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Have you tried to think of ways of cutting support costs for your field operations?

June 16, 2009 by Priit Vaikmaa

One solution is to consider switching to SMS messages instead of conventional voice phone calls.

SMS stands for “Short Message Service,” the popular phone-based system that limits messages to lengths of 160 characters. Also known as text messaging and texting. SMS messaging is booming in popularity across the world. In the United Kingdom, around 6 to 8 billion text messages are sent every month. In 2008, 78.9 billion texts messages were sent in the UK, compared to 56.9 billion in 2007 -- a 39 percent increase.

Simply put, SMS text messaging is cheaper up front than voice message phone calls. However, there are more indirect ways that texting saves over the more traditional phone message.

For example, you can send SMS messages during meetings, conferences or similar situations in which talking over the phone would not be permitted. It is not uncommon to find in corporate board and meeting rooms, people texting away as the meeting is conducted.

Now, in the fast-paced corporate environment, people are often moving from one meeting to another with little time in-between. Necessary contacts with technical, sales and other people in the field can pile up rapidly in such situations. In order to meet the load, one may have to hire more people or switch to a more effective method of communication. Since today’s meetings, conferences, classrooms, etc., tend to include laptops, PDAs and similar equipment, SMS texting should not interfere with the general flow of activity.

Another advantage offered by SMS messaging comes when the field representative is already required to carry a laptop, Blackberry or other PDA. In this case, there is no need for the extra expense of a cell phone. SMS text messages can be relayed to most modern communication devices.

Experienced texters will often say that texting is easier and quicker than talking even if the record for rapid speech is much greater than the record texting speed. This is particularly the case since the advent of automatic word completion and other tools that make texting fast and easy. While a listener might have trouble discerning rapid speech, the speed of texting has no impact on the reading of the message.

At www.textmagic.com, we offer Email to SMS, SMS Gateway API, TextMagic Messenger, TextMagic Online, SMS Reply Service and TextMe Service to help you streamline your communications with field workers and representatives.

Email to SMS, for example, allows you to send text messages using email without extra software required. If you sign up now, you can receive 20 bonus SMS credits with your first order. Free trials are available for businesses and organisations.