The Cloudgate Messaging Platform provides companies with an automated, intelligent, two-way customer communication service. We connect companies to their customers using channels convenient to the customer and appropriate for the message. Traditional customer communication occurs over a few channels: telemarketers, direct mail, maybe the web, perhaps email. Adding new channels, such as interactive voice response (IVR), SMS, MMS, or Instant Messaging (IMs), is awkward, expensive, and rarely coordinated with existing message delivery over other channels. The Cloudgate Messaging Platform removes these constraints and allows companies to deliver messages the most cost-effective and expedient way.

The Messaging Platform integrates easily with back-end systems. At the core are three databases: a customer database that includes profiles, preferences,and history; a message database that includes media and targeting; and a results database that tracks who received what message, whether they responded to the message, and if so, how they responded. Each of these databases has a web interface for simple, general access (such as adding customers, adding and targeting new messages, and reviewing system performance). Furthermore, they are completely accessible so a company can automatically add customers from its own database, create new messages for delivery, and feed customer responses into a transaction system.

The Messaging Platform is composed of a small number of networked servers that distribute the tasks of database management, message selection, message delivery, and external interface management. (The exact configuration depends on the services offered and the expected message traffic.)There is no special hardware unless interactive voice response (IVR) is required. The hardware and software are monitored continuously for fault detection and correction. Redundant components can be installed for added reliability, if required by the application.