GCI has bagged Stoke-on-Trent-based Packet Media for an undisclosed sum. The deal, which bolsters GCI's contact centre and UCaaS services with SMS messaging capabilities, is the MSP's third this year and follows its acquisition of Outsourcery's assets in June.
Mike Constantine, CTO at GCI, said: "Packet Media has some great parallels with our own business. We are particularly excited about its enterprise-grade SMS messaging platform and associated Management Information (MI) reporting capability.
"This new GCI SMS messaging service will fill an important gap in our portfolio and helps us to differentiate our proposition, particularly for the multi-touch contact centre environment.
"The capability blends nicely with our other core cloud and UC services, including Skype for Business, Azure and PCI DSS."
Julian Gallimore, MD at Packet Media, added: "SMS is what email used to be and the stats are compelling. While emails now clutter inboxes (many unopened), SMS messages are on average viewed within three minutes of receipt.
"Response rates are far better, it takes an average person 90 minutes to respond to email, but only 90 seconds to respond to text.
"We believe the deployment opportunities are endless - from patient prescription reminders to service renewal notices, to sales and marketing messaging, all fully trackable and MI reportable."
GCI CEO Adrian Thirkill said: "In the last 12 weeks we have not only gained some first class platforms, but have also strengthened the depth and breadth of our technical resource - our people.
"This new SMS capability is another critical addition to our portfolio. If the stats are to be believed, approximately 23 billion text messages are sent worldwide daily with a staggering 98% open rate.
"SMS is still mainly untainted, helpful and concise. That's the reason for its success and the reason it's a great fit in our portfolio. The timing is perfect."