In short
- What it is: a web SMS gateway for business accounts, not a free SMS website.
- Who uses it: marketing, customer service and operations teams.
- What you can do: manage contacts, use approved templates, schedule campaigns, read and export delivery reports.
- Who can do what: admin and user permission levels; two-factor login with an email code.
- Cost control: spending limits and country blocking set for your account.
- Price: by quote, on volume and traffic type.
What your team can do in the platform
| Task | In the platform |
|---|---|
| Keep your audience organised | Contact list management |
| Write messages once and reuse them | Message templates, approved by your team and by Interkey before use |
| Send at the right time | Campaign scheduling |
| Know what arrived | A delivery receipt for each message, plus delivery and performance reports |
| Share results | Exportable reports |
| Control who does what | Admin and user permission levels |
| Protect the account | Two-factor login with an email verification code, fraud protection, country blocking and spending limits |
Messages carry your registered sender name. Interkey handles the registration during onboarding.
A business platform, not a free SMS website
Many sites that promise free or anonymous SMS are built for individuals. A business platform works differently, and in Saudi Arabia the sender-name rules make the difference matter:
- Your name, not a number. Bulk messages must carry a registered sender name; operators filter messages with an unauthorised one. Promotional SMS may not be sent from a mobile number.
- Permission levels, not a shared password. Admin and user levels decide who can do what in the account.
- Records you can stand behind. Delivery receipts and exported reports show what was sent and what arrived.
- A contract and a quote. Digital Connect is priced by quote, on your volume and traffic types.
Who uses the platform, and for what
| Team | What they send | Useful features |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing | Offers, loyalty messages, announcements | Campaign scheduling, approved templates, delivery reports |
| Customer service | Service updates, appointment reminders, notices to a group of customers | Contact lists, templates |
| Operations | Mass notifications, such as a branch closure or a service change | Scheduling, exportable reports |
| Management | No sending; reviews results | Reports, admin permissions |
Messages that your systems trigger on their own, such as OTP codes and order updates, are better sent through the API. Digital Connect offers both.
Web platform or API?
| Web platform | API | |
|---|---|---|
| Suited to | Campaigns and messages a person decides to send | Messages a system sends automatically |
| Skills needed | None beyond using a browser | A developer to integrate REST, SMPP or SOAP |
| Access control | Two-factor email code; admin and user levels | Whitelisted IP addresses or a VPN connection |
| Typical messages | Promotional campaigns, announcements, notices | OTP, account alerts, order and delivery updates |
CST's anti-spam regulations tell senders not to send promotional campaign messages from their own systems to the SMS provider's systems (clause 4.6.5), which is one more reason to run promotional campaigns from the web platform.
Planning your SMS integration · SMS gateway for businesses
Getting started
- Tell us what you send. Traffic types, expected monthly volume and who will use the platform. We send a quote.
- Register your sender name. Interkey handles the registration and follows it up through approval. We do not quote a fixed timeline, because it depends on the entity, the name and the traffic type.
- Set up the account. We agree the country blocking and spending limits for your account, and your users are set up with admin or user permission levels.
- Approve your templates. Your team and Interkey approve the message templates you will use.
- Send. Schedule your first campaign and read the delivery receipts as they arrive.
Existing customers sign in at platform.interkey.com.sa.
Checks before you pick a web SMS gateway
- The provider holds CST's permit to provide short message services (SMS). Interkey holds it.
- Messages go out under your own registered sender name, and the provider handles registration.
- Users sign in with two-factor authentication.
- There are at least two permission levels, so not everyone can send to every list.
- Templates go through an approval step.
- Campaigns can be scheduled inside the permitted hours for promotional SMS: 9:00 am to 10:00 pm, and outside 1:00 am to 12:00 noon during Ramadan.
- Each message returns a delivery receipt, and reports can be exported.
- Spending limits and country blocking can be set.
- Support is available in Arabic and English. Digital Connect support comes from Interkey's team in Riyadh.
How to choose an SMS provider in Saudi Arabia
Arabic messages count differently
A message in the GSM-7 alphabet fits 160 characters in one SMS, or 153 per part when longer. Arabic text uses Unicode: 70 characters in one SMS, or 67 per part. Keep Arabic templates short, and check them with the SMS segment calculator before you schedule a campaign.
Questions about the online SMS platform
Is the Digital Connect platform free?
No. It is a business service priced by quote, based on your monthly volume and traffic types. OTP and marketing traffic are priced separately.
Do we need to install anything?
No. Your team uses the platform in a web browser.
Can several employees use the platform?
Yes. The platform has admin and user permission levels, so you decide what each person can do.
Can we schedule a campaign for later?
Yes. Campaign scheduling is built into the platform. Keep promotional campaigns inside the permitted hours.
How do we know a message arrived?
Each message returns a delivery receipt, and the platform reports show delivery and performance results that you can export.
Is the platform suitable for a few messages a month?
No. Digital Connect is not the right fit for very low volumes, such as a few hundred messages a month, or for traffic that goes almost entirely outside Saudi Arabia.