SMS API migration shouldn’t be expensive or overly complex. Bird makes it easy to switch providers and improve your SMS cost-efficiency.
Why enterprises hesitate to switch SMS providers
Transitions to new technology infrastructure always involve a degree of risk. Even when your existing SMS provider is delivering underwhelming performance and cost-efficiency, there’s short-term stability and comfort in the status quo.
But that comfort comes at a long-term cost. Faced with the opportunity to transition its SMS API to a superior platform, many enterprise businesses get hung up on the following concerns:
The potential cost of changing providers
No matter how much money your business can save in the long run, change requires an upfront investment. Enterprise IT must commit time and resources to managing this switch. Your SMS messaging strategy may be impacted, forcing you to hit pause on campaigns that generate revenue for your business.
The growing pains of switching your API provider are only worth it if you’re moving to a competent, proven partner. Not only will you benefit from better long-term performance and ROI, but you’ll also enjoy a smoother transition thanks to your new partner’s built-in support and resources.
The right SMS provider can help you achieve new messaging cost-efficiencies while controlling some of the costs associated with this up-front investment.
Resource-intensive development workloads
Many businesses switching their SMS provider need to schedule development work to fully integrate their own technologies with the new SMS API. Some of this development may be focused on API connectivity, but other development workloads may be focused on integration with the company’s CRM and other tools.
However many businesses, even those at the enterprise level, may not have the appropriate development resources to allocate for this project. Some internal developer teams won’t have the bandwidth to take on an SMS migration.
Without a partner that offers experienced tech assistance, your business will be on your own to tackle this development work—and if your company doesn’t have the capacity to handle this project internally, you’ll have to find outside help at an additional cost.
Compliance headaches
Switching your SMS API can involve a lot of extra work ensuring compliance for your messaging strategy. Short codes must be migrated, and a growing number of countries require businesses to receive whitelist approval before they can send messages.
Some countries make these processes more complicated than others: in the United States, for example, short code approvals can be very difficult if you’re attempting this on your own.
Meeting country-specific compliance requirements can take a lot of time and effort, and your messaging campaigns can get stuck in limbo waiting for approvals. While countries like the United States have very complex compliance requirements on their own, the task of managing compliance throughout your API transition will inevitably be more daunting when sending SMS globally.
Bird makes it easy to switch
Businesses that resist innovation due to its short-term expense and disruption do so at a great opportunity cost. You save money today, but your revenue suffers in the weeks, months, and years to come.
Change is uncomfortable. But it doesn’t have to be hard.
That’s why Bird has stripped out as much friction as possible from the API migration process, reducing the time and resources required to embrace a better approach to SMS.
Optimized cost-efficiency over time
Compared to competing SMS platforms, Bird is cheaper on a per-message basis. Platform fees are low despite the expansive built-in tools and capabilities. Inbound messaging is also free, which not all SMS platforms provide.
The cost efficiencies of Bird are even more stark for global SMS messaging. Because of the cost differences in sending SMS messages to different countries, Bird allows your business to create a global SMS messaging strategy that is optimized for greater cost efficiency. Bird’s routing engine uses its vast network of carrier connections to optimize message delivery and minimize processing costs.
Minimal need for development intervention
If your business is switching your SMS API from one provider to another, Bird removes much of the complex development work often associated with API connectivity. Some Bird customers can set up their API in a matter of hours.
Even when tackling development work beyond APIs, Bird offers comprehensive documentation and official SDKs for Python, Ruby, PHP, Java, and other popular languages. The platform also offers a sandbox environment to test functions before taking them live.
Reliable support for local SMS compliance
As a direct-to-carrier SMS platform, Bird offers more than 270 connections to operators around the world. This global connectivity is backed by platform support regarding compliance with local SMS regulations.
Bird support experts are at your service to keep you informed on local SMS regulations—including as those regulations change over time. Stay on top of local compliance requirements to ensure uninterrupted message delivery and avoid steep penalties due to non-compliance.
Real-life success stories, powered by Bird
The risk of transitioning your SMS API is easy to understand. It’s the reward that’s harder to pin down.
Sometimes the most convincing argument is the success stories of other businesses facing the same SMS challenges as yours. On that note, here’s a look at two Bird clients who switched SMS providers and never looked back:
How PagerDuty scaled its real-time messaging across 220 global carriers
PagerDuty is a digital operations management platform that sends SMS notifications to alert customers of incidents or activities that may impact their business clients.
Real-time delivery of these notifications is essential. The difference of even a few seconds can be consequential to their clients. To ensure delivery to its global customers, though, PagerDuty needed a messaging solution that could quickly reach its customers wherever they were located.
By switching to Bird as its SMS API provider, PagerDuty enabled notification delivery across more than 220 global carriers, achieving faster and more cost-effective messaging to reinforce the value of its monitoring services.
How SuperVista achieved 200 percent more leads in under 60 days
It is not just SMS that is easy to switch, the same goes for Email.
As the first full-digital hybrid optical platform in Europe, SuperVista built its brand by offering more convenient, cost-effective options for ordering prescription eyewear. But rising customer expectations and operational challenges from COVID-19 forced the business to rethink its business model—including its strategies for customer engagement and outreach.
The organization realized it needed to rebuild its messaging infrastructure from scratch. Under pressure to implement changes quickly in response to fast-evolving business conditions, SuperVista moved its messaging to Bird thanks to the platform’s minimal development requirements, ability to iterate on the fly, and its performance at scale.
In a race against time, SuperVista’s transition to Bird achieved incredible results within the first two months: open rates increased by 325 percent, leads increased by 200 percent, and the number of booked appointments grew by 300 percent.
When the right choice is also the easy choice
A lot of business decisions are hard. This one doesn’t have to be.
If your current SMS provider isn’t delivering the cost-efficiencies you need, Bird’s platform will help you break free from this bad partnership. Take advantage of our minimal development requirements, seamless integration options, extensive resource libraries, and built-in platform support.
Your SMS strategy is worth more on Bird.