In today’s challenging market, Application-to-Person (A2P) messaging is providing new revenue streams and enabling a growing number of voice carriers to make the move into business messaging.
According to Transparency Market Research, the global A2P SMS market is expected to reach $101 billion by the end of 2030. A2P offers new growth opportunities serving aggregators or enterprises, for voice providers to add additional value and new innovative services to their customer base.
For carriers to be successful in the A2P space and capture long term growth, they need to provide an optimised experience for end users, delivering rapid, cost-effective, and efficient messages to the right users anywhere, anytime. As services like Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) and customer service notifications become a crucial element in the business messaging space, carriers need to consider what else they need to tackle when entering the A2P market.
Understanding Your Position in the A2P Market
Carriers need to consider the customers they want to target and how they want to position their A2P messaging services in the market. Most carriers will be looking at the mid-to-high end of the market to serve the enterprises with the largest volumes, and in turn, the strictest requirements for quality and performance. This should inform their decision making about optimising their A2P messaging services and where they choose to invest when developing their offerings.
Over 100 countries today have implemented Mobile Number Portability (MNP), and in many of those countries, over 40% of numbers have been ported. MNP can cause messages to be lost or delayed before delivery to end users. For services like 2FA, this can be a critical differentiator for A2P service providers. Slow delivery of 2FA means a poor user experience and can cause them to turn off 2FA or not use the application or service. Reviewing the MNP landscape is a critical starting point for understanding global number intelligence requirements.
Enhancing Your Data with Global Numbering Intelligence
By auditing and reviewing their existing number intelligence, carriers can understand weaknesses and look at ways to ensure their data is accurate and reliable. They can then take steps to expand their data sets, integrate solutions like real-time number portability, and begin to improve operational performance.
Precision routing and message delivery depends on accurate global number portability data, so cleaning, refining and updating has to be a continuous and consistent activity. Carriers may have out of date and inaccurate data, which does more harm than good, leading to damaged reputations and loss of potential revenue. They need to invest in not just data sets, but the processes around enhancing and growing their MNP data. The result is accurate data that supports the long-term growth of their A2P offerings. It isn’t just about data. It’s about the data lifecycle.
Carriers must understand how data changes over time and how different versions of their data sets may be necessary to address different requirements. They need to create new value from data sets across their voice and messaging services, and apply it to challenges faced across message delivery, direct routing, mitigating fraud and OBR losses.
Optimising A2P for the Future of Business Messaging
For carriers to protect their reputation, reduce costs, and deliver accurate, reliable, and trustworthy services across the board, they need to ensure they are continuing to manage and expand their data sets according to enterprise demands.
When carriers have the right data and processes underpinning their A2P business, only then will they be ready to enter the A2P market. The ever-changing demands of the A2P market are challenging, but with global numbering intelligence, carriers can ensure the long-term success of their business messaging solutions.
