Johannesburg-based online entertainment Web site, JHBLive, has cut the delay in its SMS messaging send time from in excess of two hours to zero after switching to specialist SMS solution provider Mobile Internet Gateway (MIG), says Michael Balkind, director at JHBLive.
"With our previous SMS bulk sender, the delays between composition and sending SMS messages were sometimes hours late, which in the young market sector that we cater for, is far too long," says Balkind. JHBLive uses bulk SMS messaging to deliver event notifications for social events around Gauteng, including all the Big Brother eviction parties.
"In addition to being very reliable, the MIG software is extremely user-friendly, and also allows two-way message traffic," Balkind says. This enables patrons to respond instantly to event notifications with their names and surnames, and thereby either reserve places at an event, or qualify for discounts and special offers. JHBLive generates its database from a form on its Web site, JHBlive.com.
The MIG software is loaded onto the JHB Live server, and from there integrates with the databases, which can be in virtually any format, says Derek Fingleson, managing director at MIG.
"Once the SMS has been prepared, and using MIG`s locally developed software package, integrated with the necessary field changes which ensure that each SMS message is individually personalised according to recipient, it is encrypted and transmitted via the Internet to MIG`s gateway," Fingleson says.
Once at MIG, the data packet is unencrypted and then distributed via secure dedicated lines to the three cellular service providers for instant transmission. The return message path from the cellphone users is identical except in reverse.
"This ensures that JHB Live`s database always remains in their possession, and is never transmitted to outside parties," says Fingleson. There is also no extra equipment or hardware necessary to generate the bulk SMS messages - all that is required is a computer and an Internet connection.
The software package is totally locally owned and developed, and is thus available at an extremely competitive pricing structure. "MIG is able to offer the service at this cost-effective rate because we have no foreign licensing fees to pay," explains Fingleson. In addition, the locally developed nature of the software means that there are always support engineers on hand, and that any future updates or additions will be fully integrated with the original package.
Share
Editorial contacts