The new least-cost route in SA

It`s official: South African companies now have a new least-cost communications route available to them! So says Andrew Pitout, SMS Product Manager at TelePassport.

Pitout is referring specifically to a new breed of desktop productivity tool that allows users to send an SMS directly from their PC in the course of their work, as easily as picking up the phone ... the only difference being, it is much faster and cheaper than making the phone call!

The most sophisticated of these new communications tools is undoubtedly TelePassport`s texSMS application, which was launched late last year.

texSMS is a "plug in" software application for Microsoft Outlook, which takes minutes to download and install, and SMS-enables your Outlook application so that you can send and receive SMS messages exactly like e-mails. While other Outlook SMS products exist, texSMS is unique in that it can handle thousands of users on your account, without the need for complicated and time-consuming user management.

Discussing the business application of the product, Pitout comments: "Consider the cost of making a phone call to give someone a small piece of vital information: first there is the time taken to make the call, and the chance the recipient does not answer. Then there is the time taken to exchange pleasantries, sometimes as much as five minutes out of your valuable day; and finally there is the financial cost of the call, which can be anywhere from 59c for a local call to nearly R10 for a lengthier call to a cellphone.

"Compare this to sending the same information in an SMS using texSMS: the time taken to write and send the SMS is seconds, the cost is 50-90% lower, and you have a confirmed record of the send and the delivery report. At the end of the day this translates to huge savings both financially and in improved productivity and efficiency."

Businesses in South Africa have readily adopted the texSMS concept since its launch four months ago. Pitout reports that well over 1 000 companies have signed up since October, and new users are signing up daily.

"Part of the success of the product in the market is that it is so easy to get going - all you do is download the 650K application, run it, and you are connected. You get 25 free SMS messages to test the product with, and after that you can recharge online, or apply to TelePassport for a postpaid corporate account."

TelePassport recently made headlines when it concluded a broad-based BEE deal with its management, making it one of the first telecoms companies to empower through management buy-in.