RCS messaging can revolutionize way brands communicate with customers: MSG91

MSG91, a cloud communication platform, operates on the CPaaS model (Communication Platform as a Service). MSG 91 is one A2P communication provider in India. The platform mainly caters to businesses (B2B) all over India, and expanding globally, to perform effective and seamless business communications through various channels.

The services provided by the platform are BulkSMS, Emails, Voice, Chat, Whatsapp, and RCS.



MSG 91 has delivered 1 billion + OTPs, transactional and promotional SMS every month without fail, and 15 K+active users use the service globally. 



Shubhendra Agrawal, Co-founder, Director and CFO at MSG91, tells us more. Excerpts from an interview: 

DQ: How are cloud communication companies helping in the evolving cyber threat ecosystem?



Shubhendra Agrawal: Many companies are worried while adopting cloud-communications solutions. As it means sharing, files, programs and customer data which needs to be kept securely. Is the data safe from cybercriminals? In that case the answer is most of the time it’s seen that data theft is done through internal perpetrator onsite rather than offsite locations. 

Of course, this is all very abstract, but after switching to cloud communication, 91% of customers said the cloud makes it easier to keep information safe. The key is the encryption of data being transmitted over networks and stored in databases. By using encryption, information is less accessible to hackers or anyone not authorized to view your data.



DQ: How are cloud communication companies empowering businesses to aim higher through on-spot customer support and notification?



Shubhendra Agrawal: Traditional communication channels like calls or messages have become obsolete today when the consumers are running out of time. Businesses want to be present where their customers are. Not every customer would prefer to resolve their query via call or message, some would prefer a support via voice chatbot or whatsapp notification.

Successful businesses understand that in order to have the loyalty of their customers, they need to be where they want instead of shooting in the dark. As per a Nielson study, 56% of customers would rather message customer service than speak on the phone.

Being present on all the communication platforms would ensure that a customer is satisfied and stays connected with the company all the time.



DQ: What will be the future of enterprise messaging in 2022? How can the adoption of RCS boost your CX?



Shubhendra Agrawal: SMS messaging has existed since ages, but now, it has evolved and has transformed the way brands connect with consumers at the personal level. However, customers have often faced drawbacks with A2P messaging since it lacks customer engagement and there isn’t any room for interactive response.

On the other hand, P2P (Person-to-Person) messaging is available in various formats, like WhatsApp, Wechat and Facebook Messenger. However, despite the presence of number of chat options available SMS is still the preferred form of messaging and is great for push marketing. The only problem that needs to be targeted is to make it customer friendly, which can ultimately lead to better outcomes than other forms of messaging available in the market.



The solution to this problem is RCS messaging, which can revolutionize the way brands communicate with their customers.



RCS messaging has enhanced the customer experience for the users. RCS ensures transparency, helps to save time and provide suggestions to the customers which can be beneficial for both the consumer and the business in the long run.



Here are few reasons that how RCS is boosting customer experience:Verified Business Profiles: Customers need to trust that they are interacting with a verified sender. While doing any communication with the customer it’s essential that they are provided with utmost transparency and RCS messaging service ensures this



Quick replies: RCS messaging ensures that the customer’s time is saved, there is smooth communication and the issues are resolved in no time. The customers just tap a yes button with a message and it can be via any mode be it plain text, a rich card, video or message.



High-resolution images and videos: RCS provides various ways to businesses by which they can save a customer’s time and they keep coming back to the brand. RCS allows businesses to send high resolution images and videos to the customers so that they don’t have to visit the app or the website.



Rich cards: One of the USP of RCS messaging is that it ends up saving a lot of time for consumers. How RCS messaging ensures is by providing an app-like experience to the consumers so that they don’t have to waste their time.



DQ: How can we tackle the risks of conversational AI security?



Shubhendra Agrawal: Threats and vulnerabilities are two types of risks which a consumer might end up dealing with while interacting with chatbots. Threats are usually one-time events such as malware and DDOS (distributed denial of service). Customers' privacy is often being violated and it shows the dangers, which chatbots can add in the consumers lives. Vulnerabilities are systemic problems that enable scanners to breach in easily.

There are four techniques which can help to protect your system against chatbot risks:



Encryption: In order to ensure safety while interacting with chatbots, you must have come across these lines ‘This conversation is end to end encrypted’. This statement means that communication would remain between the sender and the receiver, and nobody would be privy to the chat. The chatbot designers keep this thing in mind while designing the chatbots.



Authentication process: Chatbots employ a set of security processes which ensure that the user who is using the chatbot service is real and isn’t a fraud. The authentication can be of any type, be it biometric authentication, two-factor authentication, timeouts, and user IDs.



Procedures and protocols: HTTP is a security system’s default configuration. According to the security teams, data transfer should only take place between HTTPS and encrypted connections. 

Other ways are educating your employees, self-erasing messages, and web application firewall, etc.



DQ: How are cloud communication platforms enhancing customer experience by blocking mobile spam calls?



Shubhendra Agrawal: We, at MSG91, are forcing the centerpiece to use unsubscribe features and the date is managed by us so which we keep protected. Also we suggest the companies use verified numbers and enterprise logos to maintain authenticity. Although most of the time spam call source is not done through enterprise communication, but rather through small companies.