The Ultimate Guide to Internal SMS

Some company managers think that an internal communication strategy is solely the responsibility of the HR department. But, that’s not entirely true. In reality, both the administrative and executive staff need to cooperate to create a productive communication plan. Eventually, a company’s success is directly related to its internal relations.

Internal communication enables all members of a community to work collaboratively towards a common goal—it’s the core element of each organization. Some companies choose email as a communication channel. However, emails come with a few downsides. Not only do people open them late, but they also don’t receive sound or vibrating notifications.

But one thing that people aren’t aware of is that a company can regulate internal communication through Short Message Service (SMS). Internal SMS is a solution that covers all the weak points of email, making internal communication highly efficient and productive. Not only that, but SMS is highly cost-effective, meaning you don't have to go over budget to send and receive texts on your mobile device from your staff. But, if you're adamant on using both, you can always convert your emails into SMS. 

What Is Internal SMS?

Internal SMS is a channel that enhances communication through text messaging within a community. It is one of the most convenient channels to reach out to an extensive list of phone numbers. Companies use internal SMS to deliver important messages or alerts to their employees within seconds.

Other than the fact that people always carry their mobile phones, internal SMS presents itself as a personal communication channel. In fact, SMS messages have a 98% open rate, further proving why companies should implement internal SMS in their communication strategy and maintain employee engagement.

How To Use Internal SMS

Different departments of an organization are in constant communication, and internal SMS makes this process faster and easier. With SMS, you can send mass text messages to your employees about urgent alerts, important updates, events, and deadline reminders.

Urgent Alerts

Unexpected incidents like severe weather conditions, system downtimes, or emergency cases can occur at any given time. The company has a responsibility to inform the staff of such alerts. Internal SMS, in this case, comes in handy. Unlike emails, a text alert reaches every employee without an internal connection within seconds.

Alert examples

Please DO NOT leave the building. The entrance is blocked due to heavy snowfall.

Please be notified that the internal back offices will be down from 3:20 – 3:50 pm today. In case of emergencies, please notify customers to contact later.

Bobby & Co. staff, currently we’re experiencing major issues with electricity. Please TURN OFF all the devices on the first floor of the building.

Important Updates

While you can easily email your staff about updates, text messages have a higher readability rate. Let’s say you have to send an urgent update to employees out of the office—most of them won’t bother reading their emails outside of work. Moreover, those who don’t use a computer to work won’t be informed about the updates. Therefore, using SMS guarantees your messages are delivered and read.

Update examples

Please be notified that the company will make changes to the employment contracts. Contact the HR department for contract renewal.

Security guards from sections 2 to 9, please meet the head of the department at his office after the evening shift today.

Event Reminders

Event reminders can easily get lost in the abundance of emails. Perhaps employees forgot to read it; perhaps they didn’t even notice it. Internal SMS here ensures that the entire staff is informed about team events, holidays, days off, and more. Moreover, people are more likely to remember them via SMS.

Event reminder examples

Reminder: Monday, Oct 14 is Columbus Day, and the office is closed. Have a good long weekend.

Reminder: 7 pm this Friday, Oct 25, we’re having a team event at Madison’s Pub. Please DO NOT be late.

Deadline Reminders

Every employee has a responsibility to meet their deadlines. And to make sure everyone is in the loop, deadline reminders serve as hints for both employees and managers. They reduce the chances of missing deadlines and benefit both the administrative and executive staff.

Deadline reminder example

Reminder: Monthly Reports must be ready by Monday, Nov 4. Please make sure the files are properly formatted before submitting.

Getting Started With Internal SMS

Many companies avoid implementing an internal SMS strategy due to a lack of knowledge. In reality, getting started with internal SMS is pretty simple.

1. Choose a reliable SMS provider
2. Register the employees’ phone numbers into the platform
3. Divide the database into groups of different departments
4. Send internal text messages and enjoy the results

If you operate a large enterprise with hundreds of employees, you can proceed with implementing internal SMS with a different approach. First, you must create a keyword for employees to send to a preset SMS short code and register for internal SMS updates.

When picking a keyword, make sure it’s easy to spell and associated with your company. For example, if your company specializes in notebook production, your keyword can be “Notebook11.”