FCC Text Ruling: Everyone Wins

John Tallarico

Last week’s action on text messaging compliance by the FCC is a win for both consumers and businesses alike.  If you make a living trying to capitalize on doubt and uncertainty, it was not such a good day.

As Commissioner Pai said, “In regulation, as in sports, it is good to have clear rules.”  As an industry, we believe in regulation and consumer protection.  We are often faced with ambiguity and need to make judgment calls, but no longer on this narrow issue.

SoundBite Communications filed its petition earlier this year because we believed in two very strong principles. One, communication interactions between a business and consumer need to be friendly and concise, following best practices and two, economic growth is best served when businesses can spend resources innovating and creating jobs.

We spent the past 12 months listening to consumer groups, Congressional and Senate staffers, Associations and Trade Groups as well as businesses across the nation.  What we found was that as different as we all are, we share very similar interests…we want to protect our customers and create a strong economy.  We do not want to spend  time angering the public with bad policy or employing lawyers unnecessarily.

So what else is there to say?  A simple “Thank You”.  To all the individuals and groups that took the time to listen and show an interest in common sense.  With all the pressing work that is faced day to day, it is encouraging to know that through hard work and consensus building that greater good can prevail.  Now we can focus on our clients, customers and innovation.  To learn more read the press release.

As the Vice President of Product Management for SoundBite Communications, John is responsible for the strategic evolution and delivery of product features and functionality within the company’s cloud-based platforms – SoundBite Engage™ for multi-channel communications and SoundBite Insight for preference management.

John frequently participates in regulatory discussions which impact our clients including lobbying efforts with the ACA.  He was recently awarded the 2010 President’s Award by the Telecommunications Risk Management Association (TRMA) for his role on a Regulatory Panel — the most highly evaluated session of 2010.

John has been working in the customer communications space for over 15 years, including a senior position at Nuance Communications.