According to Tatango, 78% of consumers say that SMS is the fastest way to reach them! On top of that, 90% of text messages are read within 3 minutes. It is safe to say that texting is one of the easiest, quickest, and most effective ways to communicate.
Speaking of convenient ways to communicate, VoIP uses the internet instead of traditional phone lines to deliver information. Thanks to modern technology, VoIP users can add a texting service to their existing phone lines! Having the ability to send or receive texts or calls from the same number is exceptionally convenient for not only yourself, but also the people trying to reach you!
Adding SMS is another way for users to stay connected and unify their communication. We were thinking our customers already have gloCOM and gloCOM GO allowing them to work on the move and from anywhere. Recently, we launched gloCOM Meeting (our new baby!) that takes video conferencing to the next level. So, what is next to add to our communication line up? SMS!
What Happened?🤨
If you’ve been a fan of Bicom Systems for a while, you may have heard us let slip something about S-M-S. The truth is, we have been working on it for a while! But other projects have taken priority, we’ve spent time at countless trade shows, and we did organize a significant team-building retreat. These are far from excuses, but we want to be transparent.
The COVID-19 pandemic put the world on pause, but ultimately that is what we needed. Our in-office projects paused, we couldn’t go to trade shows, and, sadly, team building was cancelled. But the positive outcome during this ‘pause’ was we were able to finish projects instead of starting new ones!
Our DevOps team is quickly wrapping up development, bug fixes, and starting to beta test SMS internally with employees. Despite all the distractions that come with working from home, we are finding our staff extremely agile with pushing this project to the finish line. We are excited to announce the SMS feature will be ready for our partners to use by the end of this summer!
Just in time⏲
It might seem that we are a little late to the game compared to a few competitors, but the fact of the matter is SMS is not going anywhere anytime soon. Until we reach the stage where 5G takes over, SMS will remain an essential, simple, and convenient way to communicate.
Integrating SMS with your VoIP services will ensure your end-users can communicate with anyone, no matter where in the world they are! The VoIP SMS texting service allows you to contact customers on their preferred platform while using the same virtual phone number.
However, there are still a few phases we must go through until launch. But we are eager to share our timeline that outlines when SMS will be ready.
How will it work?🤔
In our Version 6.0 release, we enabled mobile chat for gloCOM GO. The chat function syncs in real-time from your desktop to mobile application to ensure messages are not missed. With SMS, users can send and receive text messages from their desktop application gloCOM.
gloCOM users must purchase the SMS enabled DID from their provider. The provider will then associate the DID with the extensions in PBXware. Doing so allows the user to operate under one number to text and call. Once everything is set up, the SMS icon will be accessible on the gloCOM Desktop application module tab.
The user can then utilize the SMS icon to send and receive SMS messages from gloCOM! This new feature will also send status updates as an SMS message, for example if the text was delivered or read. gloCOM is usually used for work purposes; therefore, adding the texting feature may have many employees finger happy!
Not to worry! Supervisors have access to the MDR (Message Detail Record) in PBXware. They can keep track of the incoming and outgoing messages all in one place! Having the MDR will make it easier for providers to bill directly.
We hope you are as excited as we are about the upcoming launch of SMS! To learn more about our products, please visit our website here. If you would like to get familiar with our software suite before SMS, please send our sales team an email at sales@bicomsystems.com.
