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A pioneer in text messaging, Stephanie Lashley is responsible for the operational, financial, and strategic management of Bandwidth’s text messaging products and leads a team of Product Managers focused on the optimization and operationalization of these products to serve Bandwidth’s customers. Stephanie is a strong relationship builder and in her current role, leads Carrier Relations and Vendor Management for Domestic and Global Messaging. Prior to joining Bandwidth, Stephanie managed Value Added Services including Voice and Messaging Products at Sprint. She was a member of the team that implemented the first iteration of text messaging – Short Mail Messaging and also spearheaded the implementation of RCS onto Sprint handsets. Her 15-year career at Sprint also included her collaboration with CTIA and carrier partners to create messaging industry policy.
Stephanie is a Kansas City native (Missouri, not Kansas) and has been involved in the Kansas City entrepreneurial scene for several years. And yes, Stephanie is a fan of both the Kansas City Chiefs and Taylor Swift.
About The Series
This is the seventh installment in the “One Expert, One Topic” series, where field experts select a topic and share essential insights using Matt Abrahams’ What/So-What/Now-What format. Presented in written form, it allows you more time to absorb the topic and guides you on where to go for further learning. Writing is both challenging and time-consuming; we are grateful to our contributors for sharing their wisdom in this format.
What
There are many players in business text messaging, all of which play a valuable role and who either directly possess or have access to important data that when pieced together could dramatically enhance the business messaging ecosystem if they collectively created a collaborative and meaningful feedback loop to protect consumers while enabling impactful advertising and information campaigns over text. Ideally this data would be proactively shared among the industry players.
When shared and accessed through a centralized repository for all members of the messaging ecosystem to easily access, it could create a much needed and very beneficial feedback loop that everyone in the industry could benefit from.
Data that would be particularly beneficial to leverage in this context includes current and historical ownership information that correlates to a telephone number, sender identification, and campaign details. These data points, when collected, compiled and made available within the industry, could then be used to make data-driven decisions about the telephone number and the sender before campaigns are approved and text messages are sent. A feedback loop in the messaging world could be used to proactively protect consumers while enabling impactful marketing, advertising and informational campaigns over text.
Feedback loops are essential for businesses as they help identify areas for improvement and drive positive change. By regularly collecting and acting on feedback, organizations can optimize their operations, increase customer satisfaction, and ultimately, make better business decisions.
So What
The various messaging ecosystem players all have access to various data points. Number Inventory Management Providers have access to TN information. Mobile operators have access to subscriber spam reporting – 7726 and 7727 data. The Campaign Registry has information about brands and the campaigns that run over carrier networks. If all of this information was compiled and made available in a meaningful way in one repository, the industry could then make proactive and data-driven decisions about the traffic traversing mobile networks. By sharing data, the industry could proactively vet numbers and senders before a message is sent, eliminating any unwanted message before it’s even sent. That would be a big improvement over today’s system, which is reliant on a subscriber reporting an unwanted message after it’s already sent and delivered. Mobile operators have 7726/7727 subscriber data and the industry is clamoring for greater transparency to it so that they might be able to manage their services more effectively by mitigating against unwanted messages.
In this scenario, the industry could assign a RISK score to senders or TNs based on this shared data, guiding approval decisions for campaigns before a message is sent.
This RISK score could then be used as an indicator of whether the sender is trusted or “good” or not trusted or “bad”. Decisions about which sender should be allowed on a network would then be easier.
This proactive approach contrasts with the current reactive reliance on subscriber reports after messages are received. Proactively assigning a RISK score to senders or TNs based on this shared data, guiding approval decisions for campaigns before a message is sent is just one of many beneficial developments the industry could achieve. Collaboration among industry stakeholders through forums could facilitate the establishment of this feedback loop, fostering discussion and action towards implementing these ideas.
Among other benefits that could flow by sharing this information through trusted sources, is that messaging providers could assign a RISK score to a sender or a TN.
Now What
For my colleagues across the industry, I welcome the opportunity to discuss this concept and initiate the conversation to drive progress for mutual benefit. If you are interested in discussing further, please reach out to me directly.
For consumers who may not know how to report SPAM to the carrier, check out these resources:
T-Mobile: https://www.t-mobile.com/support/plans-features/help-with-scams-spam-and-fraud
AT&T: https://www.att.com/support/article/my-account/KM1051831/
Disclaimer: The opinions and statements expressed by Stephanie Lashley are her own, and may not reflect official positions of Bandwidth Inc.
