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fmSMS . . . Coming Soon

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We’ve been hard at work finalising a new product of ours – fmSMS – which is the combination of over 7 years of experience integrating FileMaker Pro with SMS (Short Message Service/TXT) gateways to allow you to send single/bulk SMS messages at the click of a button from a FileMaker Pro database. I can still remember the excitement when I sent my first SMS message from a FileMaker Pro v5 database to my mobile phone and seeing it arrive within seconds. That same “wow factor” is also seen by all of our clients when they first implement SMS with their FileMaker solutions and see how easy it is to sent short messages to their customers.

We’ve decided to start from scratch and combine all the great features of FileMaker Pro 9 with the power of SMS communication. With fmSMS you will be able to:

  • send an SMS message to a single Contact which is typically received in under 10 seconds
  • send a bulk SMS to a group of Contacts using templates and merge fields so each message is personalised
  • check on the delivery status of each message that you have sent
  • schedule a message to be sent up to 7 days in advance (for example you could send an SMS today and have it delivered on the weekend or holidays. Make it look like you’re in the office on XMas!)
  • check your available SMS credits
  • purchase additional SMS credits

There’s a stack of other great features that we’re finalising now. You will be able to access over 700 mobile networks in over 200 countries with SMS prices around AUD 6-8 cents each.

We’d love to hear about any must have features that you’d like to see in fmSMS in case we’ve missed anything – just leave us a comment below. If you’d like to be added to the notification list when we release fmSMS just leave a comment with your name and email address and we’ll take care of the rest.

UPDATE: fmSMS has now been released and you can get all the details at www.fmsms.com. A trial version is available to download.

FileMaker Pro and SMS/TXT Messages

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Update: we’ve released a new product – fmSMS – that allows you to send/receive SMS/TXT messages from FileMaker Pro. See the website at www.fmsms.com for full details.

We’ve been integrating FileMaker solutions into SMS/TXT message gateways for many years. We sent our first SMS from a FileMaker database in 1999 (back then it involved lots of integration with third party software and modems etc). In 2002 we integrated a CRM solution into one of Australia’s largest SMS Gateway providers using one plugin – simply type your message in your FileMaker database, click a button and within seconds the SMS was sent and received on the recipient’s handset.

SMS messages are an effective communication tool for many users – you can use them to send appointment reminders, alerts (e.g new pricing specials), internal office messages and promotional material to your customers. At around 8c each they are also much cheaper than phone calls and letters (around 40c each) and when used appropriately can save you and your business money on wasted phone calls and mailouts. You are generally limited to 160 characters so you need to keep your messages short and to the point. There’s also none of the hassle with mass email mailings and dealing with anti spam software/filtering and limits on how many messages you can send at once. You know within seconds whether your message was sent successfully.

Databuzz has now partnered with the world’s leading SMS Gateway provider – Clickatell – to bring integrated SMS/TXT message sending into any FileMaker Pro solution. Using the Clickatell SMS Gateway we can send messages to over 700 different mobile networks in over 200 different countries, usually within seconds. We can also offer delayed SMS sending (send a message for future delivery for up to 7 days in advance) and message verification to ensure your message was received by the recipient’s mobile handset.

Clickatell also offer great pricing – messages cost around AUD $0.06-0.08 cents and there are discounts if you purchase in bulk. You can get more information about Clickatell and their coverage/pricing by clicking on the link below:

If you need to integrate SMS/TXT message functionality into your FileMaker Pro 7, 8, 8.5 or 9.0 solution contact us for an obligation free quote. We can setup SMS sending for one/multiple recipients, allow you to use merge fields and templates and tracking the delivey of sent messages. If you’re using FileMaker Server 9 we can also leverage it’s script scheduling feature to have it send the messages after hours to free up workstations.