A new Juniper Research study has found that the total value of the mobile business messaging market will increase from $48 billion in 2022 to $78 billion by 2027. The research found that this 63% growth will be driven by enterprise adoption of RCS (Rich Communication Services), with businesses harnessing the end-to-end encryption and verified sender identities RCS provides to reduce messaging fraud.

RCS is a messaging protocol that incorporates rich media content, such as high-quality images, videos and carousels, within a smartphone’s default messaging application.

Channel Security to Encourage Enterprise Adoption of RCS business messaging

The research found that the global number of RCS business messages received will increase from 161 billion in 2022 to 639 billion by 2027, as enterprises in industries handling sensitive data, such as banking and healthcare, migrate traffic away from SMS to more secure channels.

It noted that whilst user verification over RCS acts as a first step in messaging fraud prevention, malicious players will increasingly identify ways to bypass this requirement. In response, the report urges firewall vendors to prioritise the accurate detection of spam content via multimedia messaging, including images and external links.

Apple Support Key to Realising RCS Market Potential

The report noted that the US will represent a key growth market for RCS with all tier 1 operators, including AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, supporting rich media messaging solutions. It found that the total number of RCS business messages received in the US will surpass 170 billion by 2027, if Apple introduces support for the messaging protocol over iOS within the next 3 years.

Research author Scarlett Woodford remarked that “Apple must support RCS to facilitate smooth and secure communications between mobile operating systems. The RCS protocol is likely to be deployed over the existing iMessage interface on iOS devices in order to capitalize on user familiarity and maximize adoption.”