JAM IP today announced it has extended its OpenCONTACT suite with the new product OpenCONTACT Mobile, which manages outbound SMS, MMS and WAP push communication for contact centres. The new product will allow contact centres to increase their use of outbound text communication while cutting down on phone calling costs, and provides the means for building sophisticated proactive contact strategies.

JAM IP’s OpenCONTACT Mobile allows contact centres to harness the power of SMS, by combining voice and text communication into a single platform, providing contact centres with the same control over their outbound SMS/MMS as they have over their outbound calling. It also integrates with existing back end systems and monitors contact centre activity and queues, then paces message delivery according to agent availability. These integration features are vital, according to research JAM IP conducted with ContactBabel, as the major inhibitor for SMS uptake within contact centres is the lack of integration with existing applications.

OpenCONTACT Mobile uses complex and segmented list management, combined with templates, to automatically construct and send messages, and provides real-time reporting. It also allows customers to reply to SMS messages and receive an automated response back. JAM IP’s research with ContactBabel’s shows that two-way communication using SMS is not wide-spread — 55 per cent of respondents stated that they do not allow customers to respond to an SMS.

JAM IP’s research with ContactBabel found that many customers are giving their mobile as their prime contact number. As a result, almost 70 per cent of contact centres’ outbound calling costs will be the result of calls to mobiles by mid-2008, signifying the need to move to other communication methods. SMS is the likely choice, as it is as ubiquitous and personal as the mobile while relatively inexpensive - costing only 5 to 10p, compared to an outbound phone call that can cost £3.08 (The 2007 Contact Centre Operational Review, ContactBabel). According to IAB, SMS is an effective marketing channel with 90 per cent of SMS being opened, compared to 25 per cent for emails.

SMS also has cost saving potential when it is used to provide proactive information to customers - the kind of information that customers would normally call into the contact centre to obtain, such as the status of an order or a loan application. According to ContactBabel, the average cost of an inbound call to a contact centre is £2.88. If an inbound call can be avoided by providing a proactive SMS message (costing 5 to 10p), the cost savings can be significant.

Suzette Bouzane Meadows, Market Development Director at JAM IP said:

“SMS is a killer contact centre application. You can genuinely improve your customer service while at the same time reducing cost. The potential for service has long been talked about, but it was difficult to realise because of the problems associated with integrating it with existing contact centre applications. Now with OpenCONTACT Mobile, the industry has the opportunity to fully exploit outbound SMS to complement its other activities, especially in the provision of an unobtrusive, one-to-one service.”