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SMS is the living dead of communications. Drown it, set it on fire, throw it off Table Mountain; nothing can kill it. Despite years of business leaders foretelling the death and replacement of SMS, it’s still here and making money. So, what gives this simple means of communicating its seeming immortality and unmatched strength?

The first SMS was sent in the UK in 1992 by Neil Papworth, a Vodafone software programmer. It paved the way for new technologies like messaging apps. It also spawned emojis and ICYMI, launched an unprecedented language transformation. Abbreviations took over as people tried to say as much as possible in 160 characters. It may be surprising that SMS has lived this long, considering its character limit, but it has several superpowers that keep it on top.

What makes SMS indomitable?

SMS exists on every mobile phone, giving it unbeatable coverage. Having a means of communicating that’s not reliant on data or WiFi is essential for time-sensitive notifications. There’s no point sending a WhatsApp message to someone about a forest fire where they’re camping if they must travel to an area with a WiFi or LTE signal to read the warning.

However, the true, commercial value of SMS is how much people trust it. SMS has very high open rates. According to HubSpot, e-mails have a 33% open rate and messaging apps have open rates as high as 80%, but SMS has open rates as high as 98%, according to reports. This trust is undoubtedly a key factor in why SMS endures. Having such a trusted channel of communication is a gold mine for businesses.

How can businesses capitalise on SMS?

When over the top (OTT) messaging apps like WhatsApp began dominating person-to-person (P2P) messaging, SMS found new life in application-to-person (A2P) messaging. A2P messaging has boomed in recent years, supporting simple business communications like two-factor authentications, order confirmations or delivery notifications.

A2P SMS messaging has become a huge growth market. Since 2020, Global A2P revenue grew by 39% between 2020 and 2023, and its growth is expected to continue for years. While OTT players may want to steal the A2P market, they can’t match the large-scale distribution and time-responsiveness of SMS.

The MIRUS messaging platform from Squire Technologies is an all-inclusive, fully virtualised messaging platform that offers superior scalability, advanced routing, high availability and real-time provisioning to operators through the following on-demand modules:

• Telco-grade SMS controller (3G/4G/5G compliant).
• Comprehensive campaign management facility.
• Robust billing and rating engine.
• Secure filtering and analysis module.

Credit for this press release to Douglas Bryce, Marketing Communication Specialist at Squire Technologies.