The following FAQs provide information about the RCS Agent Registration, Verification and Launch processes:
If a company has multiple brands under them, do they need multiple RCS Agents?
It is usually recommended that each brand have its own RCS Agent. The branding and verification elements of RCS Business Messaging is one of its features.
Unique agents are often recommended for the same brand in different countries as well since the contact information (phone number and URL) are part of the RCS Agent.
What is the relationship of a short code/long code to an RCS Agent?
In most cases each short code/long code a brand has will be matched to an RCS agent. Those numbers will be used to send SMS messages to devices that do not support RCS.
If a brand chooses to combine the use cases from multiple short codes into a single RCS agent if a consumer opts-out of one program the opt-out will be effective for all programs unless they opt back in.
Can a brand be signed up and use multiple vendors/aggregators?
A single RCS Agent can only be used by one RCS aggregator. An RCS Agent can be migrated from one provider to another by Google and will require downtime.
A business can have multiple RCS agents registered with a single aggregator or with multiple aggregators. In some regions a brand can have multiple agents with the same name but in others this is not allowed by the carriers. A brand can have multiple agents if they are uniquely named i.e Sinch, Sinch Marketing, Sinch Demo.
What is the verification and review process?
Before an agent can be launched it needs to be approved by Google and/or the carriers. The process for this varies depending on who needs to approve the agent. Different carriers have different guidelines.
In all cases information about the agent experience including how customers opt in and out and the types of interactions they will have with the agent must be provided. Previews of the agent in the form of videos are also required.
Google and/or the carriers will confirm the agent conforms to all relevant rules and policies.
For the verification process Google and/or the carriers will confirm that the agent is really managed by the brand and that the branded elements are correct. In some cases, they will confirm that the brand gives Sinch permission to launch. Sometimes the name of a reseller partner can be referenced instead of Sinch, but this is not supported on all carriers.
Note: Sinch or any other company cannot verify an agent on behalf of a brand – the brand must be involved in the process.
For more information reach out to your Sinch Account Manager or contact Sinch.
