SME owners should have private number: Route Mobile CEO

Cloud communications platform service provider Route Mobile Limited ("Route Mobile") MD and Group CEO Rajdipkumar Gupta, said that today’s business owners should go for private number as privacy issues have become more frequent with businesses and business owners, with a surge in the use of smart devices.

Excerpts of the interview…

Please tell us about Route Mobile Ltd and its entrepreneurial journey.

Rajdipkumar Gupta: The Route Mobile timeline began in 2004. After seeing steady growth, by 2011, we opened our [first International office in London, UK. Subsequently, in 2012, we expanded domestically with our Indian enterprise division. Our vision is to simplify communications globally through mobile technology. The associate membership of the GSMA was granted in July 2012. The years 2013 and 2014 witnessed us opening offices in the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria. In 2016, we acquired Cellent Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd. & Start Corp Pvt. Ltd. After steady growth, we started our operations in Ghana and Singapore.

In 2017, we were ranked second globally as a tier 1 A2P service provider (as per A2P SMS Messaging Vendor Performance Report 2017) prepared and issued by Roaming Consulting Company Limited) and acquired two international companies - Call 2 Connect Pvt. Ltd and 365squared. We grew our presence in the USA and Kenya. The company partnered with Oracle and Google for RCS Business Messaging and got listed on Google Jibe. The company continues to expand in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Uganda.

In 2019, Route Mobile awarded as the Most Innovative Mobile Communication Solutions Provider by Corporate Vision Magazine and as the 'Fastest Growing Indian Technology and Telecom Company' in the UK.

What are the services do you provide?

Rajdipkumar Gupta: At Route Mobile, our portfolio comprises a single platform or unified API offering A2P Messaging, Voice, Email, SMS Firewall, Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS) and Monetization solutions across diverse sectors. Our Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS) helps MNO’s extend A2P messaging services to enterprises. In addition to this, we also offer a range of cloud communication services to clients which include several Fortune Global 500 companies across diverse sectors including, but not limited to, BFSI, Aviation, Retail, E-commerce, Logistics, Healthcare, Hospitality, Media, Entertainment, Pharmaceuticals and Telecom. Route Mobile’s overall mission is to connect the world through mobile technology, helping clients, partners and employees prosper locally as well as globally.

What are the benefits for privacy?

Rajdipkumar Gupta: Customers/subscriber privacy/confidentiality is of the utmost importance to operator networks, yet one of the key concerns raised by their customers. Route Mobile’s Instant Virtual Numbers solves this problem in terms of privacy.

IVN serves consumers with an option to have additional numbers on their existing sim card and works exactly the same way as that of their primary number. There is effortless switching between the primary and virtual numbers, flexibility to maintain shared or separate payment methods for both numbers. One can also schedule the use of virtual number during a set time period, maintain call/screening lists and reassign the last used virtual number within a certain period of time.

Does a private number is necessary for a business owner?

Rajdipkumar Gupta: Due to a surge in the use of smart devices, privacy issues have become more frequent with businesses and business owners. Although it may seem that in some business situations providing a personal phone number can be a good strategy to build trust, it can compromise on privacy as someone could search for your phone number to get more information about you. If you are an entrepreneur who prefers to use a personal cell phone or operating from a home office, you can use a virtual phone number instead of your private number. With a virtual phone number, calls can still be routed to your cell phone without customers gaining access to your personal phone number. Virtual numbers have advanced calling features without having to incur significant expense and they also support texting, unlike a landline number. It is an efficient way to track campaign results on different media channels, such as social media, publications, television or radio without compromising on privacy. Besides, if you want to change a personal number it is a hassle and can impact the success of these campaigns. Virtual numbers can also be used for employees apart from business owners as all employees may not be comfortable giving their private numbers. Having a virtual number and keeping the personal number out of the spotlight can significantly decrease the chances hackers targeting a business as it will preserve the safety of your personal data as well as those of your employees that are using their private numbers for business transactions, without affecting mobility and convenience. When you can’t take a business call, it goes to voicemail. No one else on your team has the opportunity to grab the call and make that personal connection with the customer or prospect. Lastly, it is much simpler to have multiple instant virtual numbers on one mobile, instead of juggling many devices.

Please tell us about future plans of Route Mobile Ltd.

Rajdipkumar Gupta: Route Mobile is one of the leading Cloud Communications Platform service provider offering Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS) & SMS firewall solutions that caters to enterprises, MNO’s and OTT players to improve customer interaction & enhance customer engagement. We will continue to focus on building our presence in new markets and simplifying communication in new industries. We plan to add a few more products and services to our portfolio along with messaging platforms that will enable digital communication for enterprises and allow aggregators and operators to function with ease. We intend to leverage our robust in-house developed technology platform and our ability to manage large volumes of client data to focus on big data analytics. We also plan to provide our clients with additional business insights and focus on developing communication solutions through artificial intelligence (“AI”), machine learning (“ML”) and blockchain for advanced data analytics and predictive analysis which will allow our enterprise and MNO clients to discover and monitor historical relationships and trends in their data. We intend to expand and enhance our chatbot services using AI and ML to help our clients automate customer interactions and service requirements.