Application-to-Person (A2P) messaging refers to sending SMS alerts from a business application to an individual’s mobile phone and/or vice versa. It has become more popular than the person-to-person (P2P) messaging. The global A2P SMS market is poised to grow exponentially to reach $58.8bn by 2020. This is mainly due to increase in the number of mobile phone subscribers globally, making it a universal device for communicating. Primarily adopted by companies across multiple industry verticals, it allows any complex enterprise application to be configured to use text messages as a form of interaction.
Despite popular communication platforms such as social messaging apps and emerging technologies such as chatbots, A2P messaging is relevant and useful to businesses. While there has been an increase in the use of instant messenger apps for interaction, it is more prevalent in the developed economies where the mobile internet penetration is high. In developing and underdeveloped economies where mobile internet reach is comparatively quite low, SMS is still the most popular means of communication to reach maximum consumers.
The ubiquitous nature of SMS text alerts has led to the increased adoption by businesses in different industries to reach consumers for various uses such as:
1) Emergency Alerts:
In event of unplanned downtime, it is of utmost importance to activate the automated call tree system and reach your end user immediately. Should everything else fail, SMS is able to act as a form of redundancy fall-back communication means.
2) Secure Remote Access:
2-Factor Authentication (2FA) via One-Time-Password (OTP) is a cost-effective and efficient industry accepted solution for remote user authentication. Companies send out an OTP to users via SMS on their web app or on mobile to ensure the security of data and the transaction. This helps businesses to put in place security measures to minimize cyberattack risk.
3) IT Support alerts:
In an increasingly globalised world, it is important for businesses to maintain continuous uptime of their mission-critical applications as well as network infrastructure. To maintain Service Level Agreements and address the challenges of limited IT personnel, an A2P SMS notification solution can send instant alerts in case of downtime or network failure.
4) Marketing:
2-way SMS has made it easier for businesses to interact with customers. Also, due to the high engagement rate companies have made mobile communications as a vital part of their strategy to reach customers. A2P SMS can be used for sending promotional messages, event ticketing, reminders, conducting surveys and polling contests, etc.
