Month: March 2021

Business messaging is core to any organization’s communication suite as it allows them to interact with customers instantly. Although SMS has long been a popular option that allows businesses to instantly reach out to customers, for sustained business growth, engaging customers via voice and A2P messaging has become extremely important. With a read rate of 97% within 15 minutes of being delivered, A2P messaging has become one of the most preferred mediums for business communication.

It not only allows businesses to deliver order information, marketing campaigns, or other customer services quickly and effectively; it also allows for automation of text messaging for appointment reminders, two-factor authentication, bank alerts, one-time passwords, and more. And it does all that while supporting multi-channel conversations and personalization of marketing outreach campaigns.

A peek into the voice and A2P messaging business

The constant evolution of the business to customer messaging ecosystem and the need for automation has spurred significant innovation in the voice and A2P messaging sectors. The global A2P messaging market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.2% from $62.1 billion in 2020 to $72.8 billion by 2025, exhibiting profitable growth in the next five years.

If we talk about Africa, the pandemic led to millions of citizens relying on mobile services for day-to-day living: right from audio and video conferencing to meal delivery, mobile payments, e-commerce transactions, and more. As more and more money and efforts are put towards modernizing telecom networks, establishing broadband connections, and improving cloud penetration, several world-class telecom providers are now engaging with voice and A2P messaging to optimize their communication with customers while assuring speed and accuracy of message delivery with direct routing.

The unmatched benefits of A2P messaging for businesses

As traditional SMS remains the default mobile-specific service that companies use to communicate with customers, A2P messaging has been gaining immense popularity. As customers have more choice than ever to engage with the business of their choice, A2P messaging allows businesses to:

• Keep up with the increasingly digital outlook of modern customers
• Automate the customer communication process and achieve faster turnaround
• Reach out to customers for a variety of purposes including authorization, authentication, product updates as well as order notifications, reminders, coupons, vouchers, and loyalty programs
• Provide unmatched marketing information as well as 24×7 customer service
• Meet consumer expectations around enterprise responsiveness
• Ensure fast delivery of critical messages via low latency and high throughput rates
• Achieve high levels of customer engagement in a time- and cost-effective manner
• Personalize communication and deliver tailored customer experiences

Factors that will define the A2P market in the coming years

With so many benefits, companies in Africa are increasing their adoption of A2P messaging to reach out to their target audience and engage with them in a reliable, fast, and secure way. Here’s looking at how the A2P messaging market will move in the African subcontinent and the changes that are expected in the coming years:

1. The segment will continue to balloon: The coming 5 years will see an increase in A2P messaging traffic, driven by the need to offer critical and timely information to customers including banking and transaction-related details, product and service-related information, alerts, and reminders, and more. Although a lot of businesses are already relying on A2P messaging, the ability of organizations to promote and market their products and services to attract and engage with new customers will see these adoption numbers increase.
2. SPAM checks will be common: The constant inflow of business messages also brings it with the challenge of SPAM. To keep this under control, organizations would need to have a common set of procedures that will allow them to manage unwanted, unexpected junk messages. Since scammers are increasingly sending fake messages to trick customers into sending personal information, businesses would need to invest in the right tools to curb the growing instances of phishing, malware, hacking, and fraud.
3. Identifying unauthorized gray routes will become critical: Businesses will also have to be adept at identifying unauthorized gray routes that are increasingly being used to deliver international A2P traffic into mobile networks. Although the routes themselves might be legal, the parties using them or the traffic on these routes might not be authorized. To control loss of revenue through these unauthorized gray routes, organizations will have to rely on technologies like SS7 and IP filtering to analyze the authenticity of messages in real-time and take appropriate action, if required.
4. Cloud and on-premise deployments will witness equal traction: Although cloud-based models will gain immense popularity in the coming years, on-premise deployments will continue to record high growth too. This will be done by organizations who want to install the platform on their own – without depending on the service provided by a cloud provider – and enjoy additional control and flexibility with their deployments.
5. New technology initiatives will continue to penetrate the industry: New technology initiatives like 5G will radically change how businesses communicate and engage with customers. From improved voice quality to faster communication speed, reduced drop rates to better SPAM management – 5G will allow organizations users to rely on faster and more secure connections. At the same time, technologies like AI and ML will allow for enhanced personalization of communications, enabling businesses to rely on smart bots and assistants to help with scheduling messages and sending reminders and pave the way for intelligent routing options.

As the need to connect with customers increases, voice and A2P adoption is growing across the world. If you are looking to set up A2P messaging for your business, we can help! Using our SMS Gateway & SMSC that has been deployed in the US, we can provide the required APIs for A2P transactional or bulk SMS campaigns. We have a very strong focus on Africa, with prestigious exclusive contracts with some of the fastest-growing nations in the region. What’s more, our direct interconnection with more than 100+ carriers and leading operators enables us to rely on high-quality routes based on various requirements of the market, so you can deliver seamless experiences to your customers anytime, anywhere.

Recently, the caller identifying app Truecaller released detailed statistics about spam on the telecom networks. It revealed that Indians received a whopping 8.5 billion spam messages in 2019 alone. To thwart the attempts of spamming the users, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued a strict regulation that bars companies from sending unsolicited commercial bulk SMS to users. They have asked companies to register their sender IDs and SMS templates in centralized DLT portals to improve end-user experience and eliminate spam and fraudulent messages.

The decision is a stark reminder that companies must be careful about the Application to Person (A2P) SMS they send. They can no longer send bulk messages or overtly promotional content to their customers. While this might spell bad news for companies that unreasonably rely on A2P messages, the good news is that it is not the end of A2P SMS. A2P SMS has come a long way. The new features such as Rich Communication Services (RCS) and personalization can enable companies to balance between complying with regulatory guidelines and continuing the communication with their customers. In fact, the smarter and evolved SMS can be a powerful tool for companies if used in the right way.

Let’s look at how A2P SMS has evolved and is benefitting companies.

How Has SMS Become Smarter And More Effective?

Better communication

Whether it’s an upcoming appointment with the doctor, an OTP for a transaction, delivery status of the product ordered product, or a reminder to pay the bills, companies rely on their ability to send SMS’ to communicate with their customers. This holds across all types of transactions. For instance, studies reveal that 90% of leads prefer to be messaged rather than called. SMS formats have also evolved and become more engaging. Unlike the earlier formats of SMS, the current ones give companies the option to send rich text. Companies have been using RCS to send images, videos, website links, QR codes, etc. RCS will help in improving engagement. The other advantage is that SMS’ are generally kept shorter. So, customers can assimilate the message faster and more effectively.  Keeping the message short, simple, and clear will help companies gain more engagement and eventually lead to better conversions.

Better and quicker reach

Although smartphones are popular, everyone does not own them yet. Also, internet connectivity is still weak in remote areas. So, push notifications, and OTT messaging apps might not deliver messages to those customers on time. SMS is also more likely to be opened than an email. For instance, research shows that an SMS has an open rate of 99% compared to an email that has just 36%. In fact, 97% of the receivers read the message within 15 minutes of receiving it. This proves that SMS is more effective, and has better reach than other messaging modes. Companies must consider using SMS to ensure that their customers receive their messages immediately. It is also convenient for customers. For example, a customer can immediately access the generated OTP sent via SMS and use it to complete a transaction. They don’t have to worry about low internet connectivity, or delays in delivery, and “timed-out” transactions as they wait to receive the message.

Personalized communication

One thing that customers detest is the lack of personalization in messages. They hate being the target of spammy, generic, bulk messages and they especially hate being sent messages repeatedly. They want the messages to be short, relevant, and personalized. The new form of A2P messaging allows companies to add personalization to their SMS. For example, an airline company can send personalized SMS to the customer reminding them of an upcoming trip. They can also send links to hotels close to the destination they are visiting, or send special promotional codes that they can use to avail discounts or special benefits. By creating segmented marketing campaigns and personalizing the messages according to intelligent segmentation, companies can improve their engagement and reach with the customer. It will also save them from being tagged as spammers by the TRAI.

Cost-effectiveness

SMS is more cost-effective than emails or any other forms of communication. The cost per SMS send is low, and given the high response and engagement rates, we can safely say that A2P SMS can improve the ROI in marketing. It is one of the best channels for doing direct sales marketing. Companies can also avoid other logistical issues such as email delivery failure or missing postal, etc., due to A2P messaging.

Conclusion

One cannot deny that SMS is still a strong communication tool for companies despite the growth of instant messaging platforms and push notifications. The A2P SMS market is expected to reach a value of $101 billion by 2030. Clearly, A2P SMS is still crucial to the future of messaging for customer engagement. However, companies need to ensure that their messaging strategy complies with TRAI’s regulatory guidelines and follows privacy and customer norms. On the operational front, they must also avail of solutions that allow them to send messages at a cost-effective rate to avoid burning through mountains of cash.

At Globe Teleservices, we help companies send personalized and rich messages to multiple customers in a single instant. Companies can avail benefits such as:

• API connect to send transactional or promotional messages
• Leverage our direct interconnection with more than 100+ carriers and leading operators for direct SMS termination in more than 35+ countries
• Leverage high-quality routes along with direct routes to meet the various market requirements
• Send push notifications to social media platforms
• Send engaging messages such as geo-targeted text, photo and video notifications to customers

To know more about sending A2P SMS securely and cost-effectively, contact us.

For a long time, “interconnects” have been a dominant consideration for those in the telecom business. Interconnects allow telecom and mobile network operators worldwide to bring together and share networks so their customers could continue their communication without worrying about the network boundaries. Interconnects are relevant for fixed, mobile, and internet services.

While sharing networks in this manner, telecom operators follow different ways of billing. Some of the common ones included:

• Revenue sharing
• Price sharing
• Fixed and variable charges

Many more approaches exist, driven by specific needs and prevalent conditions!

A typical interconnect billing process involves raising an interconnect invoice where the incoming interconnect call detail records (CDRs) are sent to the interconnect partner. The billing is settled between the network operators involved in carrying calls and is finally reconciled by exchanging the CDRs with each other. This is big business too as telecom operators were able to generate 50% of revenue from such arrangement.

This arrangement has largely been working well for a while now. However, the landscape has now started changing with new players entering the space due to low barriers and low-profit margins. Additionally, the industry is undergoing a major transformation with many carriers moving to next-generation IP networks for reduced technology costs and the ability to introduce new products frequently.

The technology transformation and increasing competition have brought in several complexities that interconnect billing solutions must solve.

Challenges That Interconnect Billing Solutions Must Solve

Let’s look at some of the common challenges that telecom operators and partners face and what they can do to fix them.

1. Competitive pricing

Typically, operators sign an interconnection agreement that discusses the settlement fees, schemes, and schedules of payment based on call source, destination, duration, etc. The operators would abide by the agreement and be able to earn fairly predictable revenues. However, new entrants have threatened this system by offering cheaper routes and re-negotiating offers and rates frequently.

Solution: The operators and their partners can use a good interconnect billing solution to re-rate their revenues accurately and achieve settlement on time.

2. Billing inaccuracy

Revenue leakage is one of the primary concerns of telecom operators. Inaccurate rating calculations and errors in classifying traffic are major reasons due to which operators face a tough time during the settlement process. It leads to unnecessary disputes, issues and delays in revenue realization, and cash flow problems.

Solution: By using a good interconnect billing solution, the operators and their partners can prevent revenue leakage and ensure that billing is accurate. The solution should be able to ensure there are no disputes in settling. This encourages the partners to pay on time.

3. Mismanaged costs

Another problem that operators face is to do with overcharged invoices. Very frequently the partner bills carry overcharged pricing. Sometimes their invoices have low-level errors that go unnoticed. However, when there are many invoices and when these invoices carry hundreds of lines, it’s almost impossible to check each of them for accuracy. This leads to the operators unduly paying large sums to the partner.

Solution: Operators and their partners must use an end-to-end fully automated interconnect billing solution to spot errors in invoices immediately and fix them to manage costs efficiently. They can also create customizable invoices for every provider based on the agreement.

4. Operational inefficiency

Interconnects are multi-functional as they cover aspects of product management, commercial negotiations, streamlining processes, and billing and finance. The operations can be inefficient if all these functions operate in silos.

Solution: The only way to solve this problem is by automating the entire interconnect billing system. This will encourage the different functions to collaborate and provide them the platform to do so. This will help update rates, reconcile efficiently, and improve operational efficiency. It will also enable the operators to create customized reports to analyze revenue and monitor traffic.

Additionally, while considering the “must-have” features an interconnect billing solution must offer, operators should look at:

• Flexibility to include new products and offerings into the system for future billing
• Access to rich information that can be leveraged to make data-driven decisions about all aspects of interconnects and improve profitability
• Ability to monitor agreements in real-time and alert the operator immediately in case of violation. This will ensure that the relationship between the operator and the partner is not threatened in any way
• Ability to quickly verify invoices and reconcile them. It should also have a system to fix any discrepancies in the invoice to prevent any future discrepancies
• Ability to track margins and provide accurate information about the true value of an agreement by calculating the revenue or cost of traffic with and without considering the agreement rates

Conclusion

The complex nature of billing, shrinking margins, and cutthroat competition have made it necessary for operators to spend more time updating their billing systems and less time on innovation. To reduce unnecessary complexity, streamline their processes, and free up their bandwidth operators may want to consider outsourcing the interconnect billing process to a credible managing services provider.

So, while the managed services provider manages the billing process, the operators can focus on addressing challenges such as building stronger relationships with their interconnect partners and earning better revenue and margins by fixing the best rates and best routes.

At Globe Teleservices, we offer managed services to help telecom companies operate all aspects of their telecom business smoothly. From billing to accounting to fraud control, we manage all of it with an SLA commitment of 99.999%. Our deep experience in the telecom industry helps us understand our clients’ needs and implement different solutions across geographies and cultures. That’s essential to understand the interconnect solution.