Sms Gateway: what it is and how it works

In this article we describe how a Gateway sms and SMS API . For this reason at the moment, the most common application is the “commercial” and marketing side, let's see what it is.

Sms Gateway: from server to mobile

Whether it is to communicate a new promotion, to announce a change to a purchased package or to notify about the arrival of a new product; a text message turns out to be the simplest and most direct form of communication possible.

However, managing a long list of messages to send is not at all easy and, for this, it is essential to learn how to use Gateway and API; or access doors and synchronized systems able to acquire the data in the database of any company software (or a website) and send the communication in a fast, simple and secure way.

Let's try to go into detail.

A Gateway could be considered a kind of bridge designed to connect two or more computer systems. Thanks to this bridge, which actually represents an interface with which to get in touch with other software; it is possible to manage a large flow of data, useful for sending communications of any kind to the contacts in one's address book, for example, but also for exchanging various types of data and information with suppliers and managers of the various departments. This information exchange takes place thanks to libraries used by software programmers called API (acronym for Application Programming Interface).

Why are sms bees used?

We focus our attention on using the gateway for communications with customers. The system of SMS API, made available by the provider, takes care of network and SMS services; allows you to send messages from your own or third-party software quickly and without complications.

Such help is essential for large companies that do not want to lose contact with their customers, but also for smaller realities that wish to make themselves known; offering a personalized service close to the needs of possible interested parties at low costs when compared with other more "traditional" types of communication. Of course, understanding what information deemed really important to customers may be may not be easy but, with a careful study of user preferences, it will be possible to arrive at a truly efficient service.

The importance of privacy

Not everyone tends to give due importance to such a system. It must be considered, in fact, that the mobile phone and e-mail are today very personal forms of communication and that a tool such as the gateway must be used sparingly: Overly pressing text messages and continuous offers could have the opposite effect and annoy the potential customer who would be forced to request deletion from the contact list of a given company. The advice, therefore, cannot fail to be to pay attention to the type of message to be sent: a text message can be very welcome for an expiring promotion or a new arrival of a highly anticipated product but it should be avoided if it has the sole purpose of sponsoring a service or of repeating for the umpteenth time the availability of a product.

Use the sms api for communications of public utility

We can also think about the use of mass sms sending for public purposes and not just promotional and commercial ones.

We also wrote it at the beginning of the article, each of us always has his mobile phone with him, now seen almost as an essential appendix of our body, an sms always arrives (regardless of the internet connection) and could be used to warn citizens in case of emergencies, problems related to the territory, breakdowns or, in general, for any communication important for the public interest.

Thanks to the SMS API it is in fact possible to integrate this communication system into any existing software (the api are distributed in all the main programming languages: C, C ++, PHP, ASP.net, Java) as long as obviously the citizen gives his ok! Privacy is perhaps one of the most delicate elements in the use of this technology