Nigerian Telcos Appraise RCS Business Messaging Impacts On Economy

Mobile network operators in Nigeria and global technology companies have appraised the impacts of Rich Communication Service (RCS) Business Messaging (RBM) on changing subscriber behaviour making Nigerian brands to rewrite the way they connect and engage with their customers.

At a seminar held in Lagos at the weekend, SMS is getting a major upgrade, enabling a richer conversational experience between brands and consumers. The technology that makes this possible is Rich Communication Services (RCS), the next-generation of SMS.

The experts who spoke at the seminar said in mobile-first markets like Nigeria, messaging is the key digital backbone for brand-consumer connectivity. Nigerian businesses can use RCS Business Messaging (RBM) to reach more consumers and improve customer experience, leading to increased ROI.

Using RBM, brands can send rich and interactive messages. These can include images, GIFs, videos, carousels, suggested replies, and suggested actions. All these are delivered to customers from a verified sender identity with a trust mark, improving trust and convenience in the process.

Already, MTN has partnered with Google and Dotgo to offer RCS to their subscribers. Airtel has similarly partnered with Google and Dotgo to offer RCS to their subscribers.

To enhance customer experience by offering round the clock customer service, MTN deployed Zigi – a digital personal assistant that can answer subscribers queries, check balance, assist subscribers with airtime and data purchases, and more via a chat, drastically reducing wait time.

Nigerian businesses can use RBM for engaging across the entire customer life cycle – from marketing to completing sales, and then providing support.  RBM is used for customer research, marketing, promotion, sending rich notifications, password verification, billing and payments, customer service, commerce, and engagement.

The chief enterprise business officer, MTN, Lynda Saint-Nwafor said, “Many of our enterprise customers in Nigeria are betting on RCS as a viable way to drive secure, contextual, and personalized consumer conversations at scale.”

RCS leverages Google’s Messages app, the default SMS app on Android devices, and offers end-to-end encryption for advanced security. RCS is the default messaging standard for 5G networks, though it continues to support 3G and 4G networks.

The director, Airtel Business, Nigeria, Ogo Ofomata, “Enterprises are increasingly turning to chat and messaging platforms to strengthen consumer relationships and engagement. Several of our enterprise customers are in the process of deploying RCS to consistently deliver a richer, more tailored, and interactive experience to thousands of consumers.”

Android Partnerships Lead, West Africa, Google, Ngozi Madueke-Dozie, said, “The adoption of RCS business messaging continues to grow rapidly. Brands across the world now want to deliver rich and interactive messages including images, GIFs, videos, carousels, and more to their consumers – RCS makes this possible.”

On his part, EVP, Telecom Business, Gupshup & CEO, Dotgo. Dr. Inderpal Singh Mumick, said, “RBM enables brands to offer a next-gen customer experience with greater interactivity, improved trust, and advanced security. We are excited to help Nigerian brands reimagine business-to-consumer communication and deliver richer, two-way conversational experiences to millions of subscribers.”

More than 14 million people are already experiencing the benefits of using RCS in the country, and the number is growing rapidly, as all new Android devices ship with RCS built into the Messages app.

With 175 million mobile subscribers in total, Nigeria is in a unique position to take the lead in using RCS and set an example for other mobile-first markets in Africa as well as across the world.

Enterprises just need to reach out to their SMS providers (aggregators, agencies, and ISVs) and start driving richer, interactive engagement with consumers. Mobile subscribers across all four telcos in Nigeria: MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile, have the capability to receive and send RCS messages.

With the RBM ecosystem live and ready in Nigeria, the onus is now on brands to double down on RBM to deliver a next-gen customer experience to Nigerians.

Using Dotgo RichOTP, businesses have been sending OTP over RCS in rich card format, complete with brand logo and verification trust mark. Only those businesses that undergo two-tier verification are able to deliver OTP. So, RichOTP helps brands develop trust and protect users from fraud, enriching customer experience, in the process.

“RCS is a big thing when it comes to rich communication and A2P messaging: it will redesign use cases, security, and models. We at MEF believe that it holds the potential to transform how enterprises engage with their consumers, helping them leverage Rich Business Messaging (RBM) to make it truly immersive at every level”, said Dario Betti, CEO, Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF).