Are Businesses Taking Full Advantage of Cell Phone Technology? Part 1

Are Businesses Taking Full Advantage of Cell Phone Technology? Part 1 – Texting

Did you know there are 285.6 million U.S. wireless subscribers? The latest year-end report from CTIA, an international association for the wireless telecommunication industry states this is 91% of the total U.S. population. In 1995, there were only 33.5 million subscribers and in 2000 109.5 million subscribers. Are businesses taking full advantage of this technology now that there is almost complete saturation of cell phone use? In this series of blog posts, we will discuss the various applications and explore how they can be integrated as part of your business communication plan.

Business Applications for Texting

The monthly SMS messages (text messages) has grown from 14.4 million in Dec. ’00 to 152.7 billion in Dec. ’09. The yearly SMS messages now tops 1.56 trillion. With the ever-increasing use of texting as an every day occurrence by a growing population, businesses need to have a plan to best use this technology to increase business growth.

Here is a summary of Inc.’s listing of the Top Ten Ways to Use Texting for Business.

Confirm deliveries
Send product alerts
Provide fast client contact
Advertise your new product or service
Interact with your customers
Pass along important information from a meeting
Schedule meetings
Quick communication with coworkers
Get news fast
Provide instant reminders

So what is your business strategy in using texting? Is there a practical application for this technology for you? Is this the next business communication tool that becomes as commonplace as e-mail? Will texting ever replace e-mail? What are your thoughts?