Reality Check: Blazing the trail to long-term messaging success

Editor’s Note:Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.
From its humble beginning as a 160-character, text-based novelty, mobile messaging has exploded in popularity to now play a pivotal role in today’s mobile lifestyle as one of the world’s most widely used, ubiquitous communication tools. The signs of growth are undeniable with 5.5 trillion short messaging service text messages traversing the world’s mobile networks in 2009 – a 416% increase from 2005, according to Informa Media & Telecoms. Multimedia messaging service, which was initially slow to catch on with subscribers, also is exploding onto the scene, increasing by 753% over the same period with 119 billion photos and videos sent in 2009.
Without question, the pervasiveness of SMS and MMS represents tremendous revenue opportunity for operators. But long-term success will only come to those who can provide subscribers with adequate reach to the rest of the world, while managing messaging capacity and keeping up with constantly evolving end-user expectations.
Connecting to the world
Simply put, a messaging offering is worthless if an operator cannot ensure its subscribers’ messages can be delivered to any destination anywhere in the world. If an end user’s provider cannot offer him or her adequate reach, that user will simply move to one that can.
Tier-one mobile operators are in the advantageous position of already having well-established global footprints. Most other players – tier-two and tier-three operators as well as new mobile entrants, such as cable operators, application developers and Internet companies – must work to set up global connectivity to keep pace with competitors and subscribers’ expectations.
Establishing these connections is no easy task, often requiring operators to endure the complicated, resource-intensive process of developing individual business and technical agreements with every other network to which it wants to connect.
One of the best ways to surmount these challenges is to connect to a messaging interworking gateway or hub capable of quickly extending SMS and MMS footprint by overcoming interoperability, network and routing challenges, as well as managing complex business relationships. By taking this approach, operators and new entrants can not only save time and money, but they also can reallocate their own resources to other important areas of their businesses.
Managing messaging capacity
Global reach is only part of the recipe for long-term messaging success. Messaging providers also must be able to handle an ever-increasing volume of messaging traffic.
According to Portio Research, SMS volumes should reach 11.5 trillion in 2014, while MMS will inch close to the 400 billion mark.
We can attribute these growth predictions to a number of factors. One is the continued penetration of basic texting handsets, full-feature smartphones and other types of connected devices that make access to messaging easier than ever for end-users. In fact, as mobile devices become increasingly advanced, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that they will eventually replace standalone digital cameras in the coming years. We could easily see a day where the only people who carry both a mobile device and a camera will be professional photographers.
Also fueling explosive growth is the mobile communication that goes beyond the more traditional one-to-one communication with friends and family.
Mobile social networking is one driver of volumes. According to a recent article in The Economist, mobile social networking will increase from 140 million users in 2009 to 600 million in 2013, a 329% increase.
The growing use of new application-to-peer uses also is adding to the traffic numbers. A large number of enterprises already are turning to the cost-effective, ubiquitous nature of SMS to quickly and easily send personalized, time-sensitive information to their customers, employees and partners. Applications include travel alerts, mobile banking and even e-health initiatives, such as the U.S.-based text4baby program, which has sent more than 2 million text messages to over 45,000 enrollees in less than six months. Text4baby delivers regular health tips for pregnant women and new mothers.
To be successful in an environment whose future promises exponential volume increases and ever-larger file sizes as more photos and videos move across networks, operators must overcome capacity constraints that impede high traffic volumes and large MMS files. They can best accomplish this with a service provider who supplies a stable, fault-tolerant infrastructure to ensure messages are delivered without failure.
Meeting user expectations
Finally, providers need to continue to meet the most important requirements of all for messaging success: keeping up with the continually moving target of subscriber expectations.
Users have an ever-widening range of portable wireless-enabled devices they can bring with them wherever they travel. Along with this portability comes the desire to communicate personal availability and location with other users in the connected world. In addition, subscribers are showing they want to access all varieties of messaging services beyond SMS and MMS, including instant messaging and chatting.
These new capabilities and expectations already are resulting in an array of diverse messaging protocols, networks and other inherent complexities. And, of course, users will expect to be able to exchange divergent messages to any other user, anywhere, regardless of the recipient’s messaging capabilities. For example, if user A sends an IM to user B, whose device is only capable of sending and receiving SMS, that message is expected to be converted into a form that user B is capable of receiving and vice versa.
To keep up, we will see the emergence of advanced messaging hubs capable of seamlessly translating messages across technologies to ensure accurate message deliver. Simplicity will be essential to success, which means the best hubs will be the ones to which operators can achieve this goal via a single connection.
The end-user is king
Whether a new mobile entrant working to establish a global messaging footprint or a large, established mobile operator launching the latest messaging capabilities, every player in the mobile space faces the same truth on the path to long-term messaging success: it’s all about the end user. Although it’s impossible to predict exactly what the future holds, the bottom line is success will come to those who can provide their customers the world while staying ahead of their demands, whatever they may be.
Tony Holcombe is president and CEO of Syniverse Technologies (NYSE: SVR). Syniverse makes mobile work for more than 800 mobile operators, cable and Internet providers, and enterprises in over 160 countries. With unmatched expertise and more than 20 years simplifying the complexities of roaming, messaging and networking, Syniverse serves as the force at the center of the mobile communications universe, keeping people connected today and forging new connections for tomorrow. For more information, visit www.syniverse.com, follow Syniverse on Twitter or find Syniverse on Facebook.