RCS – what’s that?

5 quick ones with Guro Røed, Sales Director at LINK Mobility Group

Hi Guro. So LINK Mobility has been selected to participate in Google’s Early Access Program for RCS Business Messaging. Tell me more!
– Hi, yes, super cool! As a leading mobile technology developer in Europe, we’re excited to be participating in Google’s Early Access Program for RCS business messaging. RCS or Rich Communication Services is a new standard for the “new generation of SMS”, which brings rich media messaging, interactivity and more to text messaging. RCS is an open standard supported by the GSMA, Google and mobile operators.

Why and how were we chosen?
– Thanks to our position in Europe and our strong customer portfolio. The fact that our company is based in the Nordic region, one of the world’s most digitized areas, is also a big advantage.

Cool! So what does this mean to our customers and end users?
– Yes! Our customers will be able to offer their recipients improved experiences and better communication with the ability to add 2-way dialogues, action buttons, videos, GIFs, audio files, maps and more, directly in the messaging channel. In addition, these messages are secured by verified sender, which means that the recipient of messages can always trust this communication.

What challenges do you see for RCS business messaging?
– RCS business messaging is an exciting new channel for businesses but it’s a completely new medium. Brands will need to learn how best to use the new capabilities and create rich, interactive conversational dialog flows. In addition, it’s early days for RCS so reach varies by region depending on mobile operators and mobile phone manufacturers. In the Nordics, Telenor has already committed to RCS and launched it on Person to Person level in Norway. We expect other regional operators to follow soon.

Can you call this communication of the future?
– SMS is today the world’s largest inbox and the most powerful medium, but it has its limitations as it only works with text and links today. Mobile users constantly demand a better experience when they interact with companies. We look forward to offering our customers messaging with richer content and new functionalities.

We believe in enabling a wide range of functionalities so that our customers can communicate smarter in the messaging channel. The future will be more conversational interfaces like RCS and less transaction based channels like e-mail.

For example, if you want to fly to NYC tomorrow, you will be able to write directly to Norwegian in you messaging app, buy and receive a ticket, all embedded in the messaging interface. This allows a stronger interaction between business and mobile users as well as it improves the user experience and making the interaction smoother and more engaging.

Keeping our customers ahead in a digital world and empowering them with smarter technologies to communicate is our mission.

• Read more about RCS.