Emerging technologies hold the key to future prosperity.
They are the superpower at the heart of the ever-evolving technological ecosystem upon which the world now depends.
When it comes to communication, that evolution is fast and furious: businesses that deploy the latest and smartest tools are best placed by far to benefit from the enhancements they bring.
Rich Communication Services (RCS) is a perfect case in point.
Set to one day replace the SMS, this altogether more powerful, unified, and secure mobile messaging technology is this year’s new must-have capability for organisations and brands looking to keep pace with transformational change.
Recently, Apple announced that its latest iPhones will now support RCS: matching earlier, Android-powered adopters’ ability to maximize its next level functionality.
As a result – with all smartphones now RCS compatible – businesses and their technology service providers must ensure their communication platforms are too.
“With Apple’s embrace of RCS, the future of messaging is set to transform, paving the way for a more connected and collaborative world – it’s a groundbreaking decision poised to revolutionize the way we interact with people and brands worldwide,” says Francesco Graziano, Senior Solution Go-To-Market Manager at leading Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) provider BICS, which has just launched Meso, a customer engagement platform that enables enterprises to interact with their customers on their preferred communication channel.
“RCS and OTT applications elevate mobile messaging to a richer, more unified conversational experience while simultaneously fortifying security and mitigating phishing attacks, especially in banking and insurance.
It is a monumental shift and a long-anticipated advancement in mobile communication. Meso makes it easy for our customers to maximize the benefits.”
Unlike traditional SMS and MMS, RCS and OTT applications support much longer messages, high-resolution photos and videos, read receipts, (typing indicator – RCS only), group chats (for P2P messaging), stickers, reactions, and more.
Through BICS’ Customer Engagement platform, enterprises will be able to use OTT channels (such as WhatsApp and Viber) or RCS (if enabled), as easily as sending a text message. If the person on the other end has RCS support or the OTT app installed, messages will automatically be sent; otherwise, it will automatically fall back to SMS. Once an RCS conversation is underway, content bubbles are a darker blue than normal SMS/MMS messages, and users see ‘read receipts’ and typing indicators as in most third-party messaging apps.
Crucially, RCS and OTT messaging applications enable user organisations to fully-verify numbers to and from which it sends and receives messages, such as two factor authentications and one-time passwords. This mitigates the costly effects of sending unnecessary messages to non-existent recipients fraudulently generated by a criminal bot, for example. The same number verification functionality also protects against phishing because criminals are unable to send an RCS from a verified account fraudulently claiming to be a bank, for example.
“It’s way more easy for the user to identify when a communication is legitimate,” says Graziano. “It’s also very good for the bank because those it is messaging are more trusting of RCS than SMS and therefore resolution and conversion rates are higher.”
From a content and penetration perspective, too, RCS delivers big.
“Now iOS and Android devices are RCS enabled, organisations are able to use the BICS Meso integration to reach out to customers in the same volume as SMS but with all of the enhanced functionality,” says Graziano.
“For organisations, communicating via the simplicity of RCS built-in to customers’ smartphones as standard can be a powerful differentiator.
“In terms of content, RCS simply provides an all-round better experience. In e-commerce, for example, brands can embed promotional carousels into Meso-generated messages which customers can easily scroll. The messages can also link to web pages; add discount codes based on communication patterns of certified customer accounts; and programme scheduled, customized communications via a UI or over an API. These are all use cases that have the capacity to impact positively on businesses and their customers.”
The end of the SMS? Well, probably not (yet). However, it’s always good to be ahead of the curve, not behind it…
To learn more about how BICS’ Meso RCS integration can help your and your customers’ businesses make the most of messaging, click here.
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