Challenge

The Nigerian branch of UBA was looking for a solution to improve engagement with its customers and provide them new, more convenient services. With the SMS-based mobile banking being prevalent in Africa and Nigeria, the solution needed to support this ubiquitous technology and also needed to enable massive sending volumes, given UBA’s large user base.

Solution

Infobip’s professional messaging gateway designed to integrate with the client’s database for event-based messaging, was selected to improve customer communication through targeted SMS messages.

As Infobip also offers USSD technology, an interactive service available without a data connection and on every type of mobile phone, UBA Nigeria combined the two Infobip solutions in several instances to better serve the needs of its customers.

In one example, an SMS message was sent to all UBA customers who had not yet linked their bank account to the BVN (Bank Verification Number) implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Database integration enabled to identify such customers and automatically target them for a customized SMS message. The SMS message invited customers to dial a USSD code and enter their BVN. The API-based USSD integration enabled to identify the bank customer based on their mobile number and link their BVN with their customer profile in the bank’s database.

The campaign had quite a success, with over 400,000 USSD sessions initiated to submit the BVN and thus meet one requirement implemented by the central bank. In another example, UBA harnessed USSD technology to enable their customers to top up airtime on their mobile phones, on several of Nigeria’s mobile operators. UBA provided operators with the billing capability as provided by Infobip, and collected a small fee for each top up performed via USSD. This gave its customers another convenient way of topping up their prepaid mobile accounts, and a new revenue stream to the bank.

Result

The success of the partnership is well illustrated by over a billion transactional SMS messages processed by Infobip on behalf of UBA. In addition to this type of SMS alerts, the bank uses Infobip to deliver marketing communication and further promote its services.

The integration process was handled by Infobip’s Nigeria-based tech staff, and on-site support is also available from Infobip’s Lagos office. In particular, USSD services integration saw a whole range of consultancy services provided by Infobip experts, in order to make the most from both the technical and the commercial standpoints. The cooperation with UBA continues to a mutual satisfaction in multiple markets where both UBA and Infobip operate.

Challenge

As a true bank of the future, Croatian Postal Bank (HPB) encourages transparency and innovation in business, and nurtures a culture of market competition which breeds new, top-quality services. HPB is dedicated to developing appropriate communication channels for different client segments and the needs of users of modern banking services.

This approach includes instant access to banking services at all times and requires accelerated development of online and mobile banking. Building a modern communication platform which would entirely adapt banking to the needs of the new breed of clients was one of the priorities for HPB.

Solution

mGate has significantly improved client communication and has given HPB full control over their SMS messaging. Thanks to the features of mGate, HPB got a means to control sending and message delivery with reliable delivery reports and the possibility to respond to its users’ questions in case the SMS message had not reached them.

With mGate, HPB uses SMS to send its customers:

Through mGate, HPB got not only has a solution that entirely satisfies the needs of customer communication, but also an added value through comprehensive statistics and highlytrained technical support, with dedicated engineers and account managers available 24/7.

Result

After four years of a successful partnership, HPB and Infobip continue to work on new projects that aim to further improve telecommunications and online solutions of HPB. Over time, mGate has been upgraded and improved with new functionalities, and all new features were available to HPB virtually instantly, ensuring that HPB always had the latest software version.

This includes expanding professional SMS services to other areas where it might be useful. Infobip also has advanced solutions for smartphone apps and continues to develop new technologies and services. This way, Infobip is capable of continuously following HPB in all its efforts to improve digital, mobile and online services, and continue the successful cooperation.

Challenge

REFUNITE helps displaced persons find their loved ones through a global, online database that can be accessed and searched online or via mobile. Mobile is the true challenge: it needs to be a reliable and resilient service that can work even far away from any kind of internet coverage and be cost-effective for REFUNITE, but also familiar and widely used by users in different countries.

Solution

SMS is the most popular and widely used mobile channel, supported by all kinds of mobile phones, not requiring internet connectivity and enabling communication wherever there is a mobile signal. USSD is also robust and reliable, supported by all types of mobiles and doesn’t need a mobile data connection. It lets users interact via text menus with a back end application in real time.

The two technologies seemed like a perfect fit for REFUNITE and their needs, USSD to enable users to search the database of displaced persons, and SMS to provide notifications, information and alerts, as well as enabling users to search the online database by sending in a simple SMS with the name of the person they are looking for.

REFUNITE and Infobip partnered to develop a complete solution, where REFUNITE harnessed the digitised database, developed the database application and the back end, and Infobip provided the technology to connect REFUNITE with its mobile operator partners in several countries across the world, with large populations of displaced people. Infobip’s expertise and market position enabled it to act as a single provider towards mobile operators, simultaneously ensuring USSD and SMS coverage.

Both USSD and SMS deliver easy to use menus, where users can enter search parameters (name, age, last known location etc.) and receive a list of potential matches.

Result

Bringing REFUNITE’s family tracing platform to offline users via SMS and USSD complements the online access method via www.refunite.org. Knowing that most of the world’s refugees and displaced populations do not have internet access, these two services are crucial in order to reconnect millions of separated families across the globe. The cooperation resulted in REFUNITE being able to deliver access to the online family tracing platform via SMS and/or USSD in DR Congo, Jordan and Turkey. Countries in the pipeline include Somalia, South Sudan, and the Philippines.

Challenge

Before TLC Marketing joined forces with Infobip, they didn’t have the technical capacity to automatically check all the entries they’ve gained through their SMS marketing campaigns and polls.

This important part of the process was done manually, and it became apparent that automating the entire validation process would greatly ease their campaigns execution. What TLC needed was an advanced, automated solution for an efficient handling of their promotional SMS coupons sent by subscribers.

Solution

Infobip introduced TLC Marketing with a premium short code SMS system which made it much easier for the company to perform promotional coupon campaigns and automatically handle incoming information. By developing a marketing oriented system, Infobip helped TLC Marketing deliver a fully-featured service to its clients – some of the world’s best known consumer brands and retail chains. Inbound SMS traffic, created by customers sending promotional coupons via SMS, is now verified automatically by the Infobip platform.

Result

Campaigns conducted in some of South Africa’s largest retail chains have proven premium SMS solutions as a very convenient marketing communications method for consumers to understand and use, which is a key benefit for brands and retail chains. Our platform’s ability to handle all the incoming information made the entire promotional process much easier and faster for the agency, resulting in improved campaign effectiveness.

Along with the above, Infobip developed a specific, marketing-oriented USSD system that allowed TLC Marketing to provide fully-featured service to their clients via another mobile channel, through a single provider.

Challenge

Mambu is an affordable and flexible cloud banking platform, empowering a rapid creation, launch and servicing of loan and deposit products. The company works with 100+ microfinance organizations and financial innovators in 30 countries around the globe. Having established itself as a flexible and agile alternative to legacy banking software, they sought to provide effective-client oriented communications and included global SMS messaging capability into their SaaS financial platform, understanding SMS messaging as a valuable notification and verification channel for banking and finance IT solutions.

Solution

In one of their regular software releases, Mambu integrated Infobip’s SMS API, connecting to our global messaging platform quickly and easily, and counting on Infobip’s coverage of 190 countries, deep knowledge of telecoms, and 24/7 expert technical support.

Result

The addition of our SMS API enabled Mambu clients – microfinance institutions all over the world – to send real-time, automatic notifications to their customers over the SMS channel, but also to improve security by implementing SMS-based 2-factor authentication. In the latter instance, SMS is used to deliver authentication PINs, needed when accessing online services.