Acision, best known as a supplier of messaging infrastructure to major mobile operators worldwide, has teamed up with Soli, which describes itself as “the world’s trusted mobile marketing channel”, to create what the companies describe as: “an innovative, new media model that offers global corporations the broadest reach to consumers through messaging”. Working together, Acision and Soli say they will transform the mobile marketing ecosystem by driving new standards which directly connect mobile carriers, brands and consumers. 

Sounds good, but what does it actually mean, and how would a messaging campaign executed via the Acision/Soli platform differ from one run through an aggregator? We spoke to Acision to try and cut through the marketing speak, and as the company’s SVP, Marketing and Strategy, Steven van Zanen explained it, the key points are these.

When a brand runs a messaging campaign – which could include things like coupons, loyalty programs and anything else delivered via the messaging channel – through an aggregator, the aggregator is merely selling messages. There is no standard on how the messaging media is bought. We put it to Acision that many aggregators would argue that they do a whole lot more than sell messages. Even this point, the company seemed reluctant to concede. Whatever else the aggregator does do, however, van Zanen told us, it is impossible for the aggregator to offer a completely end-to-end transparent service, since the campaign will always go through the carrier’s systems, so there is no direct communication between the messaging application and the device.

In the Acision/Soli world, the messaging campaign will run in a separate channel which, although it resides in the carrier’s (Acision) infrastructure, will not be subject to any interference (our word) from the carrier, meaning that this direct communication between the app and the device can be achieved. The carrier will be rewarded with a cut of the messaging revenues simply for giving their permission for the campaign to run through this dedicated channel, which in effect remains invisible to their own systems. 

So what is this “interference” that messages are potentially subject to when they run through a carrier’s systems? Here’s van Zanen’s explanation. There are currently at least three different disparate steps for SMS wholesale through an aggregator. Firstly, there is a transaction taking place between the application and the aggregator, and subsequently a new transaction between the aggregator and the carrier’s system (often some gateway), and finally a transaction handled deep in the operator network between the SMS delivery engine and the user’s mobile device.

Before sending to the user, the message ends up at the Operators SMSC in a ‘pile’ (an undifferentiated queue together with all other messages). Generally, aggregators do not get any feedback on what happens at this stage. Also aggregators tend to change routes for delivery on a daily basis depending on cheapest rates (wholesale in this sense is like a day trade market).

The last part of this explanation begs two further questions. Firstly, what are the (presumably bad) things that could happen at this stage? And secondly, what are the (again presumably negative) implications of the fact that aggregators tend to change routes for delivery on a daily basis depending on cheapest rates. We are awaiting the answers to these questions from Acision, though if youre in the messaging business, you probably already know them.

The partnership between Acision and Soli came about, van Zanen told us, because Soli was trying to run messaging campaigns for big brands in the US, and was finding it hard to execute on, because of the issues created by the fact the campaigns were touched by the operators’ systems.

Now if you’re following this, you’ll realize that even if this new solution is as groundbreaking as the two companies claim, it can only run through carriers where Acision’s messaging infrastructure is installed. This is no great obstacle: Acision’s customer list includes over 200 carriers, including eight of the 10 largest, globally, serving 2bn consumer customers.

It’s not enough for the Acision systems to be in place, however. It also needs the carrier’s permission for the Soli messaging campaigns to run through this dedicated channel in their system, without being touched by it, in return for a slice of the campaign revenues.

In this respect, van Zanen says that it should be live with “several” carriers within the next couple of months. Pressed for a bit more precision, he says: “We know that for this to work, we need to be present in entire countries so we are focusing pretty aggressively on five specific regions. The brands are ready to roll with this, they love it. Our biggest challenge is that within the carriers, there is no-one responsible for new revenue streams, so the biggest challenge is to find this person, but when we do, we think it’s pretty straightforward.”

So is this, as the companies describe it, a: “visionary new platform…changing the mobile marketing ecosystem and uniting the world”? Well clearly, the last bit’s a tad  optimistic for a messaging platform, however radical it is. As for the rest, it remains to be seen, but if it is the mobile messaging panacea it claims to be, we look forward to hearing about campaign success stories from Acision and Soli. In the meantime, we would love to hear the thoughts of the aggregator community on the idea.