RCS is not a new topic in the telecommunications industry - there is still a lot to explore, as well as countless opportunities to improve Enterprise Communications, using the technologies that are available in the market.

How many text messages do you receive from friends, family, loved ones and organisations of every type and size? We suspect the answer will be “A lot!” Heading towards the three trillion mark annually globally (and that’s just the A2P, application-to-person bit), text messaging, whether it be using the humble SMS or one or many of the legion of chat apps out there, is here to stay.

The Third edition of MEF’s Future of Messaging Guide provides an invaluable resource for any enterprise looking to get started with business messaging

MEF’s annual Future of Messaging Guide 2021 is a free 41-page PDF that gives enterprises an introduction to the power of business messaging.

The guide takes readers on a tour across the landscape of mobile messaging for enterprises – all the way from basic one-way text alerts to bot directories to the potential of conversational banking.

COVID-19 has proven itself time and again to be a disruptive force. It has spurred genuine digital transformation across the globe and accelerated the transition towards more mobile working like no other force and period before in modern history. The smartphone is at the centre of this, proving to be a huge enabler, with ‘bring your own device’ being the most prevalent model.

We first surveyed how employees use their smartphones for work at the end of 2019, just before the pandemic arrived on the scene. Now our second iteration of the survey in 2021 has uncovered some staggering results: mobile, whilst already the instrument of choice for many, has now become the accepted reality. Download this report now to see just how much your office truly is ‘mobile first’!

To ascertain how mobile operators are reacting to the threat posed by fraud, MEF has once again teamed up with Mobilesquared to look at the impact fraudulent A2P SMS traffic had on the business messaging ecosystem in 2020, and how this might affect the opportunity in 2021.

This report explores the key findings from the exclusive mobile operator research and follows on from a similar project conducted by Mobilesquared for MEF in 4Q 2019.

If you’ve received an SMS, email or other type of Business Message from an enterprise or public sector organisation this year, you are most definitely not alone. Business Messaging transaction volumes grew c. 10% last year and number in the trillions. Yet there is plenty more headroom for growth. Many different digital channels are used for driving client communications and, as our survey of 6,500 smartphone users across 10 different countries shows, the traditional ones still punch hard in the engagement stakes. 46% of users surveyed prefer email but as you’ll see from our report, what people REALLY appreciate is brands using a rich mix of communication solutions to converse with them.

Check out this report now for a tonne of useful insight into the consumer behaviours and preferences really fuelling the hypergrowth in what (not so many years ago) was a much overlooked area by venture capitalists.. How times have changed…

Business SMS (also known widely as Application-to-Person, A2P SMS or bulk messaging) is a well-established, generally very safe, efficient and cost-effective way for organisations of all sizes and types to communicate with both existing and potential customers. This helps to build trusted relationships and increase brand loyalty.

Version 3.0 of the Fraud Framework offers yet more insight into the impact of fraud on all parties within the ecosystem. A total of 14 fraud types have now been identified, defined and mapped providing recognisable, real life examples of how fraud can occur.

Where there are digital transactions, there is the risk of fraud. Mobile content is no exception. Unscrupulous individuals and criminal networks use ever-evolving methods to defraud customers, mobile content providers, payment aggregators and MNOs.

In this ongoing fight, it is essential that the entire ecosystem works together to combat fraud. All stakeholders must be aware of the fraud types, and their differing impacts. Aligning on best practice limits the risk and helps everyone to stay ahead of the fraudsters.

This whitepaper was developed by MEF’s DCB Fraud Working Group which brings together representatives from every part of the mobile content value chain to help better educate the market.

The meeting of Business Messaging with Artificial Intelligence has created a new way to interact with consumers: P2A or person-to-application messaging.

Users can now text to ‘chatbots’ and engage with their accounts directly, enquire on services, schedule appointments or even buy goods. Many do not realise that there is no human typing back: it is the power of artificial intelligence that allows quick and efficient messages. The advancement of AI has made automatic chats a reality, but are users ready to embrace them?

MEF’s P2A Business Messaging 2020 report is based on 6500 interviews across 10 countries: Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, South Africa, Spain, UK, USA.

MEF’s Future of Messaging Guide 2020 published in association with Syniverse explores the growth of business messaging via a series of interviews and case studies to showcase how messaging continues to evolve and enable better customer engagement.

The 40-page guide is a comprehensive look at the trends, technologies, business personas and use cases driving the future of business messaging in a series of interviews and use cases across different sectors and regions.

MEF’s Future of Messaging Programme Security Working Group has carried out an analysis of the end-to-end processes that help secure SMS for business messaging. The Securing A2P SMS Business Messaging Whitepaper explains the messaging delivery chain and sets out clear guidelines for securing SMS for two factor authentication. It explains the technical, device and industry solutions available and provides recommendations to brands and enterprises based on a three-step approach.

The paper looks at potential SS7 vulnerabilities in the messaging delivery chain as well as data and identity frauds including SIM Swap / Port Out Account Takeover, SMS Malware and Smishing as detailed in MEF’s A2P SMS Fraud Framework.

Developed by participants of the Future of Messaging Progamme, MEF’s RCS Business Messaging Best Practices Guidelines aim to help accelerate the adoption of Rich Communication Services (RCS) for application-to-person (A2P) and person-to-application (P2A) messaging.
These guidelines were developed by MEF’s working group and via industry consultation in 2019 (V1.0) and 2020 (V2.0) led by David O’Byrne. They provide a framework for the technical and business options for deploying RCS Business Messaging and streamline the processes to enable a faster and more efficient launch of A2P and P2A communication services via RCS.

Advancements in digital technologies coupled with an increasingly mobile workforce are reshaping workplace communication. The modern workplace is characterized by distributed employees and virtual teams, fueling a mobile-first approach to communications. While more and more employees are using mobile messaging to communicate and share data, these new workplace mobility norms present data security, privacy and compliance issues for enterprises large and small.
The insights provided in this report should serve as a wakeup call for enterprises to address the misalignment between mobile device usage for workplace communication and strategies for ensuring control and security.