The course was much tougher than I had expected or anticipated. We stuck together, helped each other out and for most of the course we had a lot of fun. It was the unbelievably cold conditions, and constantly going in and out of freezing water that gradually took its toll on us. And there was also the electric shocks we received and the general tear-inducing fear and pain.

For those tough enough to finish the challenge, they received huge cheers and a nice big brass medal. After the finish line we were given a hot chocolate, the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had.
Congratulations to everyone who took part and a huge thanks to all the volunteers and staff that made the event possible.

Take a look at the photos here

The UK has become a nation of smartphone users, with as many as one in three British adults now using one. That was the finding of an Ofcom report published last year, which found that a third of the UK’s adult population had switched to the latest in mobile technology.

When it comes to smartphone use, Britain leads the way in Europe with more than 17 million monthly active users (Flurry Analytics, May 2011). With constant developments in internet usage, SMS technology and email integration within smartphones, this is hardly a surprise. But this boom in smartphone popularity masks the fact that there are many people in the UK who are still content with their regular mobile phone.

Whilst the increased use of smartphones is good news for the manufacturers, other companies and developers linked to smartphones have struggled to capitalise on their popularity. Research from analyst firm Screen Digest has found that the app market is a difficult one to monetise, with the majority of paid-for apps unpopular with users.

This creates a real dilemma for developers who are trying to profit from the popularity of new technology. Even the most simple of app takes time, dedication and money to bring to the market. But no matter how much effort has gone into it, if the app isn’t free then many smartphone users will simply not download it.

The research estimated that of all the apps downloaded worldwide in 2011, an incredible 96% of them were downloaded for free. So many developers are turning to in-app purchases as a way of generating revenue. By offering the apps for free, developers are trying to get users ‘hooked’ on the app and then tempt them to buy additional features.

Apps are currently only supported on the latest mobile phones and are not always on every operating system. So if your looking to communicate with large audiences, SMS messaging is the only guaranteed way for those times when every message matters.

Well, this time a few of our staff may have taken it to the next level. Some might say they have lost the plot and if you haven’t heard of an event called Tough Guy, then you’re about to find out why.

Tough Guy is, in their own words, “the safest most dangerous event in the world”; a 6 mile run followed by an obstacle course whereby the “victims” have to crawl beneath razor wire, jump over flaming pits, swim through tunnels of freezing cold water, climb walls as high as mountains, run through fields of dangling electric prods and many more brutal hurdles; this part of the course is appropriately named “the killing fields”.

Why are we doing this you might ask, well for charity of course?  Much of the funds raised by Tough Guy will go to the Horse Sanctuary Charity, serving the worst cases of Horse cruelty as well as giving opportunity to Kids off the Street.

If you are also taking part, look out for the team that look like they’re in the most pain, that’ll be us. Oh, we’ll also be wearing Esendex t-shirts.

Last week our CTO, Adam bird, presented at the Creative Class of 2011 event. The event was held at the Nottingham Contemporary, to celebrate Nottingham’s entreprenerial talent. In his presentation, Adam talked about successes to date and international plans for the future.

Other presentations from the Creative Class 2011 were: Skeleton Productions, a new video production company; specialist in lightweight fibre reinforced thermoplastics Medibord; website performance monitoring firm Aware Monitoring; software development house The Plumtree Group; traditional corsetry and handmade lingerie company Eternal Spirits; wireless fetal heart monitor company Monica Healthcare; computer games software company Lockwood Publishing and Sygnature Chemical Services.

Adam comments about the event;

“It’s great that an event like this is being held, but this isn’t about making me feel good. It’s about showing people what’s possible,” he said. ”We can all be examples to the wider field of business that Nottingham can be a great place to run and develop business and that more people should come and do the same.

“The challenges with this kind of thing is always whether you can get years two and three. I’m confident that there will be a next generation of the Creative Class.”

Would you like to apply to be in the Creative Class of 2012? Visit  Invest in Nottingham for an application form.

In total, 38% of consumers named SMS promotions as preferable to mobile web marketing which was lagging behind with a figure of less than half of this (just 15%).

The research demonstrated how when it comes to redeeming vouchers and receiving promotions, consumers are more than happy to be contacted via SMS.

In total, 40% of UK respondents said they were interested in being contacted by advertisers in this manner, giving them easy access to discounts, offers and news of products.

Of course, advertisers have to be careful about how they approach mobile users in order to achieve a successful marketing campaign.

Commenting on this, the Chair of the DMA Marketing Council, Mark Brill, explained that “the key to acceptable mobile marketing is to understand the target audience’s preferences to ensure they engage with consumers in the way they want to be contacted.”

With SMS proving a popular favourite amongst Brits (just under half of those asked revealed that they would like to be contacted in this way) it is likely that mobile marketing will continue to develop.

In total, 75% of Brits are happy to be contacted about promotions and offers via their mobile – a figure which is much higher than that experienced in other developed nations.

According to the DMA’s data, Americans were the closest to Brits in terms of mobile marketing support with 72% of them feeling the same as our 75%. This figure fell drastically for nations such as France and Germany, however, who experienced results of just 50% and 46% respectively.

The report also revealed that one of the main reasons why some are hesitant to use mobile offers is because they wrongly believe they are charged for their service. This was said to affect one in four Americans and one in seven Brits.

With this in mind it’s important that advertisers help consumers understand that SMS campaigns, vouchers and promotions are not sent at a cost to the end user.

If you’re thinking about setting up an SMS campaign and would like some tips, you might be interested in reading: 10 fantastic mobile campaign ideas for marketers!

Their latest product provides users of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 to send SMS messages directly from within CRM. The SMS messages are stored as activities and are viewable from a contact’s (or anyother entity with an activity relationship) Closed Activities view once sent.

xRM Consultancy have chosen Esendex as their SMS partner for this new product and are the newest member of our Partner Program.  Bruce Buxton, xRM Consultancy’s MD said

“We needed an SMS provider that understood the importance of our messaging requirements.  Esendex’s focus on quality of service sets them apart as the clear leader in the field”.

To trial this new product for free simply email sales@xrmconsultancy.com with your CRM Unique Organisation Name (this can be found in Settings -> Customizations -> Developer Resources) for a free license.  You’ll also need to register for a free Esendex trial account .

The talk focused on how the Esendex development team tackle software development, and we presented some ideas for the planning and development aspects of their own group projects. Sam and I are Nottingham Alumni and we both did the same module as undergraduates at Nottingham. For both of us, the module stands out as the closest thing you’ll experience at university to working as part of a real software team in industry.

It was tough selecting exactly what to put in the talk, ‘agile development’ is a broad subject and means different things to different people. We could have easily talked about the Agile Manifesto for the 50 minutes we had, but in the end I think we did well cherry picking the parts that would interest the students and be relevant to their group projects. We also thought it important to run through a demo of some of the concepts we talked about and this part was especially well received.

We carried out a ‘mini retro’ at the end of the talk, asking the students to leave some feedback on their way out. We split the board in two; ‘What went well?’ and ‘What could have gone better?’, providing the students with some post-its and pens.

You can’t see the comments on the picture below, but here’s some examples…

• Content truly excellent! All highly relevant and interesting, right level of detail
• First live demo from a guest lecturer
• Great to see a live demo, putting theory into context
• Actually related to the group project
• Students might have struggled following the detail of some examples. Slow down a little. Font size and colour, for demo.

If you would like anymore information I’d love to hear from you, please email neil.kilbride@esendex.com.

We are launching a New Year health check for firms to make sure that they are making the most of business texting services. SMS offers companies new ways of marketing to their customers and cutting operational costs.

Chief Commercial Officer Geoff Love said; “In the current economic climate, where budgets are being cut and companies are being asked to do more and more with less and less, smart companies are switching to SMS.

“Text messages are cheaper and quicker than phone calls or letters to customers and staff and are more widely read than emails. Whether it’s sending balance reminders, delivery notifications, appointment reminders, satisfaction surveys or system alerts – SMS ensures that messages get there fast.”

Our SMS Business Audit offers a review from one of our SMS experts who will carry out a free one hour consultation, during which our SMS expert will gain a fuller understanding of how their business communicates. Following the review, we will provide recommendations suggesting ways in which SMS could be deployed to improve business communications.

Geoff Love, said; “Just about any business can benefit from using SMS more effectively, whether you are looking for new ways of reaching your customers or making sure you get vital messages through to staff.

“We are hoping that by offering this service we can help businesses in the East Midlands to keep up with the latest developments in this field and to make the region’s economy more competitive.”

Businesses who wish to take advantage of the Business SMS Audit service should contact Hannah Giles on 0115 989 5125 or email hannah.giles@esendex.com.

The message, sent  in an office in Newbury signalled the beginning of a new era for communication.

Of course, Neil Papworth was not aware of its significance at the time, with text messaging not really becoming common until the following decade.

Papworth commented that he would “never have predicted that text messaging would spread into the consumer world” and explained that the system of using SMS messages was thought to be “a clever way for a company’s staff to send simple messages to one another.”

Nowadays, it seems hard to image life without SMS services and messages, with an estimated 8 trillion messages being sent this year – a figure which equates to around 15 million every minute.

This is a far different story from what was experienced earlier in the lifespan of SMS messages. In 1995, three years after the first message was sent, mobile users sent an average of just 0.4 SMS messages each month.

The turn of the millennium, however, saw text messaging become a more natural and popular form of communication for people of all ages.

The dominance of text messaging is also something which is prevalent in both the consumer and corporate world and continues to reign despite other developments in technology.

According to Portio research, the global messaging market is expected to be worth more than $300 billion (approximately £191.9 billion) by 2014 after being valued at $179.2 billion (approximately £114.6 billion) last year.

As SMS celebrates its 19th birthday this Christmas, mobile users can wish this innovative form of communication “many happy returns” for many more years to come.

Each year, men all over the world sprout facial hair above their upper lips to signify a recognition for a charity called Movember, this charity was created to help raise awareness and money for prostate and testicular cancer, cancers that previously had limited awareness. Their philosophy is to change the face of men’s health, and they do it literally.

Motivated by this noble cause, 20 of us decided to team up and contribute. It is why some of you may have seen some of us give presentations, go to meetings or generally buzzing around with a furry upper lip.

Undoubtedly, the question burning your lips is: “How much did they raise”? Well, as a team, we managed to raise a whopping £1,140 from the UK offices alone. Adding to this our Aussie “Mo Bro’s”, the originating country of Movember, managed to raise AU$170 between just 3 of them. This puts our grand total at £1251.75 at the current exchange rate.

There is still time to donate, although none of us are growing moustaches anymore. You can do this, and view pictures of the team, by visiting this link – http://uk.movember.com/mospace/1377340/

We’d like to say a big thank you to all that sponsored us, our wives and children for putting up with us,  and to all that didn’t ridicule us, too much.