Built on trust, driven by delivery

Speed matters – but so does support. (Image: Cellfind)

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When you’re sending millions of SMSes a day, there’s no room for guesswork. In the high-volume world of mobile messaging, reliable delivery and responsive support are non-negotiables. And for one of South Africa’s top data-driven marketing companies, Cellfind is not simply a platform provider; it's the other half of a decade-long partnership. “We’re talking about a relationship that started more than 10 years ago,” says a senior sales executive.

Even though this partnership has grown technically, strategically and personally, it’s worth noting that back when the company first came on board, the SMS landscape was a different place. Delivery success wasn’t always guaranteed, feedback was limited and bulk messaging meant sending and hoping for the best. “You’d send an SMS and just trust it got there,” explains the company representative. “With Cellfind, that changed. Suddenly, we had dashboards, APIs and people we could actually speak to when something didn’t look right.” Early on, having that kind of access and responsiveness set the company apart from its competitors. Years later, it's still one of the key reasons this partnership works.

Today, the company operates at significant scale, delivering millions of SMSes each month across sectors like telecoms, financial services and retail, with a footprint reaching over 150 000 distribution points nationwide. And according to the executive, every single message counts. “If SMSes don’t deliver, that has a domino effect,” he explains. “You’ve got a call centre with 1 000 agents sitting idle because no leads are coming in. Clients are frustrated. Everyone is waiting. It’s a big deal.” To handle that kind of pressure, the company relies on infrastructure that can keep up. Through Cellfind, they operate off a dedicated server with a direct bind to mobile networks (meaning their messages don’t get caught in the queue). “We’re not sharing traffic with hundreds of other clients,” he adds. “We’ve got a dedicated pipeline, and we can push up to 100 SMSes per second. That speed matters.”

Speed matters – but so does support when things go sideways. And that’s exactly what Cellfind brings to the table. “What really sets them apart is their support,” explains the executive. “If something breaks, I don’t log a ticket and wait. I message the team, we escalate and it’s sorted.” That responsiveness isn’t limited to break-fix situations. When a client asks to receive automatic daily SMS reports, for example, Cellfind delivers the functionality within a week: “Anywhere else, that would’ve taken six weeks and gone through layers of dev. With Cellfind, it just gets done. No drama.” This is why the executive works closely with Cellfind’s support team and product specialists, often communicating via WhatsApp groups and shared Teams channels.

It’s not just infrastructure and support that matter – it’s the bottom-line impact. “We used to pay significantly more per SMS, but costs have dropped considerably,” he says. “That’s a massive saving when you’re sending tens of millions of messages.” But the real advantage lies in visibility. The team can track everything, from what was sent this morning to what landed yesterday, all in real-time. “We don’t need to ask for data. We’ve got it at our fingertips. It helps us manage campaigns, spot issues fast and keep our clients happy,” he explains.

From large resellers to niche agencies, clients have different needs. “Some don’t care about dashboards – they just want their OTPs to go out and get delivery receipts via API. Others want to schedule and track everything manually,” he says. “With Cellfind, we can do both.” Whether it’s high-volume marketing traffic or small shortcode competitions, Cellfind’s tools flex to fit the brief. Campaigns can be segmented, scheduled, tracked and optimised. And when a new request comes in, help is always at hand. “They’re close to the product. If something’s needed, they build it,” he says. “If it’s already there, they’ll show you how to use it. And if it’s not worth doing yet, they’ll tell you why.”

For the company, it all comes down to reliability – in both tech and team. “An SMS is still an SMS. You can dress it up, but it’s a message that needs to get from A to B,” he says. “What really matters is that it works, and that there are people behind it when you need help.” That’s why, after more than a decade, the partnership continues to thrive. Even in a fast-paced digital world, the basics still count: speed, stability and service. “We know that Cellfind has our back,” he concludes. “That’s what makes the partnership work – every single day.”