Mobile communication tools, like SMSes, represent an immediate, personal and cost-effective mechanism for enterprises to reach customers, allowing large organisations to send anything from account updates to discount vouchers at the click of a button.
So says Stefano Sessa, CEO of Panacea Mobile, who adds that an increasing number of enterprises are turning to this medium as a means of communicating with their customer bases.
According to Windsor Holden, research director at Juniper Research, mobile increasingly represents an imperative element of a company's business strategy, particularly in the case of retailers looking to build customer relationships and drive sales.
"We certainly expect the retail industry to focus on the development of in-store mobile strategies over the coming months," explains Holden.
"Increasingly, retailers are perceiving the mobile not merely as a means of driving footfall to their physical outlets, but as a mechanism with which to marry - and maximise sales through - their digital and physical assets."
While this might seem like a simple solution for enterprises, large-scale mobile messaging campaigns can prove complex, and if not managed correctly, can hinder a company's communication efforts.
With customers becoming more sceptical regarding mobile communications, companies looking to launch mobile campaigns in 2013 should be mindful of a number of issues, says Sessa.
System security
For large institutions, particularly those dealing with sensitive financial information, security is of paramount importance, according to Sessa.
With mobile campaigns often spanning a number of departments, stringent user controls need to be implemented so as to protect customer information, he says.
"What we've seen, particularly with larger corporations, is that they have a number of different departments, all of which have their own set of business objectives, and are trying to utilise mobile solutions to achieve them," explains Sessa.
Sessa adds that appropriate measures, like strong access control systems, must be put in place to ensure various parties are only authorised to access information that falls directly under their departmental jurisdiction.
This should be done "to limit which staff members can access certain parts of the messaging solution. Most members of staff don't need to read the sensitive content of messages, but often do need to check whether they were delivered or if there were errors."
Managing capacity
When delivering mobile communications to customers, time can be of the essence. Finite message throughput capacity at a network level means message loads need to be handled intelligently, with priority allocated to SMSes of a more time-sensitive nature, says Sessa.
"Effective load-balancing infrastructure can allow traffic to be evenly spread, which comes in handy particularly during peak messaging periods, which usually occur around month-end."
Flexibility
A company's ability to execute a successful messaging campaign hinges on the flexibility of mobile services available from its chosen messaging system, says Sessa.
Given the complexities involved in managing mobile campaigns, Sessa believes corporates would be best advised to seek out expert, outsourced solutions, rather than attempting to manage their affairs in-house.
"Specialist SMS providers are better placed to deliver high-impact mobile communication services, with existing systems able to take into consideration a number of key elements essential to their success," explains Sessa.
"Enterprises looking to develop effective communications campaigns, while at the same time bolstering their bottom lines, can most effectively do so by taking advantage of these systems, which can communicate with core business applications, and greatly reduce their total cost-per-message."
Sessa believes that messaging has shifted "from a simple 'send and forget' basis to a more interactive and measured communication tool".
Furthermore, a mobile campaign enables an enterprise to interact with and address the needs of its customers while increasing its capacity to clean up its business data.
"Mobile also offers enterprises the tools to better understand their customers. Using newer forms of messaging, this data can be enriched to include factors like geospacial awareness, handset type, mobile number validity, and whether a customer has ported or not," he concludes.
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