And it was a topic I love – The Future of Messaging. Contrary to popular belief I DO understand that messaging is about far more than SMS alone! Hard to believe for some of you I know though. That said, the journey SMS has taken since its beginnings in December 1992 is unmatched.

Messaging today has become a commerce platform, an authentication tool, an alert system. Think of practically any use case and messaging will have a role to play somewhere in them. What new applications will be included in these? Will apps be replaced by messaging bots? Will social media merge with messaging? Whatever the future holds the future will be richer – messaging that is!

It’s clear that there are some great companies out there making mobile engagement channels very easy for organisations of any type to leverage and we all have to work smarter to get this message out there to the millions that have no idea about our industry at all.“

MEF’s CEO Dario Betti and Chairman Andrew Bud set the scene wonderfully for me to address so many messaging related issues head-on. Kindly sponsored by Sinch, I had the pleasure of the company of:

• Jon Campbell, Product Director Rich Messaging with Sinch
• Alexandre Cottereau, Product Manager Value Factory by Bouygues Telecom
• George Parker, Co-founder & CEO of GOMEEP

So, we had a CPaaS/messaging powerhouse, mobile network operator and (the real crucial piece of the jigsaw in my opinion) an enterprise. And none other than a recent, fast-growing start-up. Perfect.

Those of you who know me well will be fully aware just how much of an advocate for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) I am. It might be cool and fashionable (the fact that I am using such terminology tells you perhaps just how uncool I might actually be!) to talk about how huge corporations, global brands use mobile messaging for driving their conversion ratios and client engagement but the stark reality is that for such conversations to dominate does not reflect the real world.

Which organisations employ the most people globally? Which organisations are responsible for creating the majority of new jobs? Which organisations provide the majority of people globally with their goods and services? The answer is SMEs. And given barely 5% of listed companies globally use A2P SMS as it is, the headroom for growth across all of Messaging is unquestionably huge.

Jon Campbell from Sinch delivered a perfect key note to set the scene and this was followed by Bouygues Telecom’s Alexandre Cottereau who really educated us about Rich Communication Service (RCS) and what moves in France are being made by a cross-operator cooperation initiative to really make this something mainstream. As we know very well at MEF, collaboration amongst stakeholders (all done in an anti-trust environment of course) is key to driving real impact across the ecosystem. As of course is genuine innovation which companies like Bouygues and Sinch are known for.

The ultimate expression of innovation surely is the desire to build something impactful from scratch and for this reason it was for me wonderful to have George Parker with me on the panel discussion. George is one of the founders of a truly innovative electric scooter and bike rental company in Barcelona and what shone through was how simplicity was key to his company’s success.

For one reasonable monthly fee, people in Barcelona get access to an electric vehicle, the fee covering maintenance and even third-party liability insurance. And it is with this ethos how GOMEEP have approached their client engagement. 99.99% of all their client engagement is run through WhatsApp Business Messaging. Proof if ever required that there REALLY is more than A2P SMS! Indeed, George referenced but only one instance where a client did not have access to a smartphone and communication with that individual had to be run expressly through email.