Text Messaging Redundancy Important for All Players
June 13, 2011
By Susan J. Campbell,
TMCnet Contributing Editor
Text messaging was once considered the technology channel that kept teens locked to their phones and thumbs numb from too much repetitive movement. Fast forward a few years and the costs associated with text messaging have significantly decreased and the use of texting has expanded to businesses. Companies throughout a number of different industries are using this communication channel to send offers to clients, respond to questions and simply communicate.
While this shift may be surprising for some, others have readily embraced the platform to support its marketing efforts. The challenge, however, is that not all companies are protecting their efforts to ensure they can continue to interact with clients over time. This TSG Global blog explains.
A number of companies that rely on text messaging to interact with clients were affected when Amazon’s AWS services in Virginia experienced technical difficulties. According to this blog, the difficulties had continued for two days without resolution and the effects were visible on the social Web. Apparently, HootSuite, Reddit and Foursquare (News - Alert) rely on AWS to deliver their services.
The problem exists when these companies rely on cloud computing to provide text messaging capabilities without implementing the necessary redundancy to protect their services in the event the hosting provider falters. Companies leveraging text messaging place reliance on the backbone of vendor efforts to protect against disasters and ensure redundancy. These companies should have their own contingency plans in place, but most do not.
Those companies using text messaging need to understand that if they are no longer receiving texts, their customers are not interacting with them. When this happens, there is a high risk that the clients won’t wait around for very long for the company to fix its text messaging service. The longer it takes to get back on line, the more the company communicates to the client base that they are not reliable.
Companies cannot risk sending this message to the customer base and the cloud-based text messaging provider may not have the redundancy in place to ensure the company’s brand is protected. As a result, those companies leveraging these platforms must take it upon themselves to implement the business continuity plans necessary to keep customers and communications online at all times.
When you plan to leverage Amazon services to deliver your text messaging communications or you simply want to start migrating to the cloud, keep in mind that you must complete your due diligence to protect your systems, your brand and your customer base.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Stefanie Mosca
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