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Siloed messaging strategies restrict mobile?s potential: report

In a reflection of the disjointed approach businesses are taking with mobile messaging, 62 percent have more than one messaging platform deployed while 78.5 percent have more than one of the same use cases active across different departments, according to a new report from OpenMarket and International Data Corp. 

While 75 percent of businesses expect a return on investment from mobile messaging within six to 12 months, the fact that so many are taking an ad hoc approach will make reaching their goals a challenge. Instead, businesses need a more holistic strategy for mobile messaging that includes engaging with customers throughout the entire lifecycle. 

What should be eye-opening, is that mobile messaging is more than marketing,? said Andy Shirey, senior product manager at OpenMarket, Seattle. ?The benefit to consider is how mobile messaging impacts their customers and the value of those customers throughout the entire lifecycle. 

?The front end is important, but their experiences with onboarding, the experience with support, the ability to use products to the fullest, the ability to get feedback, supporting the customer around issues,? he said.
?It?s about looking more broadly beyond just the marketing use case. If marketers just choose mobile messaging for marketing, then we are right back into the siloed situation.?

Key business functions?
The study, ?Enterprises Adopting Mobile Messaging to Enhance Communications and Improve Business Operations,? was commissioned by mobile engagement solutions provider OpenMarket and conducted by IDC. It is based on surveys with enterprise technology and mobile decision makers from 600 global organizations. 
The report looks at how global enterprises are leveraging mobile messaging technology for employee and customer communication use cases across key business functions. 

While 70 percent of enterprises use mobile messaging for internal communications, the report underscores that the biggest opportunity future growth in the adoption of SMS and MMS is customer experience-focused initiatives such as customer surveys, opening up SMS channels for customer support and providing alerts and reminders.

Beyond sales and marketing
?Key findings include that within sales and marketing departments, over 60 percent are using more than one vendor for their mobile messaging needs. 

There is a large opportunity for growth within IT and security business groups, as 46.8 percent of these organizations do not currently use mobile messaging. This is likely because technology executives are evaluating other mobile solutions. 

Human resources respondents reported finding SMS messaging more effective than push notifications. 

In customer service, 62 percent leverage at least two mobile messaging vendors and 65 percent have two or more messaging initiatives planned or underway in 2015. Nearly half must meet a specific ROI requirement to justify mobile messaging investments, with 39 percent requiring a payback calculation.

?What we see is marketing often times is leading on some of the new technology initiatives,? Mr. Shirey said. ?That?s great, but where I see an opportunity for the business to benefit is to bring IT in as soon as possible so IT can get heir heads around the tools that marketing might want to use and make those tools more broadly available to the rest o the organization. 

?Beyond sales and marketing, there is a lot of opportunity for mobile messaging to create a lot of value throughout the customer lifecycle,? he said.

Final Take?
Chantal Tode is senior editor on Mobile Marketer, New York