To understand the strategy at work here, you probably only need to look at your recent phone calls and text messages. Mobile channels are a mess. As a result, many consumers refuse to answer calls from numbers that are not in their contact list.
This poses a significant problem for organizations across a range of sectors, including financial services, healthcare and the public sector, who often need to use telephones to reach people and relay crucial information.
According to TransUnion, cell phone fraud now exceeds $80 billion annually worldwide.
Building trust in the SMS channel
The company’s existing Trusted Call Solutions suite helps promote and protect organizations that make outbound calls to customers by displaying the name and logo of the originating organization. It protects legitimate calls and helps block spoofed calls, increasing customer confidence.
“Ultimately, it brings them a lot of value when the consumer knows he or she is calling,” James Garvert, SVP of communications solutions at TransUnion, told MarTech.
With the addition of technology from RealNetworks (the same RealNetworks that created the iconic Real media player in the early days of the Internet), TransUnion will add similar trust and promotion capabilities to text messages through a platform called KONTXT.
The combination of voice and text security gives TransUnion customers a 360-degree view to protect their customer communications, Garvert said.
Ironically, voice and text lag behind email when it comes to protecting consumers from malicious messages. But email spam filters work with much more context, Garvert said. They can see who a message was sent to, who it was sent from, and read the contents of the message, including images and attachments.
“Voice hasn’t seen a lot of innovation,” Garvert said.
As for the lyrics, it’s only just begun. Scammers use text messaging, but will likely move to MMS and RCS over time, requiring the technology to evolve again. “We see the cutting edge and the evolution,” Garvert said.
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026. The terms were not disclosed.
Dig Deeper: Mobile Marketing with RCS: What You Need to Know
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