Orion Telecom, a specialist in developing advanced corporate SMS (short message service) solutions, has created a cost-effective means of sending bulk SMSs to a wide spectrum of audiences covering such applications as marketing, debt collection, notifications and inbound messaging.
Marketing manager Charles Roberts explains that SMS is a remarkably simple technology that delivers short messages to and from mobile devices. "Business in general is starting to recognise the enormous advantages of utilising the SMS feature of cellular phones."
In a marketing environment, SMS technology can be used to advise customers of specials, promotions, loyalty programmes and can also play a key role in events management. SMS can serve as a self-standing invitation or can be used to support traditional printed invitations as reminders to attend functions, to participate in events and take advantage of sales campaigns.
Events communication is a very challenging aspect of running any event - from a simple breakfast at a hotel to a mega-staged happening in a stadium. SMS allows the organisers to stay in touch with all participants or invitees at all times - quickly, effectively and inexpensively.
Debt collection is proving to be a highly beneficial application for SMS and is being deployed as a primary collection technique by more and more agencies. SMS is an excellent tool for credit management, of which debt collection is but one aspect. Lending and collection agencies maintain databases of borrowers and as the loans mature, the object is to commence with an SMS programme subtly reminding borrowers of their commitments.
A further SMS application gaining popularity is automatic reminders for meetings, tasks, urgent e-mails received, reminders to call people and similar notifications. Many organisations need to notify their clients and/or suppliers of important dates. Educational institutions need to notify students of timetable changes, exam dates and project times.
Commercial services such as insurance companies use SMS to keep in contact with clients and brokers. There is a growing need for insurance companies to communicate constantly with a vast network of brokers and marketers, keeping them informed of the status of policies, claims, renewals and marketing updates. They also have large client bases with which to keep in touch while keeping costs at an acceptable level.
Orion`s Uniserver SMS Bureau service is ideal for the majority of these applications, as customers do not require any infrastructure to accomplish the task. All they need to do is create the lists and send them to Orion`s Bureau for transmission. Access to the bureau is via the Orion Customer Zone on the Web site (www.oriontele.com) which is a simple step-by-step process.
Each broadcast is given a validity period (typically 12 hours) so that at the end of this time period, no more messages will be delivered. This enables Uniserver SMS Bureau to close off the broadcast and compile the end of broadcast report, which is then e-mailed back to the client. These reports provide details of SMSs delivered, failed or expired - as well as any replies received. The report can then be re-imported back into the original database so that the statuses and replies can be added to the client`s file for future CRM use.
An upgrade to Orion`s Uniserver SMS solution was recently announced with a range of new features including Web services, a costing module for costing by department or customer and security encryption built in.
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