Role of SMS in Banking
Recession in the economy has forced banks and other financial industry to seek different ways in which they can increase their business. With the help of technology like SMS communication they are increasing monetization. Most of them uses web based SMS communication system with which they send million of messages quickly.
Mobile banking facility is offered by almost all the banks and financial transactions that are being done on ones’ account is notified to the account holder by an SMS alert. Previously this web based SMS communication technique had lots of limitations as it was one way-alerts. Banks were able to sent alerts to the customers but they were not able to respond for any clarification required.
But now it has all changed. Customers too can send SMS for a balance inquiry check. There are unique codes usually alpha numerals, specified by the bank for this purpose. These codes have to be send as a message to the given number to receive the services that are requested. This Mobile banking facility is password protected, to login, a unique User name and Password is provided, this can also be changed as per the customer’s request. Salary updation and other credits in the account are being sent as an alert to customers. These SMS services offered by the banks are outlined as Push & Pull services.
Push services include insufficient funds notification (sent when requested funds are not available in the customer’s account), large or small withdrawals from ATMs’, cheque payments, password authentication (one time password change), credit card notifications (all purchases made using credit or debit cards are immediately intimated to the customer) etc.
Pull services includes balance inquiry check, e-payment options, stop payment requests, Deactivation of a credit cards or debit cards (in case of emergencies such as theft or lost). Additional benefits such as foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates on different accounts are also intimated to customers as SMS Alerts.
SMS has now become a legitimate marketing technique because of its easy accessibility, less time consuming factor. This mode of communication is cheaper compared to other channels. The increased use of mobile phones because of its user friendliness has made this possible. The compatibility of mobile phones has also enabled the client to reach their customers as and when required. This is where internet banking even though has broader functionalities, lacks as it is limited to users who have access to computers and internet connection. SMS alerts are less time consuming compared to other mediums of communication such as tele-calling, mailing, etc. The dominating and overriding factor for those who are concerned about the security reasons is the immediate alerts on mobile phones about account transactions.
SMS Channels also helps their clients’ to tackle some emergency situations too, fraud alerts & abnormal transactions. Banking sector widely uses this technology as this requires less human resources. This enables to automatically process requests and data too. SMS gateway plays very important role in Mobile Banking, by offering quality and API based Internet SMS Gateway.