| | JUNE 20188CIOReviewBy Chris Drake, CTO, iconectivImagine a group of people in a chat session engaging with various businesses to purchase movie tickets while chatting, book a restaurant reservation or see directions all in unison. That is pretty rich. In the past year, the advanced messaging protocol known as Rich Communication Services (RCS) has gained momentum with a forecasted growth of approximately 160 million monthly active users across 50 mobile network operators (MNOs) today to more than one billion by 2019. Many of us have seen RCS in various past incarnations. Ultimately, these earlier attempts never caught on in the face of over-the-top messaging apps such as Snapchat and WhatsApp.RICH COMMUNICATION SERVICES (RCS) ARE HERE ­ WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW As its name implies, RCS offers a significantly richer experience for business-to-consumer engagement through texts on smartphones. Many of its capabilities are like those of an app but with the simplicity and convenience of SMS messaging. It can serve as a multimedia engagement channel capable of supporting high-resolution pictures, videos, and audio. It can also enable many other features, including reservation tools, online shopping and payment options, real-time account management and customer care, shipment and tracking, etc. Artificial Intelligent (AI) enabled chatbots are possible, too, and can provide a unique group chat experience where multiple users can communicate with a business and receive information or complete transactions at the same time.GSMA, Google and several major service providers have been at the forefront of driving this technology. GSMA established the Universal Profile standard in 2016 ­ a single, industry-agreed set of features and technical enablers supported by 60 organizations, including major wireless carriers. Google is developing a ubiquitous RCS platform that supports SMS and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), third-party RCS networks and RCS-compliant clients on Android smartphones plus several service providers have run pilots, including Sprint and Telcel México. Many other service providers are exploring RCS pilots as well.Chris Drake
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