LogicaCMG today announces the launch of Message Plus, an innovative messaging product that enables network operators to offer consumers a greatly improved messaging experience. Message Plus provides enhanced person-to-person messaging services that allow operators to add incremental revenue, increase differentiation and service personalisation and boost customer loyalty.
SMS is hugely popular and will continue to be a fundamental mobile service globally. Text messaging traffic is predicted to grow until at least 2010 , but the service features have remained simple and static with little innovation up until now.
Network operators are under pressure to differentiate their services in order to boost revenues, reduce churn and stay competitive – Message Plus makes this possible. The results of an extensive survey of over 8,000 consumers, conducted by Ipsos MORI across eight countries globally, indicate that many consumers are willing to use these services, pay for them, and switch to an operator that provides them. For some services over 70 per cent of consumers surveyed stated that they would certainly use the services if they were made available.
Message Plus delivers a wide range of exciting mobile services, three of which were the focus of the recent Ipsos MORI research. ‘Auto-Reply’ allows consumers to create an SMS alternative to the ‘out of office’ style automatic replies, enabling business users to let contacts know when they are out of the office, whilst a consumer user could set an automatic reply to let friends know that their mobile phone battery is low and to contact them on an alternative number. Consumer interest in this type of service is particularly high in some Asian countries, with up to half of respondents stating that they are likely to use this service every day.
Responses from consumers also suggested that a messaging archive service would be in strong demand. Known as ‘Auto-Copy’, this service enables messages, sent to and received from contacts, to be copied directly to an email account. With Message Plus, network operators can also include adverts within messages, known as ’Sponsored Messaging’, that offers consumers free or reduced text messages in return for including adverts within the message.
Message Plus is an integral part of LogicaCMG’s Intuitive Messaging offering that integrates seamlessly into an existing messaging infrastructure, providing network operators with a bridge between services available now and future applications. Message Plus offers operators widely applicable SMS services which can be tailored to both business and consumer use.
Nabil Y. Khalil, director telecoms at LogicaCMG in the Middle East and North Africa, said: “It is crucial that operators have the ability to innovate and improve existing services such as SMS in order to stay ahead in this competitive environment. We recognise there is a need for operators to differentiate by offering advanced messaging services, and the research we have conducted across a diverse range of global markets proves that there is significant demand for messaging innovation. Market interest in Message Plus has already been very positive. Our reputation as the undisputed global SMS experts means that operators know they can trust us to deliver the cutting edge solutions they require.”
