Short Message Service (SMS) is a text messaging service component available in most of all mobile devices systems. 

SMS was initially created for phones that use Global System for Mobile (GMS) communication, but now has become the standard features in all major cell phones. 

Starting out with sending only 160 characters, SMS has continued to advance in communications technology, enabling us to send and receive, not only text, but also digital images, audio messages, and much more at a speed and volume that was unthinkable before. 

Learning about the past, the present, and the future of SMS A2P technology is very important for your business to understand how big of an impact this technology to empower your business.

Looking back to the birth of SMS Technology

On December 3rd 1992, the very first SMS was sent from Neil Papworth’s computer to Richard Jarvis’ mobile phone. The legendary message simply read “Merry Christmas”. 

Since then, the use of SMS technology has increased significantly, especially after Nokia released the first commercially available mobile phone, which included SMS as one of its options. 

Slowly but sure, SMS technology has emerged to become one of the most reliable communication channels. In 1995, people in the USA sent an average of 0.4 text per month, but in 2011, that number grew significantly to 357 text per month. 

Starting in 2007, SMS has outnumbered phone calls as the communication channel that is most used by society.

SMS as a default medium for business communications today

After reaching its peak in 2012 with nearly 8 trillion messages sent, SMS reached its saturation point. The introduction of smartphones and mobile internet has become one of the main factors of this situation. 

With more and more users shifting to smartphones, SMS technology is now transforming, adapting to the new customer behavior. 

Mobile network operators are now focusing on SMS Application-to-Person (A2P) to increase their mobile value added service. A2P provides the ability for intelligent automation when sending SMS to your stakeholders. 

With an open rate of 95% with the majority within the first 10 minutes, it is more and more business to capitalize the potential benefits of SMS technology, using this channel for Business SMS Campaigns, such as reaching out to customers for alerts, product launches, and promotional messages.

The growth of SMS to meet the evolving needs of businesses in the future

A report by Market Watch estimated that the global SMS A2P market is valued at USD 79.5B by 2024, with a CAGR of 4% from 2018 to 2024. Not only that, the global bulk SMS marketing industry will hit a CAGR of 7.4% between 2019-2027, as reported by Coherent Marketing Insights. 

With this statistics, we can be confident that the SMS technology is not going anywhere soon and will continue to witness a growing trend in the future.

Globally, organizations of all sizes from various industry sectors need the ability to engage with customers, employees, and other stakeholders as effectively as possible. 

Since its first launch in 1992, SMS continues to become the key drivers in the business messaging landscape, especially for marketing communications, employee engagement, alert, reminder, and notification. Understanding the history, the transformation, and the prediction of this technology, it is very important for you to acknowledge the great contribution from SMS technology in supporting business growth all over the world.