AI is more predictable than people

StealthX: And this is not just with the texting, this is with like all channels. Right. Like you're going to start to see this like disintermediation or separation from the consumer because they're, everyone's going to start building up their own little sort of barricade.

Webb Bostick: Yeah.

StealthX: That says like I don't want to see anything unless it passes these sort of things that I care about.

Webb Bostick: Mhm.

StealthX: Otherwise I want you, AI agent so and so to just like screen it out for me or handle it for me. And so it creates an opportunity. If you think about it one way, it's good opportunity. It's also uh, a challenge. Building great experiences Revolutionize your business. Building great experiences, innovative strategies. Building great experiences Elevate for your customers. Like comment and subscribe. Hey folks, welcome to another episode of the Building Great Experiences podcast. With me I've got my friend Webb Bostick, uh, president and CEO, uh, of uh, a company called Message Bridge which is headquartered uh, here in Charlotte, but also has a kind of a east coast presence. Um, really excited about the conversation. Web and I have known each other for probably two year and a half, two years, something like that. And um, ah, Message Bridge delivers messaging solutions for primarily midsize companies, but across industries and enterprise as well. And so we've talked before quite a bit about how might businesses use text messaging to deliver a much better customer experience. So anyways, should be a great conversation. Looking forward to web. Welcome to the show man.

Webb Bostick: Thanks for having me.

StealthX: Yeah, for sure.

Webb Bostick: Glad to do this.

StealthX: Yeah. So I know new and approved. Yeah. You know, New Year, new me. Right, yeah.

Webb Bostick: Color scheme.

StealthX: Yeah, yeah. New couch. Yeah. You know, we'll try not to do the uh, you know, therapy session. Right. Uh, uh, yeah, it's a, yeah, it's an add on. What's the bonus feature? Right. Um, so uh, Web, I know you a little bit, but folks obviously listening may not know you love to give a little bit of backstory on who you are, kind of what you do as well as like how you got into uh, the space.

Webb Bostick: Yeah, sure. And appreciate the intro. So yeah, Message Bridge, we are like you said, most of us, we're still a small company, about 15 full time folks with a handful of contractors that work with us too. But most of us here in Charlotte, office in south park area, we got a few guys in the D.C. area too. Um, but yeah, I mean we're focused on really kind of like serving B2B messaging. So like we're pretty bespoke to like agencies who are kind of running Digital strategy with their business clients and providing like a very scalable, intelligent platform for them to kind of layer that channel in. Wonder Cave is another brand underneath our umbrella that has been at it. We've been at it for a little over four years. And the focus with Wonder Cave is kind of like advocacy, civic engagement, like, more like mission driven organizations that similar, um, similar to kind of the message bridge approach where we are kind of like a platform bespoke for kind of that space. So uh, it's been a lot of fun building that. We're uh, excited to take the tech into kind of like different industries with message Bridge. Um, but yeah, it was funny you mentioned like, hey, talk about how you got here before we did this and it was kind of fun to just sit down and write that out like we were talking about before the show. Um, because yeah, my, my experience has been really more so on like the communication technology side of things. So I worked uh, at a company called Bandwidth based out of Raleigh for seven years and kind of like competency wise I've been in the operations, kind of sales, business development side of things. And particularly with Bandwidth, that was like communication technology. So when I say that it's like roots and voiceover ip and all of a sudden there's this like intersection of telecom and software. Uh, and we saw that, I'd say a big moment in that intersection was 2016 when Twilio IPO'd. And it was like, boom. Um, like on the scene, programmatic communication, like API driven voice text that developers now are like hands to keyboard on, programming that into whatever, like platform application, things like that. And that really, that really changed the game. And so I started working a lot with text messaging as kind of part of that for these businesses that needed an underlying platform. And that's kind of how my experience took me into kind of getting tapped to, to really build out this wondercave business in this platform.

StealthX: Yeah, cool. Um, it's interesting. I'm not a text messaging guy. Uh, but as I've gotten to know you and the team, it's been really fun to kind of learn more. Me coming from the customer experience world, often people think about, you know, marketing channels and communications channels and the kind of classic one that everybody goes to is email and social media and these other channels. And you often don't think too much about text messaging. It's been interesting. We've, we've interviewed some marketing leaders, right? And agency leaders and kind of ask them like, hey, how are you thinking about your text messaging strategy? And many of them are like, don't really have it. I really thought about it. Right. And I think what's really fascinating is the world is getting consumed by just so much information everywhere and one of the most direct ways to communicate with somebody is through text. Yeah, right. So it kind of cuts through a lot of the noise. So I'd love to hear your perspective on that intersection of kind of what you're seeing in the space where you know, as AI consumes everything. Right. As it gets harder and harder to reach your audience. Like how is texting enabling, uh, brands to do that?

Webb Bostick: Yeah, it's funny. It's kind of like this unsexy but ever present channel. And yeah, to your point, like we're interviewing these folks and it was kind of like, yeah, we haven't done too much with that or it's like kind of this ancillary thing that you know. Yeah, sure, like we check that box but it's not a. And I would say it's, it's very like use case and like how do you fit into the value chain dependent because that can vary like the utility greatly. Um, but the US market, it's important to note is, is, is unique relative to the rest of the world in, in terms of mobile communication because over the top apps really dominate outside the US Text messaging, like SMS mms. When we say text messaging, kind of like traditional native app on the, on the handset is not like structured pricing wise to be this like ever present unlimited channel. And so you see the proliferation of like you know, the WhatsApps. Um, you've got, you know, all sorts of. Well I think WhatsApp is dominating that space right now. Um, but there's like WeChat.

StealthX: Ah, WeChat.

Webb Bostick: WeChat. Yeah, Messenger. Ish. But they're kind of under meta now both. But yeah, WeChat and like more um, Asian market. But yeah, in the US it's, it's still good old text messaging and um, you know like there's still a desire. I mean surveys show that the majority of people prefer particularly from like businesses to like relative to getting a phone call and again situational. But like for example, I had to deal with a fun water heater bust over the past week.

StealthX: Oh, that's so fun.

Webb Bostick: I really enjoy my H Vac company and I like to get the text message about hey, this is like what we've assigned to you in terms of like your service. Here's the update, here's who's coming. Like it's easy for me to receive that Asynchronously, but I still check it pretty quickly and I think you'll see, um, you know, 98% of folks own a phone, everyone has the native app, you're not installing anything else. And over 90% of folks in surveys say they will read their message within a few minutes. So it's just, I think it's going back to the, the stats of like, it is ubiquitous. Everyone's checking it now. How am I taking advantage of that? In a way that's like. Yeah, I think that's the threat honestly in our space is we don't want to see text become the next email in terms of like it's over saturated, over commoditized and just noise.

StealthX: Yep.

Webb Bostick: Uh, because that's, that's the value diminish, that's the diminishing return. And so it is figuring out, all right, how is your business in terms of customer engagement. It's like meeting folks where they are and sending them a message that they will value and like you will direct them back to your business in some form or fashion. Like we'll keep the linkage there.

StealthX: Yep.

Webb Bostick: Um, and so I think that's the quest that we're on. Um, and it's interesting to note like the first text was back in 92. Merry Christmas. It was from a PC to a Vodafone handset.

StealthX: Wow.

Webb Bostick: And the underlying tech, sure, like has, has changed but it's been roughly the same for like decades which is, which is pretty wild. So I think there's an exciting shift now in this, almost like SMS 2.0 that's coming with RCS, like a new protocol that's going to make everything even from businesses to individuals feel like an imessage. It makes it more secure, trusted, just a richer experience. And then yeah, AI tooling to allow like platforms to give business like to give their clients who are kind of direct to consumer, like something that is really valuable. Like it's not just a blind tool. So that's kind of where we see things going right now.

StealthX: Yeah, that's good stuff, man. I've got a couple of different threads I'm going to like pull on.

Webb Bostick: Yeah, for sure.

StealthX: Um, but I wanted to first share like two anecdotes because I think it helps like frame the conversation a little bit. So um, recently I went to um, a healthcare provider and um, before I walked in the door, uh, I got a text message from the doctor or you know, seemed like a personal message from the tech from the doctor. I was like, hey, make sure you fill out your, you know, paperwork or whatever before you got. You get here. And so I clicked the link, did the thing, you know, I think I had like Chrome auto filled most of it and then I added a couple things and I was done. Right. And I was like, I just kind of was like, that was really awesome. Cuz, you know the classic like you walk into the doctor's office and you're filling out all the papers and you're just like, dude. You know, and they always tell you like, arrive 15 minutes early, whatever. And they had texted me before that too where they were, you know, like, hey, you know, like if you fill it out before, you don't have to come early. You can just get in here on time, whatever. So that was really cool. I was like, I was just like a. It was a timely message that was personal and felt like an authentic outreach from. I'm sure it was automated, but it was like, it felt real, you know. And to your point, because it was a text, I saw it immediately and then I like did something with it. Whereas if it had been like an email, which I'm pretty confident I did get emails from them too. And I don't think I read a single one of them. Yeah, just went into the ether. Right. So that was, that was one that was pretty cool. And then another one that was pretty neat was. Well, it's kind of like, it's. I'll show the two sides of the coin. I had kind of seen an ad for a, uh, line of credit business, line of credit company. And I was like. And I kind of like expressed some interest, put my phone number in there and I get a text message from this guy, his name is Daniel. And he's like, hey, I saw you did this thing, whatever, like. And it seemed like even like to the, to the point where he had typos and stuff, where I was like, oh, this is a real person talking to me, right?

Webb Bostick: Yeah.

StealthX: So I'm texting with him. We ended up, you know, I, I was just kind of curious. Sometimes I just go through these experiences just to see what it feels like. So I, um, started an application. But then I just like, nah, never mind. Because I was walking around my kids and doing stuff. I'm like, I'm not gonna do this.

Webb Bostick: Right?

StealthX: Yeah. And he immediately calls me and I was like, okay. So I like, answer. And he's like, hey, I saw you didn't do the thing. Like, are you gonna do the thing? And I'm like, yeah, man, I'm busy right now. I've got my kids and like, I'll do it later. Well then I now apparently was enrolled in some sequence that they had set, uh, up that was just like this dude was like pounding me with messages like day after day, and I just basically blocked him and was like, I'm never doing this. So I share those two examples for the whole customer experience thing where I think import an important element of messaging is it's like people think, oh, you just send text messages. You're now cutting through noise. You're going to like, deliver value and win and you're going to create, you know, all this, you know, ROI or whatever. There's a good way to do it and then there's a, uh, like not so good way to do it. And you don't want to be the incessant annoying like, oh, just set up this campaign that just like pings them, um, uh, at this interval or after this touch point and sends them just generic messages because then that will definitely get like. Right.

Webb Bostick: Yeah, that's a, that's a really good example. I mean, I think so when we, when you look at survey data, the first example you gave is the highest kind of like, rated response from most folks, like adults in the U.S. it's like appointment reminders and like, kind of like informational texts just because it's, it's good information and it gives you something like, you know, more from it. And then like you said, you save time. And then on the business side, I'm thinking in the doctor's office, not to say they're not focused on wellness, but they're also focused on getting as many folks into the practice and like maintaining a good schedule. And so that's beneficial to them too. Like, you didn't have to wait that long and you got in and onto the next. I think when it comes to marketing, marketing, like direct response marketing use cases, it gets really tricky.

StealthX: Yeah.

Webb Bostick: And along with the, the frequency point you made, even just that hop from I filled out information to getting the text

StealthX: is a little bit of a

Webb Bostick: like, leap of faith, right? Like, yeah, you can put two and two together and you're like, okay, I did this action. So this text from Daniel makes sense, right?

StealthX: You're like, okay, I did just give you my number.

Webb Bostick: But like, it, it, it's still, I think especially as we're entering kind of more into this age of. Because the kind of commercial text messaging ecosystem has become democratized post kind of like the big moment I talked about with Twilio and like just making it more programmatic it's just the proliferation of like scammers. And so like, I do think there's this. Right. This element of like. Sure. I prefer text situations. It's still valuable. Like you said. If you focus on that one point, it's like, yeah, like that's great. But then there's also, I do think this kind of rising a little bit of like rising distrust if you don't do it the right way. And it's just like, well, I don't know what that is and I'm not going to click that link because why would I do it?

StealthX: Because this is like a sketchy. What's going on here. Right? Yeah.

Webb Bostick: Yeah. And so I do think it's particularly like the, the, the journey is, is crucial starting with like the welcome. So in my mind, like the way I would maybe have done that instead of an agent reaching out immediately, like, there's probably some sort of like, kind of like welcome, like almost just like ease you into the journey.

StealthX: Hey, welcome to blah, blah, blah platform. Boom.

Webb Bostick: Daniel. Like, I'm on you because you have to like establish trust and you have to like the brand is still in the mix. Like the brand can't just be like off loaded to someone chasing you down. I do think RCS will help with that because it will become like, honestly more secure. It's a more secure kind of underlying platform, but also like there will be like a kind of a hero icon at the top. You can actually click on it. It'll give you like all of the details as to like this is the entity texting you versus like nameless, faceless tension.

StealthX: Phone number.

Webb Bostick: And that's coming like it's happening right now. Uh, so that's good news for businesses trying to figure out that journey.

StealthX: Yeah.

Webb Bostick: Um, but yeah, to your point, I think it is. Um, you know, you talked about like we're probably going to be talking about AI. It's like, absolutely. Because kind of like that orchestration of like when is the appropriate time to get back to Drew here? Like, um, it's, it's. You can't just cookie cutter that.

StealthX: Yeah.

Webb Bostick: Like there, there has to be either an action or potentially like leveraging another channel to not just make this like, hey, I'm gonna just beat you over the head with text.

StealthX: Yeah.

Webb Bostick: So yeah, it's, it's, it's thoughtful. It's like establishing trust.

StealthX: Yep.

Webb Bostick: Not just shelving the brand.

StealthX: Yep.

Webb Bostick: And then like thoughtfulness throughout the journey.

StealthX: Yep. I think the, uh, trust piece is like, so, I mean, it's funny. I A lot of conversations I have on the podcast, we talk about that, like, regardless of the channel or the work, you know, motor, medium of communication, like it's going to get really, really hard to build trust with people because everybody's going to start being way more like, I don't know about this, like, I'm just going to ignore this thing. It's great to hear. I didn't actually know that the RCS piece is going to make it a little bit more evident, like who's texting you and like, are they a legit company or not? That's great. Um, I feel like. So something I've been kind of pondering recently is this idea that you could use AI to help analyze the data to determine what, for this unique person, are the signals that you should send to demonstrate trust. Because trust is kind of like this. Like a lot of times when people talk about trust and I've done this a lot, I'm like, you kind of just talk about like this big blob of trust and like, yeah, it's sort of like if you just do these things, then people will automatically trust you. Well, that's not necessarily true because different people have different opinions and preferences and biases and whatever. And so what I think would be really interesting is as time goes on, imagine a world where that intro, welcome text message. Right. That you, you mentioned, which I think is exactly what you should be doing. There's some little nudge to be like, hey, like give us a little bit more information. And based on how the person responds or how quickly they respond or sort of the sentiment from the words that they use, you're now able to use AI to say, okay, this person is very easy. They just like clearly like are warm and trusting kind of by default.

Webb Bostick: Mhm.

StealthX: This person is a lot less, a lot more cold and sort of not responsive.

Webb Bostick: Yeah.

StealthX: So like taking different approaches and I'm oversimplifying here, but like you, you can imagine like at scale, AI is looking at all of this information and helping you make more informed business decisions on how do you build trust at scale?

Webb Bostick: Right.

StealthX: How do you make sure that the messages that you're sending are at the right place, to the right, at the right time, to the right person. Right. And delivered in the right way. And you're not like blowing up their phone with a bunch of messages they don't want. Um, but also there might be a situation where some people, they do want more frequent texts because they're like, it's some urgent important thing. Right. So anyway, Just think about like the trusted scale concept and like how that will affect everything honestly. Every, every channel, every mode of communication.

Webb Bostick: Yeah. I do think that particularly the um, it is particularly like the, the marketing use case is the toughest one for timing and um, like positive experience like because um, you know there's very like prescribed timing with like notifications. It's like uh, that you, you get this in advance of this date or it very much makes sense like when you get something and why you get it at that time. I think you raise a really good point on like all of these like data inputs as to like signals for when and how you reach out to someone. I think that we're on the path to like that becoming more kind of readily available among platforms. I think someone who's actually starting to do this pretty well and this is more on the kind of like E commerce side of things.

StealthX: Yeah.

Webb Bostick: Uh, is attentive. They're very much like a um, you know, E commerce like marketing communication platform that's like text messaging first and they also do email. I think you see a lot of CRM kind of based platforms that also have text and sometimes that can just be kind of heavy. Attentive does a good job because they have a very SMS first platform that is very integratable and they do that really well at scale. But they launched I think it was a couple years ago or maybe a year or two ago. Attentive AI that starts to contemplate those things as like they're positioning like a brand or a product more so like a product in front of someone. And I do think there's a bit of like how do you layer in good conversation into it? You know good chunk of Americans want a two way conversation. But if you say that across all use cases I don't think that's representative. I think it's. You narrow it down. It's like if I have questions, of course I want a two way conversation. So it's like if I, if there's a question there needs to be a quick response because everyone's like let's go or else I'm gonna forget about it. But also is the brand driving to an outcome. So like for example if again back to Daniel. I've seen another group called Drips do a good job of this where it's like hey there's an intent. Like you were, you were engaged at one point.

StealthX: Yeah, yeah. I was like line of credit. Let me check this out.

Webb Bostick: Like you trusted enough. And the big blob of trust like you're like, all right, I'll bring you into that. And I've seen this group Drips do a good job of. Because this is kind of what they do. Uh, and they kind of pioneered, like conversational AI via text is like, how am I going to drive you to like, agreeing on when we're going to talk next versus, like, I'm going to just beat you over the head. Right. It's like, establish like, yes. Like, here's who I am, here's the intent. And it's like, when would be a good time? Like, there's like three o' clock tomorrow work. And it's like, I'm not going to hit you up until you say yes.

StealthX: Right. You're like asking for permission.

Webb Bostick: Exactly.

StealthX: A normal person, like a normal person.

Webb Bostick: Like, like there's a, uh. There was a business Internet and phone person who just like barged into our office yesterday and he kept barging into our office over and over again. Like, I would call security. So if you. That was kind of what was happening to you.

StealthX: Like, yeah, like, Daniel. I don't.

Webb Bostick: I got this guy Daniel. I'm sure he's a, hopefully a good person in general, but, like, doing his job. Please take care of Daniel because he's barging into my office.

StealthX: Yeah. And like my kids are here. Like, what is he doing? Yeah.

Webb Bostick: And so I, uh. It was cool because that was a. That was a client of mine previously and I saw this. This is like several years ago. I'm like, man, that's. That's really good. It's driving, it's asking permission, getting, you know, the consent to then take the next step. And then there was like a programmatic kind of bridge to a phone call. So marketing is like, nebulous because, like you're, You're. Or sales because you're trying to get to. Yes. Versus more of the kind, um, of operational notification where you have like a fuse on a time.

StealthX: Yep.

Webb Bostick: Kind of like a timed event. So.

StealthX: Yeah.

Webb Bostick: It's interesting seeing like, who is kind of pushing that. Well, because it, it has like that example is AI helping to manage all of these conversations at scale and keep it personal. And I think, I think folks are okay with that so long as they feel like it's working.

StealthX: Yeah. So love the examples. Drip and. What was the other one you said?

Webb Bostick: The drips and Attentive.

StealthX: Attentive. I. I just realized probably everybody who's listening doesn't actually like, maybe have a good overview, uh, of like, what the text messaging SMS landscape looks like. Right. Like I know for myself just being, you know, uh, called an undereducated text messaging person. Um, I have a, I have a decent mental model. But like, you know, you mentioned Twilio as well. Do you want to give just like a quick like 30,000 foot view of like.

Webb Bostick: Sure.

StealthX: What is, you know, like if I'm a business leader and I'm thinking like, okay, cool, I want to use text messaging, where do I start? Am I like, yeah, going to drips? Am I going to big like phone farm?

Webb Bostick: And you just. No, I'm just kidding. Yeah, I'm glad you asked that because again as I was like thinking ahead of this conversation, I'm like, sometimes I have to back up and be like folks I don't think realize like how involved it is, you know, from a like kind of business to consumer text message. Like the journey of the text. Like.

StealthX: Right.

Webb Bostick: There's a lot that goes into it because I think people are just like text, like, you know, you just send it.

StealthX: Yeah, right.

Webb Bostick: Um, but yeah, there's quite a stack that you're working through to essentially just even deliver that text message to someone's handset. And it requires you working with folks who know what they're doing obviously. And then it, and then it just also depends like where do I fit in that stack? If I'm a small business, clearly I need to work with a platform kind of purpose built for small businesses, like a podium in terms of reaching like the consumer and like kind of managing that.

StealthX: Like I'm a mom and pop shop and yes, you know, whatever. I'm going to use like a podium to send a text message to my customer base that we have a new offer or something like that.

Webb Bostick: Reputation management goes in there. Like there's all those kind of different things. But yeah, I mean like the ecosystem is, you know, it starts with, let's start on one end. You got, I got my phone. It's a Verizon phone. Tough day for Verizon yesterday. Um, so you have like kind of the, the end consumer, you've got the carriers, you got the big three, mostly Verizon, AT&T T Mobile. Um, and so, and then on the other end you've got the business and it's like, how do I like traverse this path to like the end consumer? And so there's just layers in terms of like if I, I want to really like develop texting into my platform or like into my application.

StealthX: Like software, like if you're trying to send text from software. Right?

Webb Bostick: Yeah, like if, um, you know if you're listening and you have software like a platform and you want texting to be like a component that like someone using my platform, a text can be generated from this to whoever needs to receive it. You would work with that layer of like Twilio bandwidth. You know, Vonage. There's, there's a layer of folks who kind of give you, I like uh, a buddy of mine, Shane Martin used to describe it as like they give you the Legos, like you dump the

StealthX: Legos out and good luck and you build.

Webb Bostick: We give you the Legos and ultimately you can build something with it, but they give you that connectivity to the carriers and then you can take it and build it into your.

StealthX: It's more like full custom solution that you can build fit for purpose. That's like delivering text messages to uh, end consumer. Right? That's right. Using those Legos that you were saying. Yeah. Okay.

Webb Bostick: You then have like a layer kind of on top of that, which is more of the platform that you know, has done that Lego building on top of ah, kind of that, that network

StealthX: layer to make it more like accessible I would assume to make it a

Webb Bostick: little more plug and play. You're, you're buying that versus building it. And for, for our business that's like where we sit. We have taken those Legos and continue to, to build on them. And so I think it's just determining like, depending on like the kind of business you're in. Like what does it make sense to invest in building this kind of like core to your product? Or is it like no, I need to partner with someone who has done that work and maybe even like specifically for the industry I'm in. Like for. I gave the attentive example that's very E commerce focused podium. If I'm a mom and pop shop has this ready made maybe costs a little bit more. But that's the whole point is like it's just kind of a platform turnkey or message bridge. If I'm like kind of in market research or advocacy organization where it's like very much tailored to like how they operate and how they reach their audiences, that's like, it's a key decision because there, there is a proliferation of platforms that a lot of times have like a particular niche.

StealthX: Yeah, it makes sense. So like playing it back is basically you have kind of the like the carrier that actually sends a text or is like going through their network. Right. You have the consumer who's kind of receiving it. You've got the platform kind of underlying, you know, Lego providers, if you will, that are like, here you can take these pieces and parts and build whatever you want. And then you have the folks that are kind of like on top of that, that are building solutions that are tailored to a some specific niche, whether it's like industry based or business size based or purpose based. Like that seem. Does that sound about right?

Webb Bostick: That's right.

StealthX: Cool. Good mental model. Um, so something I've been pondering and I didn't give you this one ahead of time because I wanted to get you what your thoughts are. I've been thinking a lot about, a lot of my conversations are about AI and there's been this emerging theme over the last year or two that is this whole like, hey, what happens when my agents are talking to your agents and you're never actually talking to me? Right. And for this conversation, what I think is really interesting to consider is a world where up until recently you text somebody's phone, you're going to get that person. Like you pretty much guaranteed you're going to talk to that person. Right. There's a pretty real world scenario where in the near future there's actually like an intermediary, let's just call it Siri. Right. Siri just recently announced that. Or like Apple announced that Siri is going to be powered by Google Gemini.

Webb Bostick: Yeah.

StealthX: And uh, because they had their whole debacle where Apple intelligence was actually not any good and there was a class action lawsuit against it because they made all those marketing messages, it didn't work.

Webb Bostick: Okay.

StealthX: Yeah, they were like, fine, we're going to partner with like, you know, the other side. Um, but I think there's going to become this really interesting scenario where you're going to have this AI intermediary that's acting on the end consumer's behalf and they're actually going to be the one that's receiving the text, screening the text, responding to the text. They're going to be the one that's like acting on whatever the action is. And then they're just going to be like informing the user, the consumer on the other side to be like, hey Beth, by the way, here's your like laundry list of stuff that happened today. And like I handled all these text messages, don't worry about it. And so it's an interesting quandary, right, because you think about like, and this is not just with the texting, this is with like all channels, right? Like you're going to start to see this like disintermediation or separation from the consumer because they're everyone's going to start building up their own little sort of barricade.

Webb Bostick: Yeah.

StealthX: That says like I don't want to see anything unless it passes these sort of things that I care about. Mhm. Otherwise I want you AI agent so and so to just like screen it out for me or handle it for me. And so it creates an opportunity. If you think about it one way, it's an opportunity. It's also a challenge that I think businesses are going to encounter. And so I'm curious, you may not have spent a lot of time in thinking about this, but I'm curious if you have an opinion on like how do businesses get ahead of that, like upcoming. Interesting scenario.

Webb Bostick: Yeah, that is a very interesting scenario. Um, I think.

StealthX: Well,

Webb Bostick: I think one thing, and you mentioned this earlier, you have to understand like, you have to take if like us, like a platform that has all this data.

StealthX: Mhm.

Webb Bostick: You gotta first, I think get a really good understanding and like start learning about the data you have under your ownership. Because like that's, that's, that's the best thing you got like right out of the gate. So like if, you know, we for example, this past year, 4 billion messages left our platform.

StealthX: Wow.

Webb Bostick: Um, and all of the like click data, opt out replies, everything that goes with it. It's like as a platform, like we need to know what happened there and like what can we learn from it.

StealthX: Right.

Webb Bostick: And specifically like leveraging AI to do that.

StealthX: Mhm.

Webb Bostick: So that like you're getting smarter with like your, that the, the next person over time. Like and it will take time to do that, but just because those are all signals that will help you evolve with how like the consumer's evolving.

StealthX: Yeah.

Webb Bostick: So it's like if I'm not learning from the data that I have, then like what, what are we doing?

StealthX: Totally.

Webb Bostick: But so like that's a step we should all be taking now from a platform side of things. But yeah, you know, with iOS 26 it was like this baby step forward on what you're talking about in terms of like the handset kind of like dictating what the end recipient will see or choose to see. Because it introduced like a little bit more of like filtering out unknown messages and introduces spam filter in the text app, the messages app. And it was, you know, to your point, it's like a kind of a red flag. But also like, all right, well how do we work with that? And, and also like how is Apple intelligence? Like how, how are, how is that handling these things? Um, so we have to like have phones on our end, we have to be testing that, you know, first and foremost, like what's landing in spam? So far it's like doing a pretty good job. It's like the, you know, pay your toll and.

StealthX: Right, right.

Webb Bostick: And some of the non. Daniel like lending like hey, like you want to loan. It's like landing and so uh, or like non 10 digit number, kind of like the random senders, stuff like that. But ultimately, yeah, like if it becomes more of like a. What's the word for it? Like almost like an empowered agent that's

StealthX: like acting independently or autonomously. Right. It's an interesting.

Webb Bostick: What will it choose to do or not do? Um, and I think it goes back to our data. Like what are folks choosing to do? Like, and then like when are they choosing to do it? So. Yeah, I mean, I don't, I don't know. I don't have a great answer for that other than just like don't sit and wait for it to happen.

StealthX: Yes.

Webb Bostick: Just, just keep learning. I'll be curious too, man. Like as, as that kind of scenario starts taking shape, like how much folks kind of like give over to the agent or how much maybe they pull back from it.

StealthX: Yeah. Like how much autonomy are they going to give it? Uh, versus to make like I don't trust. Yeah, I think that's actually a really good point which is this whole notion of like there's trusting the end sender. Right. Whoever's sending the communication and then there's trusting the intermediaries. Right. And so there's. It's this kind of this chained trust effect that you have to kind of think like the consumer is not just evaluating like do I trust like web, Send me a message. Do I trust Web? It's like, do I trust Siri to correctly and accurately evaluate what I care about? Right.

Webb Bostick: Do I evaluate and then do it? Does it confirm with you?

StealthX: Right. Does it do the right thing?

Webb Bostick: Does it.

StealthX: Yeah. Does it check with that? Hey, just before I send this, are you cool? Right. Or uh, before I do this. And I think that it's going to take up. It's going to take time truly to like, like, I don't think this is like a next year thing. I think this is like a year's couple years, maybe more thing where people, as the general population becomes more comfortable frankly with just like the idea that like AI is going to be operating on your behalf and as AI, uh, continues to get better, where it like is correctly and consistently doing what you expect.

Webb Bostick: Yeah.

StealthX: On your behalf. Like, I think then people will start to just be like, all right, I don't really need to double check its work because it pretty much 100% of the time does it. Right. And so then I'm going to start to, like, let it. But that I think it'll. It'll be interesting to watch like, how the public responds as these things become available because, like, I think power users are already starting to just trust AI. Like, oh, this is great. Like, why am I spending so much energy reading every email when it just tells me what emails to pay attention to?

Webb Bostick: Yeah.

StealthX: You know what I mean?

Webb Bostick: Um, I think email has like a big upside on that text to, um. Email has just kind of dug itself a bit of a hole with that. Um, yeah, I, I personally see like some upside there just knowing what my.

StealthX: Yeah.

Webb Bostick: The filter looks like. Right.

StealthX: Same.

Webb Bostick: But like. Yeah, I mean, one example of like the, you know, kind of like the first little test of kind of like the public's trust or like pullback or lean in is like on, um, again, on iOS 26, like the unknown inbox. Like I noticed, uh, in early testing and I wrote about this in, uh, a blog of it, like, would si, like, if I turned it on and just like turned just was like, it's on, not doing anything else. It was like there were certain things that it was silencing that. Like, it's like, oh, no, I don't want that silence. And so it's like, if you get burned, how much do you pull back?

StealthX: Yeah.

Webb Bostick: And then over time, like, how much do you lean back in?

StealthX: Yeah. Right.

Webb Bostick: So, yeah, to your point, it's gonna, It'll be a process. But, um, it also begs the question too, of, um, if the agent is. Has autonomy over like, basically every engagement touch point back to the whole, like, understanding your data. Like how, like, we see, you know, the text channel that's under our belt and we build integrations to kind of like, tie back into other platforms. How much more important is it to see, like, more than that?

StealthX: Yeah. Like, holistic.

Webb Bostick: How is that informing even just purely like a text channel?

StealthX: Yeah.

Webb Bostick: Um, Yep. Like, if I'm, if I'm a like Braze, for example, another platform that has a bit more of like an omnichannel. I'm probably feeling a little excited about this because it's like, if I'm owning different channels and so is the agent, like.

StealthX: Yep.

Webb Bostick: All right, let's. Let's figure out this together, so to speak.

StealthX: I think that, uh, on the, on the flip side, Positive side of this is like, there's a world where it actually gets a lot easier. And I. And I'll explain why. So you think about humans. We're all, like, fickle, emotional, volatile, you know, like organic creatures. Right. And AI is not. AI is not of emotion. It's extremely, like, logical. It makes, like, very, like, predictable decisions. And. And so I actually think there's a world where, if you're seeing the trend line in the SEO space right now. Right. Where we now have what they're calling, like, there's aeo, Geo, uh, whatever you want to call it, basically, like, generative engine. Like, when you go to Google and you search for something, it's summarizing at the top of the page. So a lot of brands have seen a drop because the content that they

Webb Bostick: were driving to, everyone's just looking up top.

StealthX: Yeah. But what's interesting is there's actually this, like, flip that people are starting to realize. They're like, actually, we're just playing a new game. AI is actually more predictable than people are. So if we format content in this way and if we put it in these places, we actually will increase our volume because we're not having to, like, game the human psyche. Right. And also the algorithms. It's like, I think if you kind of think about it that way, where you're like, hey, actually, like, as AI becomes an intermediary, it becomes a little bit more clear of, like, oh, these are the types of signals that AI is looking for to determine what goes to a consumer or doesn't. Right.

Webb Bostick: And I. Yeah, that's a really good point. I think it could also be favorable for, you know, back in the 2000 teens, like I was mentioning, like, when this, all of a sudden, this programmatic democratization of commercial texting came to be. It was like the Wild west, man. It was like, it was cool, but, like, the guardrails weren't even near, like, close to being in place. FCC in 2018 deemed texting as an information service. So it took them out of the regulatory kind of landscape. And the carriers had a. Sorry, I'm hitting the mic here. The carriers had to kind of basically fill that void as best they could. So I say all that because it's been this, like, incremental. Like, how do we, like, put the right things in place to make sure folks are doing this above board? Or, like, why are there still scammers still out there? Like, how do you remove that in the ecosystem? I say all that because it could be that, like, this future of how, you know, an agent's communicating and examining the messaging and also like, verifying. We talk about like, kind of the rcs, like the hardened steps to say, like, I am who I say I am.

StealthX: Yep.

Webb Bostick: Maybe that makes that a lot more like, trustworthy.

StealthX: Yeah.

Webb Bostick: Maybe it's like, all right. Or I guess it. Maybe it steers the industry to be like, if you're doing this the right way and you're getting folks set up the way they need to, that's what's going to break through and you're not competing against this oversaturated space.

StealthX: Yeah.

Webb Bostick: So that's certainly a hope because that's what we've been kind of trying fits and starts to get to over time.

StealthX: Yeah, for sure. This has been a great conversation, man. Um, I always like to kind of wrap with like, making it real, make it practical. Right. So, um, as you think about like folks on the phone or you know, on the show, they listen, they're. They're looking for like, how do I apply this to my business? Right. So maybe if you've got like a couple, two, three things that you would recommend people do in regards to text messaging, um, in general, love to hear what those are.

Webb Bostick: Yeah. I mean, again, I think very dependent on kind of the business you're in. So if you are, I'd say like table stakes. If you're like direct to consumer, like B2C, like we talked about earlier, it's just, it makes total sense to. Particularly since it is democratized and it's, it's programmatic. You have to reach out to folks like, where they are and they're like, on their phones. I mean, we see data showing like this just keeps trickling up and up and up in terms of preference. Um, so again, if you are direct to consumer, you have to, you got to work with a platform that gives you the opportunity to layer in text messaging as like a, like strategic engagement channel. Um, and then kind of similarly, like for the folks we work with, if you're kind of like a digital strategist, if you're a consultancy agency, and I say, like, be empowered in this age of AI, because it's like, like you guys are doing with Stealth X, it's like, see how this thing's moving and like usher people into it. The same is true there. If you are working with businesses who, like, whose. Whose business is to. To communicate with their consumer base, again, you have to bring them, bring that channel in, invest in it, include it in. I would say, like, I think the hardest thing is like including it in your like sales and marketing budget.

StealthX: Yeah.

Webb Bostick: And not only just maybe like kind of like an ancillary operations budget because it is helping to fuel growth. And so you have to like earmark that to say like, this is part of us growing our business because we are like reaching more people more effectively. Um, and then it's a matter of looking at those platforms and like, is this, Do I need a platform to take care of everything for me all in one place? Do we have a pretty mature tech stack? And I need a really solid text messaging kind of layer to plug in. There's different flavors and hopefully, as evidenced by this conversation, I'm very passionate about it. I'm always open to chatting with people about like, what makes sense for them because sometimes we work with folks and then sometimes we don't. And I love steering them where, wherever they need to go. So, um, I would, I would love to chat with anyone who's interested in it.

StealthX: Yeah, well, um, why don't you let folks know where can they find you online? How can they reach out?

Webb Bostick: Yeah, I, I've got a sweeping online presence. No, I'd say the best, honestly the best way to reach me is via LinkedIn. So just search me up web bostic on LinkedIn, send me a DM or simply just comment on kind of the things we're putting out there. You can also email me, uh, wbosticsbridge.com and we're located here in Charlotte, so if you're in the area, we're in South Park. Come to the office or meet up and we'd love to chat with you some more about it.

StealthX: Cool. Yeah, and I'll put it in the show notes so folks, you can check them out on LinkedIn on their website. You can find me Drew burdick.com and also LinkedIn and all the social channels. A couple quick things. I recently built a few interesting little products that help folks figure out how to solve the right problems with AI. So if you're interested in checking that out, go to my website, drewbirdick.com resources free, easy to use, gets you kind of rolling in 2026 and beyond. But um, Webb, appreciate the conversation, man. Look forward to uh, continuing like comment and subscribe.