Occasionally I am asked the question “Do you know of any enterprise SMS tex messaging services?” Or, “Should I build my own SMS text messaging system? ”Well, the short answers are “yes” and “no”. There are many SMS text-messaging services available. Some are small web-based SMS resellers, others are telecom carrier solutions, and finally there are enterprise-oriented solutions.
Questions
When looking for enterprise SMS text messaging service providers you should ask the following questions:
- Enterprise clients – Can the company demonstrate that they have large corporate clients? Better yet, do they have first responder clients such as police, fire, and ambulance clients? If so, they are likely to be able to provide scalable and reliable service.
- Service level agreements – Does the company provide service level agreements? Will they provide you a written refund guarantee in the event of missed delivery?
- Audit trail reporting – Will the company provide delivery-tracking reports for every message sent and received?
- Customer support – Does the company provide 24 hour, seven day per week, 365 day per year telephone support?
Features
There are several important features that many enterprises should consider:
- Application programming interface (API) – An API will allow you to integrate the text messaging system with enterprise applications or even with your own custom application.
- Eco-system of partners – An ecosystem of partners can provide you with access to off-the-shelf applications that work with the text messaging API, as well as development partners that can assist you with custom API development.
- Marketing campaign management – If you plan to use the text messaging system for marketing campaigns than you want to be sure that the service provide can offer features such as short code support, keyword management, opt in and opt out support, and detailed campaign reporting, etc.
Enterprise service providers
The list below provides a partial list of enterprise oriented SMS text messaging service providers. Readers should use this list as a starting point for their research to find the service provider that best meets their needs.
• mBlox – www.mblox.com
• MessageMedia – www.message-media.com
• Sybase 365 – http://www.sybase.com/365
• Air2Web – www.air2web.com
• Clickatell – www.clickatell.com
• Text Messaging Center – www.tmcsms.com
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