TelePassport's texSMS Outlook SMS service has signed up over 5 000 customers in its first year of operation, reports Andrew Pitout, texSMS product manager at TelePassport.
texSMS caters specifically for the corporate Outlook SMS market, and launched officially in October 2005 following an intensive beta period after TelePassport bought and refined the product. In 2004 TelePassport identified corporate Outlook SMS as a communications product that perfectly complements least-cost routing technology, but at this time the market segment was not being properly served by currently available offerings.
Pitout elaborates, "None of the other products we surveyed were up to scratch in terms of security, scalability and control. Corporates demand all three of these before they will even consider taking on an IT-based product with potential financial and security risks. texSMS meets all these requirements and more - in fact it is still without equal worldwide." Proof of this is the fact that while texSMS is primarily promoted in South Africa at present, some 30% of its customers are international.
As a first tier telecoms service provider in South Africa, TelePassport also provides texSMS customers with corporate grade backup and support of the highest standard, another requirement for corporates when choosing a communications solution provider. Says Pitout, "In this market space a lot of 'competing' SMS products are simply a Web site and a payment portal, and offer a 'best effort' solution and maybe a Web page to address issues to. In contrast, texSMS is a full commercial product, with real developers, real salespeople and real support engineers, who are all on call when needed. Our customers know us face-to-face, and get that personal touch."
From a commercial point of view, the rationale for using Outlook SMS is ease of use, efficiency and cost savings on communications. According to Pitout, texSMS delivers admirably in the cost saving arena: "Our SMS pricing is comparable with the cheapest bulk providers, even though we deliver a corporate grade software product using first tier SMS connectivity. This translates to massive savings for texSMS clients, whether they use texSMS for bulk marketing sends, or just for regular out-of-office communications."
"We always knew we had a winner product for the corporate SMS market in tex" says Pitout, "but what has really excited us is the fact that the tex is showing an ever-increasing rate of growth. This means that the best is yet to come!"
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