Technology

How to simplify your internal administration with an integrated SMS service

Improve internal admin with an integrated SMS service

Internal administration must be one of the biggest time thieves and money wasters in any business. Paperwork piles up, countless hours are spent trying to streamline processes to keep customers happy or targets met, and you always seem to be understaffed in trying to control out-of-control administration. Sound familiar? Luckily in today's automated age, everything can be made simpler through online, email, voice and text messaging services.

We wrote recently about how automation is making customer service easier and more rewarding. Everyday companies are getting smarter by also simplifying their internal processes through automation - one of the most cost-effective being SMS services.

Debt collection

One of the biggest headaches of small and corporate businesses - just how do you easily get your debtors to pay on time? Get personal, get texting. For example, debt collection software CollectPlus enables businesses to send SMS reminders to debtors of upcoming payment dates. It is faster, cheaper, and more reliable than phoning or emailing, as people give more attention to a text message.

Appointment reminders/notifications

From restaurants to salons, from medical practitioners to car services, if your business relies on appointments, it means time is money and no-shows are devastating to your bottom line. Integrate SMS services into your booking system and remind customers timeously about their appointment, with the optional feature of them confirming or canceling a booking. For example, The Patient Care Messaging system sends automated texts to patients' mobiles, reminding them of their doctor's appointments and with the option of confirming, rescheduling or canceling.

Recruitment

Finding the right staff is an expensive and time-consuming exercise. If you include a shortcode in your recruitment drives to build a database of applicants, you can very easily notify them of new positions via SMS services.

For example, The Federal Department of Employment in Australia teamed up with the National Harvest Labor Information Service to create an SMS service for connecting unemployed workers with fruit and vegetable picking jobs. After registering, job seekers received SMS notifications of where they are needed.

Project status updates

If you are managing large projects across many service providers, SMS services are invaluable in keeping everyone on track. The Blue Planet Network - an organization that connects funders, NGOs, the public and communities in aid of addressing water and sanitation programs - created an SMS reporting tool for its members which are especially valuable in countries such as India where 77% of the population owns a mobile phone.

Case tracking

SMS services can be put to great use in keeping track of customer service cases, supplying reference numbers, etc. For government organizations, SMS is a valuable tool to keep track of thousands of cases. For example, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service provides applicants and their representatives with automatic updates about their case by email. A new pilot program also enabled them to get SMS notifications whenever a case had been updated.

Applications and admissions

Education providers can use SMS services to simplify the admission process. A university in Bangladesh allowed candidates to apply for an admission test by SMS. Candidates could text their HSC information, which was then processed and verified by the Education Board. Eligible candidates were then sent a confirmation text and the application fee for the admission test was deducted from their prepaid mobile account. After completing the test, candidates then also received results via SMS.

Interdepartmental communications

Big corporates such as Johnson & Johnson use an international SMS platform to communicate with 100,000 employees in the field. Every account rep can get real time stock information, company announcements, and delivery dates by SMS. SMS services can clearly be used in almost every aspect of your business workflow to make it more effective and cost efficient.

Read more about how innovative ways that businesses are using bulk SMS messaging.

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