What are some SMS applications?
 
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Short bursts of data once restricted to fixed LANs and WANs are now being delivered to mobile devices to boost productivity and improve customer service. Wireless Short Message Service (SMS), which I discussed last time, is the vehicle for this communication. Some interesting SMS applications can be found in the banking sector, among retail businesses such as restaurants, and in the transportation industry which uses SMS for location tracking.
In general, automated teller machine transactions are less costly to a financial organization than those involving live tellers and Internet transactions are less expensive still. SMS, often in conjunction with the Wireless Application Protocol, can be used to enable wireless customers to check balances, transfer funds between accounts and so forth using their cell phones - enhancing customer service while helping control costs.
In a restaurant scenario, if a waitperson can complete a credit card transaction right at the customer's table using SMS, that removes another necessary roundtrip (to a point-of-sale terminal and back again to the patron's table). Anyone who has ever been dying to leave a restaurant while their waitperson disappears for what seems to be eons can likely see the value in this from the customer side. Meanwhile, from the business' point of view, the waitperson becomes more productive.
Tracking the location of a truck or the goods a truck is carrying has long proven to be a critically competitive component to the transportation business. Location tracking can be a good candidate for an SMS application because only small amounts of data, such as latitude, longitude, and time of day, must be transmitted.
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Joanie Wexler is an independent networking technology writer/editor in Campbell, Calif., who has spent most of her career analyzing trends and news in the computer networking industry. She welcomes your comments on the articles published in this newsletter, as well as your ideas for future article topics. Reach her at joanie@jwexler.com.
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