Google Pilots AI-Powered RCS-Search Integration for Business Messaging in India, Challenging WhatsApp's Dominance

Google Pilots RCS-Search Integration For AI-Powered Business Messaging In India

This development comes at a time when Google has been expanding its base in India by working to establish its base in Tamil Nadu Tech giant Google has reportedly started a pilot to integrate its rich communication services (RCS) with Google Search app to allow users contact businesses directly via AI-powered customer services in India. RCS, an advanced version of traditional SMS, supports two-way communication with rich media such as images, voice messages, location sharing, and PDF documents. Union Bank of India is said to be among the first to test this functionality. As per ET, Google's RCS integration will allow users searching for a company's customer service contact to directly chat with a live agent or AI bot through their smartphone's SMS inbox. This feature could significantly reduce long wait times on customer service calls, which often leave users with unresolved queries. Google aims to position its RCS integration as a competitor to WhatsApp's growing 'wa.me' links, which Meta has embedded into Facebook and Instagram. These call-to-action links enable users to perform actions within a WhatsApp chat, such as purchasing products, making payments, or browsing catalogues. "We are constantly looking for ways to make search more helpful to people in India and are often trying out new features so people can get access to high quality information online," a Google spokesperson told ET. Google and Meta are leveraging their ad ecosystems to expand enterprise messaging services, a major revenue driver in India. Businesses send 1.5 Bn SMSs daily, making up 85% of total volumes. Gartner projects India's enterprise messaging market to grow from $1.3 Bn in 2023 to $3.2 Bn by 2028, with WhatsApp and RCS expected to capture 50% of the market, shifting enterprise spending from traditional SMS to advanced messaging platforms. This development comes at a time when Google has been expanding its base in India by working to establish its base in Tamil Nadu. In May last year, Sundar Pichai-led Google was reportedly working on manufacturing drones in Tamil Nadu through its subsidiary Wing LLC, leveraging India's liberalised drone policies. Later, the Tamil Nadu government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with tech giant Google to set up 'Tamil Nadu AI Labs' in Chennai.

Google eyes WhatsApp's business message crown, pilots RCS-search linkup

The lucrative Indian enterprise communications space just got heated up with Google upping the ante to eat into dominant player WhatsApp's share. The US search giant has started a pilot to integrate its Rich Messaging Service (RCS) with Google Search app to allow users to contact businesses with the AI-enabled customer services in India. RCS is the next upgrade of the traditional SMS and enables two-way communication using rich media such as images, voice, locations, pdf documents etc. The Google functionality is currently being piloted by Union Bank of India. This means that if users search for the customer service contact of any company, they can directly chat with the live agent, or AI bot, through the SMS inbox of their smartphone. The feature is expected to reduce long wait times on customer service calls which often leave the user with unresolved queries, experts said. Google is aiming to pitch this against the rising popularity of WhatsApp's 'wa.me' links which Meta has integrated into its platforms Facebook and Instagram. 'wa.me' links are call-to-action links which prompts users to execute an action within a WhatsApp chat box such as buying a product, making a payment or just scrolling a catalogue. "We're constantly looking for ways to make search more helpful to people in India and are often trying out new features so people can get access to high quality information online," a Google spokesperson said in response to ET's queries on the development. Both internet giants Google and Meta are seeking to leverage their ads ecosystem to grow the popularity of their advanced enterprise messaging services - a key revenue generator in large scale markets like India. Businesses send nearly 1.5 billion SMSs per day which accounts for 85% of the total volumes, industry estimates suggest. Gartner estimates that the enterprise messaging market in India is expected to reach $3.2 billion by 2028 from $1.3 billion in 2023. It further pegs that WhatsApp and RCS are likely to reach a combined market of $1.6 billion and capture 50% of value share of India's commercial messaging market by 2028. This is sharply against the split until a few years back when enterprises spent 85% of communication budgets on foundational services like SMS with 15% towards next-gen communications applications. The customer services industry believes pilots like the one Google is running can unlock new possibilities for the traditional SMS inbox which is transitioning towards a two-way communication medium with RCS features combined with the evolution of conversational AI. "We are excited about the addition of features on Google RCS ecosystem, which combined with agentic AI and conversational AI, can unlock several user stories by growing the adoption of advanced messaging in marketing campaigns, resolving service requests, enabling quick commerce etc.," said Inderpal Mumick, chief executive at global RCS operator Dotgo, which was recently acquired by India's Gupshup. He added that Apple, which rolled out RCS for iMessages with iOS 18, has made it available for businesses in the USA, Canada, Germany, Spain, France, UK, Belgium and China. "Since in India, the telecom operators are already working with Google for the backend RCS servers, we fully expect that you will be able to use RCS on iMessage this year. It has already started in some countries and businesses are undertaking a lot of pilots and betas. We are very excited about what that means for the RCS and for conversational AI overall," Mumick said. ET had reported that this year will see three key innovations driving this growth - availability of Apple RCS in India, GenAI-driven chat and voice bots for customer communications and WhatsApp voice communications for businesses. Also Read: Google-backed RCS isn't a threat to WhatsApp Business, says Meta executive