Across industries, SMS marketing is eventually outpacing several other mediums to become the most trusted customer communication channel worldwide. That’s why enterprises are increasingly relying on SMS firewall solutions to bolster their marketing abilities allowing them to bring in leads through messaging.
However, the dilemma for leaders lies in selecting the right SMS firewall system. Most leaders are unaware of the features they must evaluate before investing in an SMS firewall system.
To make it easier, this article looks at the top 5 features that a modern SMS firewall must guarantee to help enterprises succeed in their SMS-driven customer approaches.
Proactive Security
The number one feature that an SMS firewall must have today is proactive security analysis and threat mitigation in the SMS traffic an organization handles daily. From common spam texts to intelligent text phishing or fraudulent routing, the landscape of threats that today’s businesses face with their SMS ecosystem is enormous. For an SMS firewall system, they must ensure a safe and spam-free environment for both end-users as well as mobile operators.
In the past, the security of SMS firewall systems had to be managed manually, which necessitated the hiring of dedicated security engineers to cater to SMS traffic alone. Today, however, there are AI and ML-powered SMS firewall solutions, like the Armour SMS Firewall, that offer 360-degree network protection for SMS traffic to and from an organization. This helps prevent fraud and stop revenue leakage, ultimately contributing to rising profitability.
Global Connectivity
Modern SMS firewalls must not be restricted in usage support for local markets. Businesses with ambitious expansion plans internationally will find globally supported SMS firewall solutions to be a core asset in their market penetration efforts. SMS is a trusted communication medium for most consumers, offering brands an opportunity to expand into new markets through seamless SMS marketing campaigns.
An SMS firewall provides a critical digital environment and assets to ensure that the end-user gets the right message at the right time — thus, leading to better conversions.
Better A2P Monetization
It is estimated that the global market for A2P messaging will exceed USD 72.8 billion by 2025. Several new internet-driven businesses are increasingly leveraging A2P as an additional or even their primary revenue channel.
An SMS firewall must be able to offer uninterrupted support and adaptability to new business models that leverage the underlying A2P messaging service. From seamless integration with multiple systems involved in completing the revenue cycle to enabling efficient reporting, the areas of interest are immense.
Flexible Rules Engine
Consumers flock to new devices running different operating systems every now and then. It is impossible for businesses to smoothly manage their SMS marketing initiatives that are heavily dependent on end-user device characteristics.
An SMS firewall should work independently and offer flexibility in rule customization, new policy implementation, and device-agnostic SMS traffic management. Avoid delays in software or hardware updates on end-user devices to stay ahead of the competition. Moreover, the SMS firewall must support all standard rules and best practices that have been proven to be effective in SMS-driven marketing worldwide.
Ease of Use
Features offered by a modern SMS firewall become irrelevant if the user isn’t able to leverage it easily to drive campaigns. The usability of the SMS firewall system is a huge factor that should be evaluated before investing.
Since an SMS firewall forms a critical part of marketing, businesses should integrate the SMS firewall system into their strategies. Once done, they can deploy new configurations on the go from easy-to-use dashboards rather than manual and obsolete interfaces.
The Bottom Line
Protecting subscribers and telecom operators from fraud while enabling better revenue potential in existing channels are perhaps the two most important features from the list we have discussed today. Nevertheless, enterprises must strive towards investing in solutions that offer as many of these top five features as possible.
Alternatively, you can check out our Armour SMS Firewall, designed and developed for future-ready SMS-driven customer outreach experiences for businesses in any sector. Talk to us to learn more.