The Internet has been a disruptive force in traditional communications. VoIP phones, Apple’s (News - Alert) iMessage and Google’s self named Google Voice have all, in some way, disrupted how voice communications take place. These services use the digital backbone to send and receive messages, whether text or voice. Now, a cloud-based texting service called Zipwhip is making it easier to get in touch with corporate customer service.
In 2012, Zipwhip announced the launch of a desktop app that allowed Android (News - Alert) users to send text messages right from their computers, using their own phone numbers, with service similar to Google Voice and iMessage. Capitalizing on the success of the consumer rollout, Zipwhip has developed its service to work with toll-free business numbers.
"Businesses' toll-free numbers are only working half as hard as they could be," said John Lauer, CEO of Zipwhip. "Being able to send and receive texts over those numbers means customers who previously had to navigate through several menu options and were held captive listening to hold music as they waited for a human voice to answer their questions can now simply text the same number for a quick response -- and businesses can reply."
Zipwhip's services allow businesses to take advantage of the popularity of text message, without investing in complicated software services solutions.
"Consumers don't want to wait on hold -- they want to use text messaging to contact businesses at numbers they already have, and at the time and place that's convenient for them," Lauer said. "Mobile carriers already are identifying that nearly 2 percent of texts from their networks are going to landline numbers, because mobile customers are experimenting or even assuming that the business numbers they're familiar with are equipped to communicate with them the way they want to communicate -- via text."
Edited by Alisen Downey