Before any SME will adopt a software solution to provide for its texting needs certain requirements need to be met. These needs can be classified as operational, financial and technological.

Each of these needs is reviewed in more detail below:

Operational Needs:
Fitting into your existing processes
You have developed these processes after a careful consideration of your needs. These unique processes fit into your business and you do not want to be forced to change these processes just because you have adopted a new technology. The software must enhance your processes and solve operational problems and not require you to change your business. 

No growing pains please
As a SME you probably have your eye on expansion at some point in the future. This means that you do not want to acquire a “disposable” software solution which you can only use while your business remains static. You need a software solution that will not only grow with you but help you to achieve this growth.

This means that the software must allow you to add users without hassles and these additional users must not adversely affect the running of the software. The software should also help you acquire new customers and retain existing ones.

Connectivity with customers and suppliers
Any software solution that you adopt must not require your suppliers, staff and clients to make any additional purchases. You must be able to adopt the software and start using it immediately without waiting for stake holders in your business to follow suit. The beauty of SMS/TXT technology is that anyone, anywhere in the world that has a cell/mobile phone can receive text messages without any additional purchases.

Customers, suppliers and staff must understand that they can now send a text message to the business text number and receive immediate service. This means that customers and suppliers no longer need to put up with the irritation of being placed on hold before their query is dealt with. An immediately apparent benefit to this is that customers feel that they are valued and their loyalty towards the business increases.

Give me more time
As the owner of a SME you appreciate that time is the one resource that you cannot purchase more of. Consequently any saving of time is desirable. – A SMS/TXT software solution can save you time and thus money. The software solution should be easy to use and must increase business efficiencies, additionally it should extend the functionality of your existing business packages.

If you work with a database and a portion of your queries relate to information retrieved from that database your software solution should allow for that process to be automated without hassle or additional expense. Allowing you and your employees to use your time more efficiently.

When you adopt the software it should have a mechanism in place to allow for contact information to be imported and not require you to manually re-enter data that you have already saved on a computer. 

Effective management of the communication
The solution must immediately identify who sent the text and display their previous communication history. From this history you can immediately see the affect of the issue on your business. By reviewing the texts received during the day you can quickly identify any common problems and take steps to prevent the problem from arising again. The solution should also identify the person who was responsible for dealing with the event and whether or not the event has been resolved.

Financial Needs:
Run on existing hardware and operating systems
Before you purchase any software you should make sure that you do not have to upgrade either your hardware (your physical computer) or your operating system. The software that you purchase should however not prevent you from upgrading your hardware and operating system but it should not be the driving force for the upgrade.

Running costs
With a text solution the initial outlay is only one of the cost considerations. As with any “service type” product you need to consider the running costs of the technology. With a text solution these costs would be the cost of the text messages and contract with the mobile telephone network over and above any subscription fees required by the software distributor.

Initial capital outlay
Most text solutions will require you to either purchase a GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) modem or CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) modem to be connected to the internet. The problem with the latter option is the high monthly cost and that you will probably be required to pay premium rates before the recipients of the text will able to reply directly to the message. Some software solutions may include a GSM modem in the monthly subscription.  

Integration costs
Your information is probably stored in a database and any text solution should have the ability to integrate with this database and send and receive messages without incurring exorbitant costs.  You need to have the ability to integrate with your existing databases without engaging the services of professionals. Your software solution must simplify this process and save you time (thus money) by automating previously manual processes.

Technological needs:
Innovation is key
The text software that you adopt must be innovative. It must allow you to gain a competitive edge. To do this,  the software must allow you to review your communication history and make key business decisions based on emerging trends.

Compatibility with existing software
Any text software that is purchased should be able to run in conjunction with the existing software used by the enterprise. The SMS solution should complement the existing software's functionality and not replace or duplicate it. This  complement (I don't think this is the right word) should be present in the form of integration with the existing software's database. This database integration should be simple and not affect the performance of either program or the computer.

No internet required
The solution should not rely on internet connectivity because not all SME's have a permanent and reliable data connection.