Shawn Brown, newly appointed Head of Sales at Dialogue Communications, is delighted to join a company he describes as a “first mover” in the introduction of SMS services for an industry which he believes is still less than half way to fulfilling its true potential.

After ten years working across the mobile, broadcast, IPTV and social media space, Shawn sees massive new market growth areas for Dialogue, who are well respected and market leader in the mobile space.

“Dialogue has clear distinctive clients – blue chips and police forces among them – and are believed to be the only ISO 9001 accredited reseller in the aggregator part of the market. It is this capability, along with the sheer quality and innovative nature of the people here, that made me want to join.

“Dialogue has the ability to create services and bring them to market quickly. This gives us ‘first mover’ advantage in a mobile industry which I believe is still less than halfway through its growth cycle.

“The world is moving rapidly to a cashless society through mobile applications, and augmented reality brings new ways to interact with the world around you. This is my passion and there is so much excitement and belief at Dialogue that we are all going to achieve great things together, I just cannot wait to get started.”

Mobile services is not Shawn’s only passion – he has been through the pain barrier several times in the cause of his other main interests – downhill mountain bike racing!

In the meantime, he will be based in Dialogue’s London offices!

Ends.

About Dialogue Communications
Dialogue was established in 1994 and has its headquarters in Sheffield, UK and offices in London, Sydney, Australia, and Cape Town, South Africa.

Dialogue Communications is a world leader in mobile messaging, mobile billing and specialises in the development and operation of value added mobile solutions for an international market. For more information please visit www.dialogue.net

For further information please contact Kirsty Roberts at BCS Public Relations on 0115 948 6901 or kirsty@bcspr.co.uk.

Mobile messaging and mobile payments specialists Dialogue Communications has appointed Alex Crisp, formerly Investigations Executive at PhonepayPlus (the agent appointed by Ofcom to regulate paid-for telecoms services in the UK) to be its new Compliance Manager.

In what could be the first appointment of a former regulatory official by an aggregator such as Dialogue, Alex has been brought on board to take responsibility for internal regulatory matters as required. He will provide full support and guidance to Dialogue and its customers worldwide whilst endeavouring to build on the commitment made by Dialogue to its adherence to global and domestic regulatory requirements.

“Moving from the regulatory side of the industry fence and working with Dialogue will provide me with the opportunity to look at the regulatory scene from a global perspective; the move should throw up some interesting and exciting challenges for me” said Alex.

“I see my appointment as a significant commitment by Dialogue, both to regulatory matters and to giving its customers the sort of world class service and support that has seen the company grow so successfully in recent years”.

While with PhonepayPlus, Alex was instrumental in introducing and leading on strategic changes which impacted on significant falls in consumer complaints. These changes also aided in developing an increased intelligence-led approach to investigations. As well as becoming knowledgeable on legal and regulatory issues effecting mobile messaging in the UK he gained valuable experience in planning and carrying out investigations and in making representations in front of internal tribunals.

Alex has built useful relationships with other regulatory bodies including the ASA, the OFT, the SFO and HMRC as well as with UK mobile network operators and other industry stakeholders.

Alex (38) will be based in Dialogue’s London office. Keen on travel Alex spent a number of years working as a teacher in the Far East. He is also an enthusiastic cyclist and climber. Alex has a BA (Hons) in Journalism from Middlesex University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Law (CPE) from the College of Law.

Ends


About Dialogue Communications
Dialogue was established in 1994 and has its headquarters in Sheffield, UK and offices in London, Sydney, Australia, and Cape Town, South Africa.

Dialogue Communications is a world leader in mobile messaging, mobile billing and specialises in the development and operation of value added mobile solutions for an international market. For more information please visit www.dialogue.net

For further information please contact Kirsty Roberts at BCS Public Relations on 0115 948 6901 or kirsty@bcspr.co.uk.

People want to use SMS even more in their daily lives. In an extensive survey of the UK market by mobile messaging and mobile payments specialists Dialogue Communications more than 67% of mobile users would like to receive reminders or alerts by text for everything from medical appointments to bill payments.

The Dialogue survey, whose findings are announced today, support a recent report put together by telecoms regulator Ofcom, which showed the UK as a world leader in SMS messaging, being named the second highest texting nation in the world as an estimated 83 billion SMS messages are sent every year, coming only second to the US, averaging 830 billion.

The Dialogue study, which asked participants how they usually and how they would like to receive appointment reminders, found that although only three per cent of people currently receive reminders by text – with 83 per cent coming through post – over 67 per cent would be happy to receive text reminders or alerts in the future. Nearly 60 per cent would actually opt in for the text reminder service, and just over 80 per cent of people said they would also be interested in a customer service text call-back request capability.

Guiom Peersman, managing director of Dialogue Communications, commented: “The SMS phenomenon goes on, and here at Dialogue we are seeing a constant demand for innovative new applications.

“People text all the time and the survey shows they are more than happy to use it beyond normal social networking. With 67 per cent of our study participants happy to receive SMS reminders, and only three per cent currently doing so, our findings show that service organisations now need to be aware of this need and respond to it.”

The overwhelming reason participants gave for the move away from postal reminders and towards SMS message reminders was that it was more convenient. With the majority of people keeping their mobile phones with them most of the time text messages are a good way of communicating a short reminder as the message will then be stored on the phone for future reference, and respondents considered they were generally more reliable then the post. Others reasons included being more environmentally friendly, and – with smartphones - easier to sync with outlook calendars.

Dialogue Communications SMS applications have been used by a number of different organisations including local councils and police authorities which have had highly successful text campaigns, including East Riding of Yorkshire Council which has been using Dialogue’s ‘Text a Fraud’ variation on community text since 2005. Others include East Dunbartonshire Council, as well as both Hampshire and West Yorkshire police forces.

Dialogue is currently working on a number of new products, including the launch of envelos, a new business messaging SMS tool.

Ends.

www.dialogue.net

For further information please contact Kirsty Roberts at BCS Public Relations on 0115 948 6901 or kirsty@bcspr.co.uk.

The annual prestigious 2009 Communications Alliance (ACOMMS) and CommsDay Awards were announced last week with Dialogue Communications and Singtel Optus winning the inaugural Innovation in Content Delivery and Services through Partnership Award.

Judged by an independent panel of industry experts, the Award had to demonstrate innovations, clearly show benefits to consumers and how the content was driving the uptake of services.

Accepting the Award on behalf of Dialogue Communications, Hugh Spear, CEO of Dialogue said, “It is very rewarding to have been nominated and then to win this Award against some tough competition. Through our partnership with Optus, consumers can now make payments for mobile content seamlessly from within their mobile phone’s WAP browser.”

The off-portal, on-bill WAP billing solution is based on Optus’ industry leading Atomic Premium Plus platform. The significant benefits derived from this solution are increased protection and ease of use for consumers.

“By scoping out the consumer experience and building connectivity to Optus’ Atomic billing engine into our Mobile Payments solution, we have been able to deliver further consumer protection to ensure they are fully informed on pricing and terms before each and every purchase, Hugh Spear said. As the WAP billing payment pages are hosted by Dialogue, compliance with Optus’ WAP billing guidelines is guaranteed, removing much of the burden of compliance from the Content Provider. He continued, “Merchants also see a benefit from increased consumer confidence, leading to more visits to their mobile content storefronts and higher levels of repeat purchases.”

Dialogue have signed a number of partners to the WAP billing solution in Australia and it is expected that this number will grow significantly through the next year. Speaking on the market, Hugh Spear said, ”The widespread adoption of WAP billing has the ability to change the mobile payments landscape in Australia. He added, “By protecting customers and lowering support costs the case for its introduction becomes a compelling prospect for the industry.”

Dialogue is an international leader in the WAP billing space, operating WAP billed solutions across six countries and three continents and was the first accredited payment intermediary for the UK Payforit scheme. Dialogue is also the sole Billing Aggregation partner for Hutchison Australia’s Bonus Sites WAP billing environment.

London / Vienna 3rd August 2009: International payment provider paysafecard has teamed up with BT, to give 70 million mobile users the chance to buy online by charging the purchase to their mobile phone. The scheme launches with all of the UK’s major mobile operators which include Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and 3. Mobile users will be able to spend at any of paysafecard’s 2,700 integrated websites, without ever having to disclose their financial details.

BT’s agilemedia team and service provider Dialogue Communications have been working with paysafecard to deliver the service to address this rapidly developing market. From the outset, the design brief was to make the user journey simple and convenient, while conforming to the UK mobile industry standard Payforit.

Until paysafecard pioneered the prepaid voucher for online payments, consumers across Europe without a credit or debit card were typically excluded from online shopping. Now with this additional functionality, anyone with a mobile phone has a simple, safe and convenient way to pay online.

David Hunter – UK CEO, said “This is a great team effort between, BT agilemedia, Dialogue, paysafecard and the mobile operators. Millions of people could potentially benefit from the ability to pay online without plastic. Many for the first time, which is incredibly exciting.”

Mike Steel – Head of Business Development (Participation Media) at BT agilemedia, said, “This project has been an innovative example of how to use the Payforit scheme for online purchases. The use of frictionless payment methods such as Payforit, provide exciting opportunities for all players in the value chain in the coming months.”

As well as being available via 70m mobile phones, paysafecards and vouchers are available at over 20,000 local PayPoint shops throughout the UK. paysafecard is accepted at websites ranging from Airlines, to Games, Music Downloads and Telephony, enabling web-shoppers to make purchases on the Internet in a matter of seconds, without disclosing bank or credit card details.


About paysafecard:
Over the past nine years, paysafecard have established itself as Europe’s favourite prepaid payment method for e-commerce. It is available in 20 countries throughout Europe. The payment solution is designed for users who don’t have a credit or debit card or who don’t want to disclose their financial details online. Users simply authorise a payment by entering the vouchers unique security code. Thousands of e-businesses are benefiting from new customers by offering this safe and and easy-to-use payment solution. Paysafecard is available in £10, £25, £50 and £75 e-vouchers at more than 230,000 outlets across Europe and South America. In March 2009 the group was awarded ‘Best Prepaid Company outside the USA’ by the global prepaid industry publication Paybefore. For more information, please visit www.paysafecard.com

About BT agilemedia
BT agilemedia is a communications and payments specialist division of BT Wholesale, based in Holborn, London. We specialise in services that help consumers interact with media, charities, businesses and each other, via IVR, mobile and online channels. Our products are used to make interaction easy, transactions simple and payments frictionless – service that assist consumer participation. Organisations that use our services include all the main UK TV and radio broadcasters, Communications Service Providers, charities, dating companies, magazine and web publishers. For more information call 0800 731 3050.

About BT Wholesale
BT Wholesale provides services to more than 700 communications providers helping the UK to become the world's most competitive communications marketplace. It is a line of business within BT Group, one of the world's leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in over 170 countries.

In the year ended 31 March 2009, BT Wholesale generated £4.6 billion in revenue. Today it employs over 3,000 people and provides next generation network services and solutions including broadband, integrated data and connectivity, conveyance and bulk transit, contact centre solutions, converged voice, wireless data and mobility, hosted applications, managed network solutions and white label managed services.

We’re here to help communications providers to expand their portfolio, and take it into the next generation world to meet the challenges of new markets and new opportunities, sharpen their competitive edge, reduce their cost base and attract and inspire new customers.

About Dialogue Communications
Dialogue was established in 1994 and has its headquarters in Sheffield, UK and offices in London, Sydney, Australia, and Cape Town, South Africa.

Dialogue Communications is a world leader in mobile messaging, mobile billing and specialises in the development and operation of value added mobile solutions for an international market. For more information please visit www.dialogue.net

Key Industry Leaders Discuss Payforit Evolution at Dialogue AIME Seminar

Representatives from mobile aggregators, operators, industry bodies and content and service providers, gathered at the Grand Fitzrovia Hotel in London last Thursday (May 21st), to thrash out the growth, evolution and pros and cons of mobile payment initiative, Payforit. Dialogue MD Guiom Peersman, was joined by Rory Maguire of 3, Del Dias of AEI Mobile and AIME representative Andrew Darling, where the hot topics of the night included the growth of web Payforit and its position in relation to more ingrained payment options such as credit cards. There was also analysis of how Payforit has performed over the last two years and what the industry can do to hasten its growth, as well as the question, does everyone actually want Payforit?

Since its inception in 2006, Payforit has seen two major developments as far as Dialogue MD Guiom Peersman is concerned. These include Web Payforit and Single Click, with Web Payforit being targeted as the major initiative for growth in conjunction with the major increase in mobile broadband use, whereas Single click is predominantly aimed at and will be most valuable to, repeat purchasers.

Guiom explained “At our last Payforit seminar in 2007, I predicted that Payforit would dominate m-payments for some time to come, but that it was by no means the finished product. This prediction has been realised with the introduction of Web Payforit and Single Click, however we still have a way to go in reaching our ultimate goal of making Payforit a consistent and recognisable brand for consumers across all WAP sites.”

As well as developments to the initiative itself, Guiom said: “We need to get away from Payforit being seen solely as a mobile content buying solution. The content market has levelled off and with the launch of web payforit new markets are being identified, such as e-vouchers, CD’s and books, thus widening it’s appeal and providing the consumer with another payment option using mobile billing, but more importantly reaching those buyers who don’t have bank accounts, credit or debit cards.”

Rory Maguire, head of payments services UK at 3, echoed Guiom’s statements: “Mobile services are stuck in a rut, consumers have lost interest and due to the current recession people have cut back on traditional mobile content purchases. This drop in spending then tempts providers towards scams, which invokes increased regulatory pressure.

“What is required is the pricing clarity of Payforit, helping to rebuild the consumers trust by providing them with a safe buying environment. Payforit helps define the good from the bad, but growth is limited on pure handset content. I believe Web Payforit will change the game and open up new opportunities as well as protect consumers, it is a mountain of gold that no one has as yet tapped into,” continued Rory.

Design issues were also discussed – there is potential for the Payforit page used during Web Payforit to be designed to fit the look and style of the merchants’ site, therefore making the experience more seamless.

The question of Payforit’s profile amongst consumers was also addressed with Guiom stressing that: “Success depends on promotion of the brand, it needs to be well marketed, and more supported by the industry. Usage growth will be hastened if consumers are aware what Payforit is and why it is a benefit to them”.

In contrast, Rory Maguire said that whilst Payforit promotion was an issue for operators, they do not want to take out billboards and adverts shouting about the initiative and instead would rather let awareness grow through consumer usage, word of mouth and information provided on operator portals and websites.

Del Dias Managing Director at AEI Mobile approached the subject of Payforit from the angle of the music industry discussing how the ring tone craze is now all but over, stressing that for AEI, mobile payments are very much part of the company mix rather than a channel in its own right.

AEI mobile cannot rely on mobile payments alone to sell music due to a number of factors including the sizable royalties that must be paid to record companies to license their music. However they are in fact selling tickets for AEI events via mobile using Payforit which is proving to be more favourable and seeing a high number of tickets purchased.

The question of whether it will be possible for Payforit to extend into other countries was put to the three speakers during the panel discussion. Rory Maguire explained that 3 had taken the solution to Australian operators and Payforit has also been met with much enthusiasm in Ireland by content providers, due to the large amount of mobile scams blighting their mobile industry, so much so that the regulatory bodies became unable to cope and unfortunately all content providers were tarred with the same brush in the eyes of the consumer.

Del Dias commented that “Mobile billing is currently in flux, I support Payforit but there are still issues to get over. There is not an immediate solution and time is needed to resolve these matters.

“I also feel that the development process of Payforit has been quite painful and perhaps that is the problem created when competing operators work together on the same project. I am optimistic for the future and for a growth in revenues, but I don’t think these will come solely from mobile, but a convergence of mobile and traditional internet”, said Del.

Guiom concluded the evening by saying that: “Payforit has moved along way in last two years and purchasing over the mobile internet is increasing however it will still take some time to establish the brand. We envisage great opportunities for web Payforit although we are not expecting users to suddenly stop using credit cards and start using Payforit, the process will be more gradual than that. But we believe it is providing a new billing solution for people who can’t use the payment options available to them today.

Ends.

For more information about Dialogue please visit www.dialogue.net

Find out more about Dialogue Payforit Solution by visting www.dialogue.net/what_we_do/mobile_billing/mobile_delivery_payforit.php

PAYFORIT FUTURE TO BE ANALYSED AT AIME DIALOGUE SEMINAR
21st May 2009, Fitzrovia Hotel, London

The future of mobile payments initiative, Payforit, is set to be discussed at an AIME Knowledge and Networking seminar sponsored by Dialogue Communications, later this week. The seminar, taking place at the Grange Fitzrovia Hotel, London, on Thursday at 6.30pm, will be hosted by AIME’s Andrew Darling and see speakers from O2, Three, AEI Mobile and Dialogue discuss the evolution and growth of Payforit over the last two years.

Since its inception in 2006, there have been a number of new developments including Web Payforit and Single Click, and a growth in the scope of purchases made through the mobile internet for both mobile content and also services like mobile tickets and donations as well as online for vouchers and credits. This has allowed Payforit’s position in the WAP billing landscape to grow in importance. The seminar will address this progression along with the impact that it will have for operators, API’s and content/service providers, as well as looking at potential factors, which may have hindered Payforit’s growth, and what can be done to remedy this.

Guiom Peersman, managing director at Dialogue said: “Dialogue has been an important force in the development of Payforit since 2006, and was the first to go live with a Payforit customer, as well as the first API to implement and lead the way with both Web Payforit and Single Click, opening up opportunities for new markets.

“However there is still plenty more we can do to increase the success of Payforit, as well as build on brand awareness. That is why this seminar is important, as it will allow us to look at how it works today, address the needs of Payforit and look at ways to perfect the buying experience for consumers further.”

For more information go to www.dialogue.net/news_and_media/ or to register for the seminar visit www.aimelink.org/KN/payForIt.aspx.