Global SMS Added to our Messaging Features

In addition to push notifications and emails, SchoolsBuddy now boasts Global SMS among its messaging features

In case of emergencies, an SMS message really is the best way to communicate quickly and effectively; extreme weather is a good example of when this might be necessary. Urgent updates need to reach everyone, regardless of whether they have a smart phone, or even the SchoolsBuddy app, and this is the thinking behind our new Global SMS feature.

Global SMS is a communication tool that can be filtered down to relevant groups of staff, parents and pupils, as well as individuals, using credits to ensure only working phone numbers are used and no money is wasted. For example, sending a text to only the staff and parents of Year 7 would be made quick and simple. No need to update your data either, our clever system strips back the numbers you have stored and assigns the correct country codes and format without fuss.

This clever part of SchoolsBuddy joins the ranks of our already raved-about push notification and email functionality, which are quick, free ways to communicate with staff, pupils and parents. Just like SMS messages, notifications and emails can be sent at any level, from whole school, to years/grades, groups, or just those attending a one-off event.

Push notifications appear through our iOS and Android apps, and can be automatically generated by tasks performed within the software. For example, when after school clubs are chosen, a notification will pop up on a parent’s phone that their child has been allocated in their activities, and therefore payment is required. This is an automatic process that would otherwise have to be prompted by text message, or even a letter.

Emails, the favoured alternative to costly paper letters, are easily and freely sent within the software too. No need to open separate email software; just one of the ways that SchoolsBuddy consolidates systems, making life so much easier for schools, and being much kinder to the budgets too.

To find out more about how our messaging features could transform the way your school communicates, arrange a demo here.