Case Study on Texting
Appendix F
Business case for SMS services for the council (Phase II):
As part of the Foundation workstream the Text or Short messaging service (SMS) was explored as a low cost access route for interacting with customers. The advantage of a flexible SMS system is that it can be used both as a way of dispensing information to our residents as well as capturing information from them, both business intelligence and operational intelligence (problem reporting etc). This gives another channel shift route and provides a drastically lower cost per transaction than face to face or by telephone (£17/£5 respectively)
Current situation:
We have an active SMS solution currently installed that is used for internal communication only. It is a web-based system hosted by a company called Esendex. This has been set up to provide alerts to staff but we are only utilising a fraction of the functionality in the system at present. We pay a regular monthly fee to supply a set number of text messages that range in price from 8.5p to 5.5p depending on the volume of use. There is a virtual number at present (+447781482709) which can receive incoming texts. The web-based system is similar in format to a basic email program with group messages, standard templates, signatures etc built in. There are no restrictions to prevent the system being used immediately to contact the public. We currently have 10,000 SMS ‘in stock’ Proposal: We have the ability to swiftly (48 hrs) set up a short (5 digit) number plus keyword/s to send and receive text with the public. The system can scale easily from a simple pilot program to an integrated (CRM, auto response etc) SMS solution with each increase in service able to be built on top of the previous layer as functionality is developed. A simple 5 digit shortcode would make a dramatic difference to the amount of use of any services we provided to members of the public by being easier to remember and distinctly different from their other contact numbers.
Business case for SMS services for the council (Phase II):
As part of the Foundation workstream the Text or Short messaging service (SMS) was explored as a low cost access route for interacting with customers. The advantage of a flexible SMS system is that it can be used both as a way of dispensing information to our residents as well as capturing information from them, both business intelligence and operational intelligence (problem reporting etc). This gives another channel shift route and provides a drastically lower cost per transaction than face to face or by telephone (£17/£5 respectively)
Current situation:
We have an active SMS solution currently installed that is used for internal communication only. It is a web-based system hosted by a company called Esendex. This has been set up to provide alerts to staff but we are only utilising a fraction of the functionality in the system at present. We pay a regular monthly fee to supply a set number of text messages that range in price from 8.5p to 5.5p depending on the volume of use. There is a virtual number at present (+447781482709) which can receive incoming texts. The web-based system is similar in format to a basic email program with group messages, standard templates, signatures etc built in. There are no restrictions to prevent the system being used immediately to contact the public. We currently have 10,000 SMS ‘in stock’ Proposal: We have the ability to swiftly (48 hrs) set up a short (5 digit) number plus keyword/s to send and receive text with the public. The system can scale easily from a simple pilot program to an integrated (CRM, auto response etc) SMS solution with each increase in service able to be built on top of the previous layer as functionality is developed. A simple 5 digit shortcode would make a dramatic difference to the amount of use of any services we provided to members of the public by being easier to remember and distinctly different from their other contact numbers.