A2P messaging (the process of sending text messages from an application at scale) faces many of the same issues that other aggregate processes do: quality control, security, and efficiency. What’s worse, many of the businesses that rely on A2P don't have the resources or insights to tackle these problems head on.
Most of A2P's issues stem from routing. When you send a text message to someone else, your message starts on your network's nearest tower and is then sent to the next nearest tower (which may or may not belong to your network), and on and on until it reaches its recipient. This is more or less how routing works.
In A2P, this same process is being repeated for thousands of messages at a time, all going to different locations around the world often via multiple carriers. Managing this many routes is challenging and, as a result, many A2P platforms take shortcuts. These shortcuts lead to inefficient and costly routing, poor security, messages being lost, blocked, or delayed, and more.
Luckily, there is an alternative: Direct connections.
A direct connection is when the network a message is being sent from (Telecom A) has a pre-existing agreement with the network the message is being sent to (Telecom B). Because of this agreement, the message can be sent through a direct connection rather than pinging from one cellular tower to the next.
Because these networks are splitting the revenue made from the sending of this message, both are incentivised to take greater care of the message being sent. This leads to much stricter security protocols, faster delivery rates, and all-around better service for A2P customers and their subscribers.
The telecom industry is working to remove indirect routing altogether because it poses such a threat to A2P customers. When messages are being sent across indirect routes unchecked, there are opportunities for sensitive information to be intercepted.
This is especially important when one-time passwords are taken into consideration. OTPs are used to grant account access to consumers and are becoming more common as a result of policies like PSD2. Direct connections can improve the security of OTPs as well as other types of A2P messaging.
Your delivery rate is the ratio between the messages you attempt to send, and the messages that are successfully delivered. With indirect connections, delivery rates are often unpredictable — messages are lost, blocked, or intercepted before reaching their destination.
Direct messaging is much more accurate as there are fewer chances for messages to lose their way before reaching their destination. This decreases the cost of each message being sent and provides you with an efficient, reliable solution.
Delivery reports are how you know which messages arrived as intended, which didn't, and where in its journey a message is. Indirect connections tend to provide inaccurate results, which can make it difficult to understand the true performance of your A2P messaging.
With direct connections, delivery data is sent directly from one operator to another, providing you with a much clearer and more accurate idea of how your A2P messages are being delivered. This makes it easier to budget your A2P spending and measure its effectiveness.
JT Reach is an A2P messaging hub designed with our users in mind — it relies on SMPP protocols to provide you with the most cost-efficient routing possible. JT Reach also adds an extra layer of security to SMPP, whilst still simplifying the process of sending A2P messages.
Most importantly, JT Reach provides our customers with access to 700+ operator agreements. Not only does this improve connectivity between you and your subscribers, it also automatically negotiates the best prices for every message being sent. This allows you to dramatically improve your delivery rates and cut costs simultaneously.
A2P is becoming an essential part of B2C businesses, both for marketing and security purposes. If you're looking for a cost-effective and secure A2P platform, consider choosing JT Reach as your A2P hub.
Learn more on A2P messaging in our whitepaper.