Using SMS in Customer Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are an important aspect of any business as they enhance relationships with customers and increase ROI. Sales teams can find information about a customer or prospect in one central location and managers can immediately find out how sales enquiries are progressing. As sales teams become increasing mobile, mobile CRM can hold a great deal of power and has been described by CRM Buyer as "decidedly one of the hottest trends for 2013".

Take A Byte specialise in all things booking related and run their own online CRM system called 'In-Contact'. They decided to add SMS services to allow businesses to send booking confirmations to their customers and send messages to their own staff. SMS messages are more likely to be read than any other form of communication so companies can have peace of mind that staff and customers are more than likely to have seen the message and can store it somewhere convenient - on their mobile phone which they can carry everywhere!

It was imperative that they were able to keep a record of exactly what had been sent and the cost of integrating text messages into their 'In-Contact' application was kept low. HSL's SMS service was perfect for this as it allowed Take A Byte to send a text message instantly from their application and to return a unique reference number to track the message to its final destination.

According to Damien Bhanji, Director of Take A Bye, "the best 2 things about the HSL SMS service are its speed and reliability." He also commented that, "It always makes me smile when we demo our system to potential customers and a message is sent from our application to their phone in less than 4 seconds."

SMS Expansion

Three years ago, Take a Byte recognised further opportunity to expand SMS services to their customers. Due to the nature of what they do, it was crucial that their customers could rely on their servers being operational 24/7. As a result of this, they decided to build a server monitoring application to alert their support staff immediately if there was a problem with a server. They needed the method of alerting staff to be a 100% reliable and therefore naturally turned to HSL's SMS services for the job. This has proved to be a great solution for minimising the down time of servers and therefore reducing the impact on service.

"Although the SMS service is only one part of the system it is much loved by the customers who use it."

Take A Byte have also launched a new service after several customers asked for the ability to send automatic SMS course reminders to their customers a set number of days before their course is due to start. As they stated "There is always a small proportion of people who forget that they have booked onto a course and this solution is designed to remind them so they don't forget."

Take A Byte have remained a valued HSL client for over 4 years and are committed to HSL for all their current and future SMS requirements. They have considered other SMS providers both at the beginning and whenever they review running costs. However, they find our prices very reasonable particularly when assessing the reliability of our service.

To find out more about how mobile communications can help enterprises around the world, please read our case studies

For further information regarding HSL, visit us at:

http://www.hslmobile.com   

follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter @hslmobile or Google+  

or call us on +44 (0)1506 605260

or email us at sales@haysystems.com

 

SMS Solutions Help Monitor Energy Usage

Utility companies face increasing pressure to lower rates and help customers cut consumption as more and more households and businesses struggle to pay their bills. SwitchGasandElectric.com estimate that half of the UK population will be in fuel poverty by the end of this year and others estimate that as many as 45 companies are going bankrupt every day.

Smart Meters with built-in SMS technology is just one way in which utility customers can benefit from advancing mobile technology.  Invaluable data can be sent from the Smart Meter as and when required making it possible for households and businesses to monitor their energy usage in real time.  As a result, customers are able to monitor their consumption and make any necessary changes to their usage patterns to help them lower their energy bills.  In addition to this, energy customers are finding that by receiving information more frequently they are also able to identify and investigate any irregularities straight away, helping rectify problems such as leaks quicker than they were able to in the past.  Alarm messages can also be sent by SMS when a certain threshold has been exceeded to help ensure customers are not hit by large bills. Alerts can even be used to analyse temperature and gas consumption and when an issue arises, for example a burst water or gas pipe, the relevant parties are advised by SMS.

Consequently, utility companies are finding that these types of SMS messaging alerts can help improve customer satisfaction and retention rates which is a top priority for utilities. Due to the competitive nature of the market, customers can easily find out the best rates available via dedicated online websites and switch to cheaper rates and tariffs. SMS alerts to create energy efficiencies and help customers cut costs can prove to be a simple yet effective way to ensure customer loyalty.  Another way that utility companies can achieve higher levels of customer satisfaction and retention rates is by using SMS to enhance general customer communications. For example, energy customers can also receive alerts regarding updates to their account or when an engineer will be arriving at their premises, helping keep customers informed and reducing the number of missed appointments.

Utility companies can also use SMS internally. Internal uses can include IT alerts, sending passwords, corporate promotions, sending meeting appointments and communicating with engineers in the field, all helping to increase operational efficiency and communications with staff. HR departments are also using SMS to update potential candidates on the status of their application, helping reduce the recruitment cycle.

There are many more ways in which mobile communications can be used to reduce energy consumption and lift customer satisfaction and retention levels and we continue to see new solutions enter the market. For example, using SMS messaging to turn off electrical devices remotely.  Further information on how HSL’s reliable and easy to use SMS solutions can be used for utility companies can be found on our website at http://www.hslsms.com/sectors/utilities/. Alternatively if you wish to find out more about the general uses of enterprise SMS, please read our case studies.
  
Alternatively, visit us at:

http://www.linkedin.com/company/hay-systems-ltd

follow us on Twitter @HSLSMS

or call us on +44 (0)1506 605260

or email us at sales@haysystems.com

Manage expectations and perception of business through improved communication

The recent eruption of the volcano on Iceland has had a large impact on the aviation industry, but also transport by road, rail and sea as people try to find alternatives to flying while airlines were grounded. There have been reports of poor communication with passengers, for which both airlines and airports have been guilty. The confusion and anxiety caused by the grounding of flights could have been mitigated to some degree through better communication with passengers.

I read an interesting blog, admittedly from one of our partners, on the use of notification software to help improve communication during such incidents and improve customer service and the perception of the airlines. Their blog can be found at http://matthesderdack.blogspot.com/2010/04/volcano-ash-caused-information-chaos.html.

One way of communicating quickly and efficiently with a large number of mobile users can be found at http://www.hslsms.com/solutions/alertbroadcast/. This service is often used in parallel with HSL's WebSMS solution (http://www.hslsms.com/solutions/websms/)