Mobile messaging is the best way for businesses to engage with both customers and employees, a report has claimed. The report has also revealed regional differences in the maturity of the budding enterprise mobile messaging market and publisher OpenMarket claimed the results confirm the technology’s use case across global business sectors.

The report surveyed 600 technology firm representatives in the US, UK and other major markets in Europe and Asia. It said that as global businesses must engage with over three billion mobile subscribers using some six billion connected devices, mobile messaging “may be” the predominant means of doing so.

“This research validates the importance of effective, traditional mobile messaging and its ability to improve customer and employee communication in key regions of the world,” said Jay Emmet, General Manager of  OpenMarket, a messaging solutions provider .

“With billions of mobile subscribers worldwide, nearly every one of a global business’ employees and customers has messaging-capable devices, and enterprises must utilize this technology to capitalize on the communication and engagement opportunities it provides.”

The findings suggested the US has the most mature enterprise mobile messaging market while Asia’s is the most immature. However, Asia was shown to be ahead of general expectations in technology adoption, which the report said is likely down to widespread end-user familiarity with those technologies.

“Although all of the regions have varying levels of mobile messaging maturity and use cases can differ in terms of how global enterprises are integrating mobile messaging, the study revealed that the business priorities for mobile messaging services are aligned across markets,” said Robert Parker, Group Vice President, IDC Insights.

50% of US-based respondents said their company is piloting or preparing mobile messaging services, and are using mobile messaging for promotions, while 49% said they are using the technology for customer alerts, reminders and notifications.

The UK was found to have the highest regard of mobile messaging in terms of its use in driving brand awareness with 59% of respondents agreeing. The UK market was also ahead of other regions in customer-focused categories, while continental Europe passed it in employee-related cases. But Asia was the strongest in employee-related messaging, with 100% of respondents saying services are either being piloted or in production.

“It will be critical that enterprises understand how to cater to the different preferences of each region,” Parker said. “By utilizing proven mobile messaging providers with technologies that can be implemented across a global organization, businesses will be able to meet the mobile messaging needs of all internal and external stakeholders worldwide.”