Globally, mobile phone users send more than 18.7 billion text messages every day. In addition to people texting their friends, family and colleagues, modern applications are getting in on the fun, too.
Application-to-person (A2P) SMS has already proven to be a valuable tool for business growth, customer engagement and more. Industry experts agree that we're still only experiencing the beginning of what A2P has to offer.
In fact, an analysis from QyReports forecasted the global enterprise A2P SMS market to reach $108.2 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.1%. Another study from Juniper Research corroborated this projection, estimating that the number of delivered A2P messages will reach 3.5 trillion by 2023, representing 40% growth over 2019 figures.
Not only do smartphone users prefer to communicate with businesses via SMS, but the technology also holds other benefits, such as the ability to collect useful data to optimize message relevancy.
Enterprise A2P Can Deliver at Scale
One of the major differentiators between enterprise-grade A2P SMS and mid-market solutions is volume. Enterprise organizations must manage messaging needs across global jurisdictions and among segments of their target audiences.
As consumers use software for everyday tasks, there will be a growing demand for A2P services. Enterprise A2P can give organizations the ability to comply with various regulations between countries while gaining the ability to send a high volume of messages at an affordable cost.
Short Codes Are Going Away
Today, many businesses utilize short codes to send high-volume A2P messages. Many of these messages are simple alerts and notifications, such as appointment reminders. But what if the receiver of the message has a question or needs to communicate some new information to the company? In this case, they would have to call a separate phone number.
By replacing short codes with toll-free numbers, companies can retain the functionality they enjoy with their current solution, but gain the ability to seamlessly transition between alerts and conversations. Plus, toll-free numbers are cheaper to acquire and easier to establish. These benefits also come at an important time, as U.S. carriers are beginning to abandon shared short codes.
A2P SMS Drives Growth
The use cases for enterprise A2P SMS are widely varied, which makes the solution a viable growth strategy. For example, service providers can leverage the technology to deliver timely messages and support to technicians in the field. Medical facilities can utilize automated messaging platforms to make and manage appointment schedules. And marketers in almost every vertical can find ways to engage their target audience with hyper-personalized messages.
If businesses aren't using A2P SMS solutions today, there's a good chance they'll need them tomorrow. Adopting the technology now can help organizations meet their business and customer goals in a timely manner.
To learn more about how enterprise A2P SMS can help your organization reach its growth targets, sign up for a free demo from Swift SMS Gateway today.