Part 2 is here—Doug Green from Telecom Reseller in conjunction with Cloud Communications Alliance interview Tom Sheahan in part 2 of a 3-part podcast series why ISVs and SaaS companies that enable SMS in their software to use an MSP (managed service provider) like Red Oxygen to manage billing, compliance and deliver of their SMS.
Taking the burden off of the ISV for keeping their customers compliant and to make sure the billing is reflective what what they owe, including campaign fees, carrier surcharges and SMS credits.
Podcast Transcript:
Doug Green:
This is Doug Green and I’m the publisher of Technology Reseller News. And I’m back with Tommy Sheahan, who is the CEO and founder of Red Oxygen. Tommy, thank you for joining me again.
Tom Sheahan:
Thanks for having me.
Doug:
So we’re now in part 2 on a 3-part series on texting and regulation, what everyone needs to know.
And uh, Tommy, in the last one we were talking about the campaign registry and also, you know, the sort of the birth of SMS and, and the history of it.
And also the problem that we have today.
We’re gonna be talking about how Red Oxygen helps its customers and their customers, customers mitigate this, this issue.
So first of all, again, what is Red Oxygen?
Tom:
Well, we are the world’s first application person, text messaging company.
We sell off the shelf components as well as an API that integrates into ISVs.
And we help businesses text enable their processes.
We also help the ISVs help their customers, um, stay compliant with the campaign registry, bill them for usage, or provide the ISV with the billing data to bill the end user for their traffic, their monthly campaign fees, registration fees, and vetting fees.
And we provide them with compliance, billing, and delivery.
We can deliver the messages as well.
Doug:
So what’s the problem?
Tom:
Well, one of the problems is in the US text messaging was inordinately low because there were no inner carrier fees and campaign fees and so forth. And the carriers set up the campaign registry, which is requiring any application to person messaging company to register who they are, their EIN or even their small business DBA, who are they texting? Why are they texting? What is the message content? And then they have to pay a vetting fee. And once they’re approved, then they have to pay a monthly campaign fee and then a carrier fee on top of that.
So the costs have tripled and quadrupled a lot of these ISVs because SMS was so inordinately cheap in this country. Um, these costs have doubled and tripled and they don’t have any idea how to manage this. And that’s where we come in and we say, Hey, we can manage this process, make sure your end users stay compliant.
We can bill them appropriately for their traffic and campaign fees and vetting fees and also deliver the messages.
Doug:
And that’s where Red Oxygen comes in?
Tom:
That’s where Red Oxygen comes in.
So we are kind of a one-stop shop managed service provider for text messaging.
Doug:
And so connect the dots for me.
If I’m an MSP, what’s the opportunity here for me? Can I reach out to my clients and offer this service?
Tom:
Sure, we can, we can work together or you can build your own Red Oxygen.
If this is something you want to manage, unfortunately, because this is not FCC controlled, it is industry controlled, so the goalposts are moving on a daily and weekly basis. Or, you know, we’re happy to work with your clients and provide revenue share for all parties involved.
Doug:
And this, this is something a practical thing an an MSP or channel partner can do.
Tom:
Yeah, I mean, if, if you’re selling to ISVs that a focus on the SMB space, talk to us, we can help you.
Doug:
Uh, do you have actual products or services that that basically apply?
Tom:
Yeah, well, we have got off the shelf components. We plug, it’s a build to Outlook or Gmail
or SharePoint or Excel. Um, and then we’ve got a backend billing engine that does all the sophisticated billing, uh, compliance, uh, tracing and, and we’re building an AI module to make sure the message that you’ve signed up for is the message that they’re actually being deliberate. So you keep you in compliance.
Doug:
Yeah, depending on the type of MSP I’m running, do I need bench strength to do this? Do I need to staff up with a group of people or something?
Tom:
Yeah, I mean, it depends how, you know, you’ll have to build this and build it for basically become a competitor of Red Oxygen or we could partner.
So if you wanna build the resources and, and the time and the money to do that.
Doug:
So tell me, is there, it sounds like there might be a white labeling opportunity here.
Tom:
There is. In fact, when we initially started the company, we sold to mobile operators, which white labeled our platform.
We integrated the solution into the carriers themselves, like at Swisscom and Vodafone and Bitte and, and, and Bline. Um, yeah, we’re open to that or we can partition our existing platform on AWS as a provider and then you could resell this solution to your end users.
Doug:
Well, you know, as we brief, uh, wrap up our, our second part of our third part series, is there any more information you wanna share with people about working with Red Oxygen?
Tom:
Well, we’ve been around for 23 years. We literally invented the application to person messaging industry. We’ve been selling to small businesses for 23 years. In fact, we’ve got customers that have been still with us for 23 years.
And it’s an important part, it’s a valuable piece, how we connect with the world.
Text messaging is the most ubiquitous form of communication mankind has ever known, and it’ll continue to be so, so, and this is an important time as regulations are starting to pop up in Singapore and Australia and, and, and middle, the Middle East.
We’re happy to help you in the US and also globally.
Doug:
Well, I want everyone to come back and, and join us for our third part.
We’re gonna be talking about the public policy implications of the topic on, uh, SMS and texting and so on.
But Tommy, for now, I want to thank you for joining us today on our second part.
Tom:
Thank you.
Doug:
Where can we learn more about Red Oxygen?
Tom:
Just redoxygen.com or you can email me at tom@redoxygen.com.
Doug:
Alright, Tommy, I’m gonna see you on part three.
Tom:
Thanks.
