Consumers might favor chat apps over SMS these days, but businesses increasingly are relying on SMS for critical customer communications.
Historically, telcos generated much of their income from voice services. As time went on, consumers began to discover text, and telcos followed suit, making SMS support a foundational part of many of their offerings. But then something happened that traditional telcos didn’t anticipate: the rise of chat.
Messaging services like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Apple iMessage have become a popular alternative to SMS text for users to interact with their social networks. This is especially the case outside of the U.S., particularly in areas with limited cellular connection and with billions of daily active users. Because messaging services run on Wi-Fi or other data connections, chat’s ubiquity has effectively cut telcos out of the revenue cycle of a significant portion of day-to-day communications. In 2012, Ovum Research even correctly predicted
Article source: http://www.nojitter.com/post/240172553/sms-sos-how-customer-engagement-is-saving-the-telco
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