Role Of Bulk SMS Services In The Authentication Of Business Users

The technology is scaling at a rapid tempo and it is utmost necessary for business houses and organizations to catch up with these changes to sustain in the market. Matching up the pace with these changes not only add on growth aesthetics but also usher sustenance for the intended business houses. Bulk SMS is an emerging marketing technology that is changing the ways and dynamics of business marketing. If the business organizations wish to enhance their business marketing and communication methodologies, it is highly appreciable to inculcate the thread of bulk SMS services within the business fabric. At the core, bulk messaging is the technique to communicate with tens of millions of audiences simultaneously and spread the business word. Using the qualifications of short messaging services or SMS, the business unit can send and receive bulk SMS from vast target audiences.

Bulk messaging in your business domain

Consider that you own a business house that directly interacts with the customers. Taking the nature of B2C business into consideration, you need to establish a communication with each of the target audiences to cater. Generally, these audiences number in a huge figure and thus you should pertain a marketing technique that can help in reaching out to maximum audience at minimal marketing expenses. Bulk SMS services do the same.

To elaborate, it is a well-known fact that SMS communication has always been an economical way of communication within audiences. The surveys by leading names affirm, people around the globe prefer and use SMS services over phone calls to interact with others and pass on crucial information. Unlike lengthy phone calls, the messages can be sent and read by the users at their convenience without hampering their privacy.

Drawing the lines back into the system, Bulk SMS Service is majorly used by the business houses to send their customers messages detailing about the new products and services introduced by the institution, discounts, verbalize crucial information, and send transactional updates. Let’s dive in and explore the use of bulk SMS services for authentication purpose in the text further.

One time passwords and two-way authentication

The business audience is highly dynamic and prefers performing an interaction with the business houses without being bounded by the time frames. This dynamism leads to the need for business institutions to support round the clock services. Those days are long gone when the business and customers can interact with each other only between the office hours of 9 to 6. The market today is highly customer-centric and therefore it is always advisable for businesses to facilitate their existing clients and potential customers a fair 24*7 window for business interaction.

In doing so, the businesses must take in consideration security and authentication factors and also ensure that security is not compromised at any verge. This leads to the usage of one time passwords or OTPs. As the name indicates OTP is a random generated alpha-numeric code of a designated length that the business application sends the end-user using the potential of bulk SMS services. On the customer side, he or she receives a simple text message that contains the OTP as regular text. This OTP can be entered by the recipient and therefore verify its authenticity. Here, it is worth noting that SMS can be sent and received anywhere within the globe just in a fraction of seconds. Therefore, the OTP bulk SMS proves to be the best way to flow authentication information from business to user in the given frame of time.

OTP in banking domain

Say, for example, you belong to the banking domain and a potential customer wishes to interact with your bank using your online portal. This interaction can be for purchasing a new policy, insurance or simply opening a banking account with your bank. As stated earlier, these activities can be simply performed online.

To perform any of these activities, the user must log-in or sign-up on the portal. In the process of sign up, the bank must verify the user. One way of doing so can be by using OTP messages. The banking bulk messaging application can send an OTP to the user registered mobile number. Once the user feeds in the received OTP, the bank can easily verify the authenticity of the aspirant. With the user being verified, it becomes easy for both the bank and end-user to complete the further processes.

Two-way authentication

Banking is a highly sensitive domain which requires a great deal of authentication before executing any process. In such situations, two-way authentications prove to be of great worth for the institution and help is achieving the unparalleled trust of its associates and customers. When the end-user intends to make any transaction or perform a crucial activity, it is suggested that the user undergoes a layered process where he or she is appropriately identified and authenticated. By using two-way authentication bulk SMS services into systems, banking units perfectly ensure this verification.

Coming back to the previous case study, let's say that post successful sign-up, the user wishes to log in. At the portal, the user shall feed in its credentials including the username and login password. However, there still lies the possibility of credential theft. To avoid this possibility, the banking application can send the user dynamically generated one-time password on his registered mobile number that should be immediately entered by the recipient within the given frame of time. If the entered password matches the sent alpha-numeric code, only then the user is featured to enter the portal and exercise the rights and facilities bestowed under its power.
A similar scenario can be replicated by the banking applications when the customer wishes to perform crucial activities such as monetary transactions. While carrying out such transactions, the user can be featured to feed in the OTP along with the regular transaction password to verify and therefore perform a transaction that is fairly free of any unsuspicious activity.

Here it is worth noting that implementation of one time passwords and two-way authentication bulk SMS proves great significance and assists in the development of mutual trust between the business units and their associated audiences. Further, the possibility of unsuspicious activities is fairly ruled out, therefore proofing the business from landing into any lethal situations.