SMS Office Thoughts
I want more from our coffee alert system. It's neat, but I want more interaction and integration.
I want my phone to work with every single messaging app we use here. I want to be able to send an SMS and have it alert people via IM, get copied to people's phones, send off emails and get logged to a central blog available via RSS. I want people to respond and have those messages go back to the original user wherever they are. I don't want to think about it either, I want it to "just work".
SMS messages are so great because they're 1) Reliable 2) Available to everyone and 3) easy to use. No setup, two fields to fill out (or just one if you're replying) and off the message goes. It's no wonder people are sending billions of the things - they're just damn nifty. But I spend all day online at work, so I want SMS to cross that border into my PC-based world. I want it to skip the gap from my pocket into my office.
When I get a message, I don't want to have to stop, look around for my mobile, click a few buttons and get some info that I can't immediately copy into a window on my PC. I mean, I'm sitting in front of a full keyboard and can type 60+ words a minute... why am I click on on this damn keypad again?
I wonder if what I'm looking for is integration or remote control? I think integration. I want to step out of the office for a sec and ping the IM client of a coworker without making an effort. Yes, I have Agile Messenger and yes I have their phone numbers. But I want to use SMS as what I'm doing is definitely under the definition of "short message" and maybe that coworker isn't particularly down with SMS just yet and isn't sure why his phone beeps randomly at him every once in a while.
Just some thoughts...
-Russ