Esendex SMS and the modular mind!

Iit's probably not the right thing to do to talk up your own services outright via a blog, in fact it's down right vulgar, but I'm going to do it anyway.

So when a potential client looks at our service what do they see, they see we have Echo, our web to text application which is as far as our clients are concerned the centre point of the service where you're able to not only send SMS messages to one or more handsets, contacts and groups, but send Voice SMS (text to speech) too. Check the status' of sent SMS and Voice SMS by batch or individual messages, but set up new users and setup email addresses to send out via their own email applications like Outlook, Lotus Note, Groupwise and so on.

Then we get to Email SMS, where clients send out emails that get converted to SMS as well as PC SMS, a small but very handy Windows based desktop application and of course our Esendex SMS API too.

It's fast becoming popular belief that the notion of a "self" isn't correct, and in fact as people, individuals we're modular - this means that in my head, your head, every one's own head are a collective of modules that make us think and behave in certain ways in certain situations. In fact Dr Robert Kurzban who recently wrote a book called "Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite: Evolution and the Modular Mind" explains that if we talk about situations, in fact these modules will have us thinking, yet if we're placed in that situation we could very well behave in the opposite manner - this is because of the modular mind and the fact that there is no real self, but a bunch of selves - so on that note, if you ever feel lonely, try talking to the other modules in your head?

What's this got to do with anything? Well, for one it's the reason why the iPhone has done so well - yes the millions spent on marketing has a lot to do with getting the product out there, but Coke spent a fortune on some different flavours that never became successful, no, the reason the iPhone and now Android phones are so popular is because the handsets themselves become an extension of our modular minds - we just aren't conscious of it.

These phones allow you to have all these different apps that don't necessarily fit together in a beautifully synergistic world, but individually work well with our heads because of the modules - bringing this back to Esendex it's the same.

there are lots and lots of ways to use the SMS service, you can send from your web account, you can send from your email, you can send from a wee desktop application and you can send out from your own in house software using the API's to integrate into the service. Why? because that's the way we think - the different ways of using the service are designed to fit you rather than your fitting us.

Think about this, if you want to upload and send to mass contacts you can - have them on a spreadsheet and simply upload and send them out, takes but a few minutes - you can even personalise the messages, send different messages to different handsets and whether you send to 50 or 50,000 handsets it's take but a moment in time.

That's fine, but lots of people don't want to have to log into a website to send a message here and there - we hear you, that's why we offer the ability to send out via your email and have it converted to an SMS, and also PC SMS - which for sending out broadcast messages (i.e. where you don't want a response) is awesome. It's because most people keep their email open all day, so it's handy to send out, and PC SMS starts up when you turn your PC on, and also doubles as a plug-in with Outlook, so again, no need to log into a new program each time you want to send, it sits there waiting for you.

Then there's what I consider to be the top dog in terms of utilising SMS - the Esendex API - and not because it uses the most up to date technology, and not because it's well documented and developers love it, no. it's because as humans we forget - we think we do things we haven't done, and that makes us to a point inconsistent, yet as humans we are desperate for consistency, and when we get it we're as happy as Larry. That's why integrating using the API is awesome because it allows for automated SMS messaging that means high levels of consistency and therefore the best possible benefit from using SMS.

So there you have it, when people ask me "how do we use the service?" the answer is always "what do you want to do?" because what you're doing plays an important role in deciding how best to use the service and extend beautifully with that modular mind of ours!

Enjoy and have a great week!

Regards,
C