 350 texts per week since high school…then the ability to tap into their natural way of communicating will enable you to connect with them, and mobilize them to target the lucrative market of Generation Y prospects and customers.

It’s faster to send it by text
With all the emails that your employees have to wade through, important notices can often get lost in the clutter of the Inbox. But using a customised SMS service ensures that your staff can receive important notifications immediately. The can even receive them when they’re ‘on-the-go’ or out of the office. Studies have shown that 90% of text messages are opened within 3 minutes. Comparing that with the hit-and-miss read-and-response rates of email, and it really is faster to send your message via text.

Notifications to off-site customer facing staff
SMS messages are a great way to send alerts to off-site customers who are in the middle of serving a customer. For example, an engineer may be busy in a customer’s home or office premises, and unable to answer a phone call from the office without appearing unprofessional. However, a text message allows them to read the information at an appropriate time, without affecting their interaction with the customer.

Outpace your competitors with a smart SMS strategy
Many businesses aren’t utilising the vast business potential of a smart SMS strategy. They are missing out on its simple ability to tighten internal communication and unleash the power of a well-coordinated, highly communicative team. And with the growing number of online innovations in the SMS uses for business category, your competitors are shutting the door on an extremely useful asset.
Their neglect is your opportunity. Gain market share and outperform your competitors this year by launching a smart SMS strategy that has been customised for your business.
This is one decision that will give you results worth texting about.