By Tom van Pelt, GSMA with contributions from Emanuel Kolta, GSMA Intelligence
Business messaging is moving beyond alerts and one-time passwords. New GSMA Intelligence research shows how RCS can combine the reach of native messaging with richer interactions, verified identities and a path towards AI-powered customer service and commerce.
For years, business messaging has been associated with short, timely alerts: a delivery notification, an appointment reminder or a one-time password. These services will always remain valuable, but they are no longer the limit of native messaging capabilities.
GSMA Intelligence’s recent report, The missing link: business messaging enters its next era, describes a market being reshaped by consumer demand for convenient communication and by enterprises seeking better ways to engage customers. It finds that SMS and Rich Communication Services (RCS) provide the two device-native options capable of combining almost universal reach with an intuitive user experience. The report highlights three key takeaways:
- Richer, more trusted customer interactions
The report confirms that the capabilities developed through the RCS specification process are making customer interactions more convenient, engaging and effective, while helping to drive the adoption of RCS. Foundational capabilities from earlier RCS Universal Profile releases, such as suggested replies, file transfers and verified business identities are already improving the user experience. Newer enhancements such as improved links to start conversations with businesses, copying message content to a device clipboard, and greater control for the business over how an exchange is handled will enrich interactions even further. For customers, that can mean simpler routes to completing a journey, with one trusted conversation at its centre.
The report points to examples deployed by IHG Hotels & Resorts, United Airlines and Nespresso, spanning guest support, travel updates, rebooking, product discovery, and repeat purchases. These use cases show how previously fragmented, one-way alerts can be transformed into convenient and engaging customer journeys.
“RCS has a real opportunity, but the clock is ticking. With established platforms at scale and AI tools moving fast, the next 6–12 months will shape whether RCS leads the shift to conversational messaging or follows it.” Emanuel Kolta Lead Analyst, Network Innovation and Sustainability GSMA Intelligence
- Interoperability and reach are essential
While features are important, they are just one part of the story. Messaging must work reliably across devices, networks and countries. This is why interoperability, enabled in part by those specifications, and universal reach remain a cornerstone for RCS. With adoption continuing to grow further, RCS is creating a common foundation for richer messaging on a global scale. Fallback to SMS can help extend this reach to users that are not RCS capable yet, ensuring businesses can deliver reliable communications and richer experiences wherever possible.
GSMA Intelligence estimates that 3.2 billion RCS messages were received worldwide each day at the beginning of 2026, with RCS for Business still comprising a relatively small proportion of that total. But with adoption forecasted to grow by 25% in 2026 and 38% in 2027, we are entering a high growth phase for the technology. Commercial adoption remains at a relatively early stage, but the numbers point to a real opportunity to scale.
- A platform for conversational, AI-powered services
RCS can move business messaging beyond one-way notifications towards practical, two-way conversations initiated by companies or customers. As AI assistants become more capable, RCS could offer a single channel for finding information, asking questions and completing tasks, without requiring users to switch between multiple apps. With scams, spoofing and phishing making people more cautious, trust is essential. Verified business identities help users recognise legitimate messages, while the evolving RCS Universal Profile continues to improve privacy, reliability and cross-platform functionality.
Together, these strengths position RCS for a conversational, AI-driven future by combining broad reach and rich interaction with intelligence, security and trust.
The evolution is underway
Work is already under way within the GSMA specification group to define new RCS capabilities that can support emerging business messaging use cases even better. While details and timelines cannot yet be shared, the direction is clear: RCS will continue to evolve to help businesses and consumers communicate in ways that are simpler, richer and more useful.
It is an exciting time to contribute to RCS’s development, and I encourage stakeholders once again to actively collaborate with us in shaping RCS’s future direction. If we all work together, and move at pace, the next era for business messaging will be conversational.
If you would like to join the conversation about RCS please contact networks@gsma.com.