Inside the SOMOS Summit: Navigating predictions, Understanding KYC, and Giving Back
My First Conference as an Attendee
The SOMOS Summit was my first conference in 12 months where I had no organizer responsibilities. It was nice to immerse myself in a fun, collaborative, entertaining, and educating environment without the constant 100-issue triage that’s an organizing team’s day. Conference organizing is fun and intense, but sometimes it’s nice to just participate instead of direct.
Two Predictions on the Future of Messaging
Our panel was asked to give our individual predictions for the next 12-24 months. They are now part of the spoken record, however, if I were reading off a script, here is what I would say:
Prediction 1: RCS is deployed across the North American Network
For RCS to go mainstream in North America the following needs to happen:
All Android devices need to support RCS
All Operators need to support RCS within their network
All Operators need to turn on RCS across their network
The industry needs to needs to standardize onboarding and pricing
Apple needs to support RCS
1-3 is complete. (1) is done with Samsung standardized on Google Messages. (2) is complete, with both AT&T and T-Mobile committing to standardize on Google’s backend (Verizon had already done so in 2021). This marks (3) almost complete which along with (4) is now an eventuality.
In a parallel play, Google’s crafty #getTheMessage campaign will galvanize industry pressure and shame Apple into playing nice. If that doesn’t work, then the European DSA is our best shot. The European and Chinese regulators have had the best luck in making Apple do what it doesn’t want to do. This will complete (5).
As I said on the panel, WhatsApp is coming for our lunch, and RCS is our only way to fight back. We have to get this right.
Prediction 2: More Uniform KYC Over Text Messaging Mediums
Over the next 24 months, 10DLC, Toll Free, and Common Short Code KYC will converge. If the same brand is using multiple messaging mediums, then it must be that their reputation across the network be the same. It’s good for the brand, the consumer, and the network.
KYC as Good Friction
KYC is an act of friction, it always has been and always will be. The cost of getting it wrong is so high, you want it to “slow the roll” of onboarding the customer and yet make it a process that’s understandable to the customer, traceable for the platform operator, and good for the consumer.
This is fundamentally hard. Make KYC too light, and you’re going to let bad actors in who will destroy the platform (think how adult content contributed to Friendster’s demise). Make it too controlled and you’re going to kill growth.
That’s my challenge with the one-size-fits-all KYC solution/frameworks that don’t talk details and don’t understand the details of the friction. Friction is good, just ask your car tires. To understand how to deal with friction in messaging you have to answer three questions: Do you know your customer? Do you know your customer’s customer? And do you know your traffic?
And Finally
A conference showcases the culture of the hosting organization. From content curation, audience comfort, and wise use of capital, every action, small and big speaks to what the organization values. At the SOMOS summit, in addition to checking every checkbox for a successful conference, the featured give-back activity was a spectacular spotlight on the company’s culture.
Attendees had the opportunity to build care packages for Miriam’s Kitchen, a local DC organization fighting chronic homelessness. It acknowledged a problem that’s endemic to the nation, and yet, hyperlocal. For an audience immersed in systems issues and design thinking to solve big challenges, it was a grounded reminder that societal change starts with one person at a time.
Thank you for reading and have a great week!
TJ