Twilio – Add On
Twilio manages the connections between the internet and global telecommunications networks. This add-on allows text messages to be sent from LatePoint using the Twilio platform.
When enabled SMS template messages are sent for bookings and reminders to customers and agents.
Twilio Setup
Twilio configuration is going to be dependent on the country being configured for. There are regulatory requirements that must be met in to allow certain features.
You can sign up for a free Twilio trial account here.
When you sign up, you must verify your email and personal phone number. Twilio can then verify your identity and allow you to send test messages to your phone from your Twilio account while in trial mode.
Once you verify your number, you’ll be asked a series of questions to customize your experience.
Once you finish the onboarding flow, you’ll arrive at your project dashboard in the Twilio Console. This is where you’ll be able to access your Account SID, authentication token, find a Twilio phone number.
Upgrade your project straight away by filling out your business details and payment information. There is up to a 3 day delay for the verification process that you need to be aware of.
Once your account has been upgraded a Phone Number will need to be purchased in order to send messages from your country.
After your account has been verified from the supplied documents the phone number can be used to send and receive text messages.
At this point you could send an SMS from your existing phone to the new number to verify that the phone configuration is complete.
Your dashboard will now have the Account SID and Auth Token that can be used and entered into LatePoint.
Alphanumeric Sender IDs
In place of a traditional phone number, a message can be sent (depending on your country) using an Alphanumeric Sender ID. This can be useful to help identify your booking messages with a brand name instead of a number.
This is done with creating a message service and assigning a sender pool number to your alphanumeric sender ID that you wish to use.
The Sender ID can then be used in place of the LatePoint Phone Number as in the below picture.
LatePoint Setup for Twilio
Configuration settings for Twilio are done from the LatePoint interface in
settings>notifications>settings
Simply copy the details from the Twilio dashboard and save the settings.
The only other steps required are to setup messages that are being sent to clients for bookings and reminders.