A2P (application-to-person) SMS has worked its way into the consciousness of billions of people globally. Nearly three decades old, people feel totally at ease receiving marketing, transactional, and informative content via this digital channel. It is ubiquitous and easy to use.
If we step back and look objectively for a moment at A2P SMS, it would be easy to assume that the channel was reserved for businesses looking to converse with their customers but the use cases for SMS (and indeed A2P channels / CPaaS in general) run far deeper than just the commercial, for-profit domain.
SMS for the public sector
It hasn’t exactly been shouted from the rooftops but SMS has been quietly doing the job of being an integral part of governments’ emergency communications programs for many years. Well-conceived and effectively delivered emergency messages can help ensure public safety, protect property and infrastructure, facilitate response efforts, elicit cooperation, instill confidence, and help families reunite. And given SMS is the most familiar digital channel there is, it won its spot in the mobile engagement line-up fair and square.
Emergency management is just one strand of government where A2P digital channels can make a huge impact. We’ve all heard of e-commerce but its sibling e-government (electronic government) has not pushed its way into the limelight so much. Yet it has the potential to impact even more people than the world of e-commerce is doing right now. But what exactly is it?
What is e-government?
The concept of e-government has been around since the 1990s having many facets, including social, technical, economic, political, and public administrative. It can be defined as the use of digital technology (especially Web-based applications) to enhance the access to and efficient delivery of government information and services. In plain language, the ultimate mission is for the government to improve the lives of its citizens, showing transparency in the process.
Events this year have thrown up an array of challenges rarely (if at all) previously faced in the past 50+ years. With a lack of a concerted, unified international response, most governments have been forced to choose their own path to managing and dealing with the situation at hand.
Many countries had a pre-existing level of e-government in place before but only a few had any real success with it. Digital transformation has had to come hard and fast with the design and implementation of ‘track and trace’ applications to contain the pandemic.
Government use of A2P for a pandemic
A closer look at e-government initiatives reveals that most relied on the internet as their bedrock. Stable internet access is however not something much of the world can view as a given and it is easy to see how things could fall at the first hurdle. Enter stage right the ubiquity, familiarity, and cost-effectiveness of A2P SMS to save the day.
E-government has huge potential to accelerate development globally but rather like the world of omnichannel and enterprises, there is a misconception that only those with deep pockets and a bunker full of highly technical personnel to call upon can succeed with it. This is most definitely not the case and it needs to be viewed pragmatically, as far more than just a function of financial, technical, and human resources.
With Mitto’s comprehensive suite of CPaaS and mobile engagement solutions in any organization’s corner, one’s ability to converse with others improves exponentially. The potential and the number of use cases for customer communication are limited only by human imagination.
It’s our job to deliver these solutions for your use rapidly, in ways that are easily understood. Mitto does the heavy lifting of delivering your valuable content globally, rapidly, and accurately, irrespective of the type of organization you are.
