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XConnect, Cisco and Somos Discuss How RCS is Revolutionizing Customer Communication


The 2024 Somos Summit in Las Vegas gathered top industry experts, pioneers and innovators to discuss the future of telecom, fraud prevention and secure communication. This year's event featured thought-provoking sessions and dynamic discussions, exploring cutting-edge technologies and strategies influencing the telecom industry.

In the Power Session, titled "Rich Messaging Revolution: Are You Ready to Transform Communication?" communications experts explored the transformative potential of Rich Communication Services (RCS) in the messaging landscape. Moderated by Stephen Ornadel, Vice President of Strategic Relationships and Product Development at XConnect, the panel included Eli Katz, Founder and CEO at XConnect, Jason Lunn, Global Connectivity, CPaaS at Cisco, and Ethan Gustav, Group President, North America at Infobip. Together, they discussed how RCS is poised to revolutionize business communication, offering enhanced security, richer user experiences and new opportunities for brands to engage with customers.

Stephen and Eli acknowledged that RCS isn’t a new concept — it has been around for 15 to 20 years — but they stressed that it is finally coming into its own and is set to become a major force in the messaging world. Ethan went on to describe RCS as an IP-based technology, offering a richer and more interactive experience compared to traditional text messaging. "If text messaging is like black-and-white TV, RCS is the full, wide-screen Smart TV experience," Ethan explained. RCS enables features like read receipts, multimedia sharing and interactive buttons, which make it a far more dynamic communication tool.

Jason emphasized the potential of RCS to foster deeper, more trusted interactions, enhancing customer experiences through real-time updates and feedback within a single chat. Eli explained the three stages of RCS’s evolution, from replacing SMS to enabling two-way multimedia communication, citing an example of ordering pizza through a seamless interactive chat interface, which highlights the future of business communication.

The panel stressed that RCS’s growth hinges on overcoming technical and commercial hurdles, with Google playing a pivotal role by providing the infrastructure needed to scale globally. Security emerged as a key concern, with improvements like encryption offering enhanced protection, though challenges remain in balancing transparency with security, particularly in identifying fraudulent messages. Jason shared a success story from local government, where RBM helped re-engage residents to resolve financial difficulties, illustrating RCS’s broader potential and Eli highlighted the growing responsibility to maintain trust and safeguard against bad actors as RCS transforms the communications landscape.

Looking forward, the panelists were optimistic about the widespread adoption of RCS, though they acknowledged that it may take time for the technology to fully penetrate the market. "We’re entering the next era of conversational everything," Ethan said, highlighting the huge opportunity for brands to enhance their customer relationships.

Jason closed with a hopeful outlook, predicting that by next year, the number of businesses adopting RCS will grow significantly. Eli echoed this sentiment, noting that even the most conservative forecasts suggest that hundreds of millions of messages will transition to RCS within the next year. "This is a tremendous opportunity for brands, businesses and the industry to deliver trust and confidence to the entire ecosystem.”.

The "Rich Messaging Revolution" session provided an in-depth look at how RCS is set to transform the way businesses and customers communicate. With support from major players like Google and the promise of enhanced features like multimedia messaging and end-to-end encryption, RCS is poised to replace traditional SMS and open new opportunities for rich, interactive customer experiences. As the panelists made clear, while there are challenges ahead, RCS represents the future of business communication — and that future is arriving now.


To learn more about the 2024 Somos Summit and to gain access to on-demand recordings, visit www.somos.com/summit 

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