Customer story
Open Nederland
Stichting Open Nederland sent over 21 million OTP messages with a delivery rate of well over 99% — verifying COVID-19 test appointments for the Dutch Testing for Entry platform.
Sector
Government non-profit
Channels
Headline
21M+ OTP messages at 99%+ delivery
The challenge
Verifying millions of citizens, where a missed message meant a missed event.
Stichting Open Nederland (SON) — Dutch for The Open Netherlands Foundation — is an independent non-profit funded by the government to help people book COVID-19 test appointments via government-approved test providers. Through its Testen voor Toegang (Testing for Entry) platform, it has facilitated more than 7 million bookings at hundreds of locations operated by over two dozen companies across the country.
The government had to ensure that citizens signing up for tests via Testen voor Toegang could confirm their identity and would receive only their own results. SMS was chosen as one of the authentication methods, alongside an ID check at the testing facility and the national CoronaCheck app for generating unique QR codes. SON needed an SMS provider that could guarantee a high delivery rate at scale — millions of messages facilitating visits to events, bars, restaurants, and sports matches with a COVID-19 test.
A high delivery rate was especially essential, as people would not be able to visit their events without a QR code. As a government project, GDPR and other regulatory compliance were vital: uptime of 99.9%, uninterrupted handling of 400K SMS per day, and round-the-clock proactive network monitoring.
The solution
Scalable SMS verification with EU-grade privacy and compliance.
SON learned that Bird could meet those high standards. Bird's scalability and high delivery rates made them a good match. Through its integration with Bird's SMS API, users who signed up for a COVID-19 test could successfully verify their test appointments — and SON could then send an SMS notification informing users that their test results were available to view.
As a government project, the security and privacy of customers' data and GDPR compliance were paramount. Bird's extensive experience with sensitive data and its work with some of the biggest companies in the world came in handy.
- An EU data center.Customer data stays within the region, supporting the platform's privacy and compliance requirements.
- ISO certification. A certified foundation for handling sensitive data at the standard a government project demands.
- Need-to-know access. Information accessibility to employees is on a need-to-know basis.
The results
21 million messages, well over 99% delivered.
With Bird, SON has sent over 21 million messages so far — to people trying to set up a COVID-19 test appointment with approved test centers. Many factors can affect whether an SMS is delivered: an invalid or wrong number, a landline that can't receive texts, or a phone turned off at sign up. Despite these challenges, SON achieved a delivery rate of well over 99%, leaving only a small number of people to get help from its helpdesk to book an appointment.
21M+
OTP messages sent to people setting up a COVID-19 test appointment with approved centers.
99.2%
Delivery rate for SMS notifications across the Testing for Entry platform.
400K
Daily SMS handled without interruption, with round-the-clock network monitoring.
“Bird takes care of SMS delivery to verify COVID test appointments and provides overviews and insights into our usage of the services.”
Bernd Talsma, Product Owner, Stichting Open Nederland
Carry-forward reference from bird.com. Metrics and named quotes reported by Open Nederland.
Verify on the same SMS network.
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