January 2010 marks the first time we’ve run the Employee of the month award. As a company we’re looking to recognise those who go above and beyond their job description to really make a difference and in doing so, encapsulate our company values of entrepreneurship, integrity and the highest quality of service.

He was presented with a (very heavy) trophy and £100 to spend on a posh dinner at anywhere he chooses. Note – even Hart’s is affordable with that money, if you stick to 2 courses, or forgo the wine!

Congratulations once again Darren!

Darren (left) looking very pleased with his trophy

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So how do potential or existing Business SMS users differentiate between different suppliers?

Many start with price.  And this should be relatively transparent.  We’ve always published clear SMS pricing and have set out our pricing principals before.

Like many SMS providers we also offer a free trial of both our office products such as Web SMS and Email SMS and our SMS API so that you can get to grips with the functionality that we offer.

But how do you gauge the level of service and support that you will get with each supplier and their strength in depth, particularly when half a dozen providers are claiming to be the “UK’s leading provider” of Business SMS services.

A company’s reputation is often a good starting point: dig down a few pages on a Google search, or even a Twitter search: what are other people saying about them, are they hiring, are many others using them?

For those looking at Premium Rate SMS services, PhonePayPlus’ adjudication database can also be “illuminating” too!

Thereafter a certain amount will come down to “gut feel”:

• Does the SMS provider have the financial strength to offer you account terms?
• Is it always the same person answering the phone, indeed do they answer the phone!?
• And do their claims seem unrealistic: if a provider claims global reach or to be the biggest provider in the market, how does this stack up with whatever others say about them?

As a business we’ve defined one of core values as Integrity. We’ve always been careful not to make claims that we can’t back up. At the risk of sounding pompous we’ll continue down this path but we urge potential purchasers to dig deep when looking at different suppliers.

If you’ve got any questions about what we offer or who we are, please get in touch.  We’d welcome the opportunity to meet with you here in Nottingham.

Despite regular stories commenting on the possible demise of SMS messaging, both its simplicity and ubiquitous nature, continues to win through with consumers and businesses alike.

This is certainly our experience at Esendex. SMS messaging has been mainstream for years now, but despite this, new businesses start to use SMS for the first time every-day, and once they do, they often increase their SMS volumes, add 2-way SMS messaging or start to communicate with different groups as they look for applications of SMS across new areas of the business.

We were amazed with the number of schools and colleges that contacted us during the recent bad weather wanting to use SMS for the first time to communicate with parents and staff. But we shouldn’t have been. We have been established in the market for 9 years now and it may feel like SMS is a well established business communication technology to us, but for many organisations, they are only just starting to realise the benefits.

The full press release from the MDA can be read here.

We’ve seen a huge increase in our SMS customer traffic this week, as our clients keep all those connected to them updated with emergency SMS messages. Travel updates, school closures and works opening hours are currently flying through our dedicated SMS messaging servers.

Our customers report that SMS is the best option for communicating emergency situations, as most contacts have immediate access to a mobile phone (those who don’t can receive a voice message to their landlines instead) and the vast majority of SMS messages are read straight away.

If your Business or School needs to urgently text emergency or business critical communications, we can offer you a straight forward Web SMS solution to get your emergency SMS out straight away.

Get a free trial today or call us on 0845 356 5758 and we can set you up with an account straight away.

Ref. nasa.gov – UK Satellite image taken 07/01/2010

This was a time-lapse video we captured in our Nottingham office on the day of the Christmas Party on Wednesday. No this wasn’t a case of “big brother is watching you” although yes it was good to see some early starters in the office! Shame we didn’t capture the ice skating that took place later on at the Nottingham Market Square Ice Rink  – another time perhaps……

Mr Brown estimated that £600m could be saved on GP appointments alone.

We couldn’t agree more – we know just how successful a use of SMS this is.  We’ve had great results in both the private and public sectors, including the NHS.  Whether it’s using a simple Web SMS tool or integration SMS with back-office software via an API.

The problem within the public sector is that purchasing is so strangled and fragmented that it takes an age to get set-up.  What should take 24 hours ends up taking 12 months.

So Mr Brown – if you’re reading this do please get in touch (julian.hucker(at)esendex.com) – I’d love the opportunity to talk you through just how powerful Business SMS can be!

We are now making the necessary changes to ensure that all UK customers are paying the correct VAT rate from 1st January 2010.

However, we will not be making this change until midnight on 31st December so if you prepurchase messages before this date you will still be able to benefit from the lower rate of 15%.

If you have any questions on how this may affect you please contact your account manager or email invoicing@esendex.co.uk

It will be the default for all new customers, although of course our “classic” Web SMS application is still available and supported for both new and existing customers.

A quick tour will highlight just how big a step forward Echo is over our current version of Web SMS – with a more intuitive navigation, useful new functionality such as mail merging bulk SMS sends direct from an Excel spreadsheet , and a far more attractive and consistent design.

However, Echo is also provides the basis for a exciting range of new services and functionality that we describe as Message Relationship Management – the ability to centralise and organise all your online messages and contacts.  At go-live you will be able to:

• View threaded SMS conversations – just click on a Sent or Received SMS to see the other parts of the conversation
• Live access to contacts in other online tools such as Plaxo and Salesforce

And within just a few weeks, perhaps most usefully of all, you will be able to import your contacts from your mobile phone

If you are an existing customer and would like to try Echo simply visit www.esendex.com/echo and log-in as usual.  If you don’t have an account the please sign-up for a free trial now – we’d love to hear what you think.

Businesses looking for more effective, reliable and cheaper ways to contact their customers are increasingly turning to SMS services such as Esendex’s Web SMS.

Whether it’s gym promotions, MOT or service reminders, even wage slips, Web SMS provides a cheap, quick and simple way to get the message out. The service is easy to set up, no training is required, and you can be sending SMS to your customer base straight away.

Keep your business ticking over throughout the strikes – sign up for free trial today.

Watch the blockbuster below: