M5 Networks (News - Alert) has partnered with Bluewolf, a leading agile business consulting firm, to launch business SMS for Salesforce

The M5 Business SMS for Salesforce allows users of M5 phones to send and receive text messages directly from their business phone number.  

Officials with M5 Networks said that M5 Business SMS for Salesforce will enable the company’s clients to integrate SMS messages directly into their Salesforce.com (News - Alert) customer-relationship management (CRM) software.

"SMS messaging continues to grow in popularity as the next generation of the workforce and consumers embraces mobile technology," said Dan Hoffman (News - Alert), CEO of M5 Networks, in a statement.

"With M5 Business SMS, our customers can communicate with text messages as well as phone calls, and those with Salesforce.com can also automatically log and associate SMS communications with their business data," said Hoffman.

Eric Berridge, Bluewolf co-founder and principal said that text messaging can be a potent tool for businesses that wish to provide a new, more responsive type of customer service.

"However, businesses must keep in mind that even a simple text message is part of their overall client experience and therefore must be managed and documented," said Berridge.

Ted Elliot, CEO of Jobscience said that texting is a way to immediately engage with candidates by reaching out to them on the device they always carry.  

"M5's Business SMS, used within our Jobscience Talent Relationship application built on force.com, will be a powerful addition to our TalentCloud solution," said Elliot.

"Given that 90 percent of text messages are opened and read compared to 40 percent of email messages, M5 Business SMS will offer our clients a number of competitive advantages," added Brent Barbara, vice president of client solutions and alliances, M5.  

“Texting is ideal for service issue or order status updates, appointment confirmations, purchase authorizations or for just asking if now is a good time to talk.  With Generation Y's preference for texting, we expect its use for business to continue to explode," said Barbara.

M5 Networks is a major player in business phone systems