LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sprint (NYSE:S) today at CES 2020 announced it is the winner of Frost and Sullivan's 2019 North American Business Communications Solution New Product Innovation Award for Sprint® Smart Messaging – a solution to help businesses communicate with their customers through an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered text messaging system. Sprint's innovative solution allows businesses to use their existing phone number to communicate in real-time using AI, and as a result rescue missed customer calls. Sprint Smart Messaging re-engages customers through text messaging – earning recognition through Frost & Sullivan's prestigious award program.

"Our vision to connect our customers to people, places and things in ways that matter most to them continues to expand as customer needs evolve, pushing our team to develop forward-thinking technologies that change the way our customers do business," said Sasha Gorman, who leads product development for Sprint Business. "By providing businesses with a solution that streamlines communication without increasing labor costs, we're offering small and medium-sized businesses a way to keep up with evolving consumer demands, like instant communications. We are incredibly honored to have been presented with this award and look forward to continuing to create unique solutions that optimize business needs." 

Sprint Smart Messaging:

• Small and medium size businesses (SMB) use their existing mobile phone, tablet or desktop computer landline or wireline telephone number to receive and respond to text messages from customers.
• The AI-powered messaging assistant allows prospective customer questions to be answered immediately, ultimately reducing labor costs and increasing response times.
• Customer communications – from inquiries as simple as requesting business hours to complex requests like placing orders or setting appointments – can be made through automated text conversations, increasing efficiency for both the customer and the business.
• Eatmoji, an add-on for Sprint Smart Messaging specifically for restaurants, takes phone orders to avoid losing customers to busy signals, holds or errors, and automates the entire process all the way through to payment. Missed calls don't have to mean missed orders.

Statistics show that 62% of calls to small business are left unanswered, according to 411 Locals. Sprint Smart Messaging can automatically text the customer, to re-engage them and increase their interest. With Sprint Smart Messaging, 50% of customers whose call went unanswered are saved from going to a competitor.

"Broadly applicable across a range of main street businesses, Smart Messaging expands capabilities and functions with an AI engine to respond to customer calls and questions via text messaging. When the business cannot answer the phone, the call automatically gets ported to text capability," said Brent Ladarola, industry manager at Frost & Sullivan. "No other carrier currently supporting the SMB segment offers this level of enterprise-grade customer engagement. When callers leave a voicemail, the Smart Messaging system transcribes it and transmits it to the business owner (or designated employee) to read, callback, or send a follow-up text."

Sprint Smart Messaging is one Capability™ of many offered by Sprint. Learn more about Sprint Capability™ at CES 2020 in Las Vegas. The Sprint meeting area is located at the ARIA Resort and Hotel. To set up a briefing with a Sprint executive or to schedule a demo in person, contact Sprint@godriven360.com.

Frost & Sullivan is a leading 56-year-old market research and consulting ­firm that tracks multiple industries including automotive; healthcare; information and communication technology; and more. This award recognizes companies like Sprint that have leading technological assets, unrivaled innovation and leadership among companies, products, processes and executives.

Certainty℠ Capability™ Curiosity™
Sprint Business is changing the way SMBs, enterprises and government entities connect, manage and secure its people, places and things – orchestrating an array of next generation technologies and insights, artificial intelligence and the power of Sprint's converged wireless, wireline and Curiosity™ IoT capabilities to create unparalleled products and solutions.

About Sprint:
Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company that creates more and better ways to connect its customers to the things they care about most. Sprint served 53.9 million connections as of September 30, 2019 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Today, Sprint's legacy of innovation and service continues with an increased investment to dramatically improve coverage, reliability, and speed across its nationwide network and commitment to launching a 5G mobile network in the U.S. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

SOURCE Sprint