FireText Communications Limited

FireText UK Secure SMS (Official) SMS Text Messaging

SMS Text Messaging: FireText provide a secure, trusted and easy to use SMS platform. UK cloud based SMS platform allowing 2 way SMS text messaging. Accredited to ISO27001, Cyber Essentials and NHS DSP Toolkit standards. The platform is penetration tested by a CESG CHECK accredited company on an annual basis.

Features

• Integrate with 1000+ other software platforms including MJog and AccuRx
• SMS Marketing
• SMS Tracking
• URL Tracking
• SMS Delivery Reporting
• International SMS and International HLR
• Keywords & Auto-Replies
• Integrated Developer SMS API
• Personalised Bulk SMS
• Scheduled text messages

Benefits

• Reduce costs compared to other communication protocols
• Reduce missed appointments or meetings
• Improve speed of communication with end users
• Notify end users of last minute disruption to journeys
• Quickly notify stakeholders of time critical information
• Align with Digital by Default ethos
• UK located private cloud servers
• Easily Integrated SMS
• Use SMS via existing software platforms
• Hand-Holding Support provided in the UK

£0.02 to £0.04 an instance

• Education pricing available
• Free trial available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at gcloud@firetext.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 12

Service ID

847737214495588

Contact

James Huff
0800 038 5522
gcloud@firetext.co.uk

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: Yes, but can also be used as a standalone service
• What software services is the service an extension to: Zapier, Freshdesk, Zendesk, Mjog, Frontdesk, accuRx
• Cloud deployment model: Community cloud
• Service constraints: International SMS and HLR availability can vary on a country by country basis, and even on a network by network basis within each country. There may be specific requirements in order for international SMS to be successful, and FireText will endeavour to provide the most accurate guidance available. Examples would be some countries require pre-registration of service, and others require all messages to be sent from a local reply number.
• System requirements:
  • Requires internet connection
  • Access to a browser that supports TLS 1.2 or above
  • API requests must be made using TLS 1.2 or above

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: 1 hour during normal office hours, 4 hours outside normal office hours. Normal office hours are Monday to Friday, 0900 to 1730 (excluding bank holidays).
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: No
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: Web chat
• Web chat support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support accessibility standard: None or don’t know
• How the web chat support is accessible: N/A
• Web chat accessibility testing: None
• Onsite support: No
• Support levels: FireText provide web chat, free phone and email support during normal office hours. Outside of normal office hours, email support is available for technical issues. All support requests are escalated to the appropriate department internally, at no additional cost.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: On-boarding is really simple and straightforward. The FireText® platform is available through your web browser, and setting up an account is completely free of charge. To get started just visit www.firetext.co.uk/pricing/trial/gcloud and type in your details to create an account. You can upload your contacts immediately using a .csv file or by pasting them into the easy-to-use contact uploader. Once you have SMS credits on your account messages can be sent straight away, or scheduled for a later date. Payment can be made instantly using a credit card, or by speaking with the support team, where credits can be added on receipt of a valid purchase order number. On-boarding support is available through online chat, email and over the telephone during normal office hours.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: Data can be downloaded as a csv file, including sent messages, received messages and contacts. Account data can be obfuscated on account closure, upon request to the support team.
• End-of-contract process: Off-boarding is very simple and straightforward, customers can use the platform for as many (or as few) SMS campaigns as required. There are no long term contracts when using the FireText® SMS platform. Off-boarding support is available through online chat, email and over the telephone during normal office hours. Off-boarding is provided at no additional cost.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Internet Explorer 10
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari 9+
  • Opera
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: Yes
• Differences between the mobile and desktop service: Users can send/schedule messages to individuals and existing groups, review messages and campaigns that have been sent as well as delivery and click reports. Users can download data, but cannot upload csv files.
• Service interface: Yes
• Description of service interface: The FireText service can be accessed via web platform or API. Users need to have access to the internet to be able to connect, and web pages are also mobile optimised.
• Accessibility standards: None or don’t know
• Description of accessibility: The FireText system has been built to run without the requirement of JavaScript in a lesser capacity. All images have clear alt tags. Text is used for all buttons and functions, and as such can be manipulated for a variety of cases using popular in-built and add-on browser functionality.
• Accessibility testing: No formal testing
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: Customers must already have either a full or trial account with FireText to utilise the API. Customers can send and receive messages via the API, as well as check credit, manage contacts, schedule messages, access message reports, create sub accounts, transfer credit to sub accounts, add message templates, and manage keywords including adding forwarding rules. Authentication is via either username and password or via apiKey. API requests are only supported using TLS 1.2 or above.
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
  • Other
• API sandbox or test environment: Yes
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: FireText account managers can enable features on the web platform upon request. Sub accounts can be enabled, message templates, fixed SMS sender ID, international sending, country specific contact validation, branded URL shortener, restriction of data uploads and downloads, sharing of pooled credits between sub accounts, sharing of suppression list with sub accounts.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: HA Load balancers are present at each data centre. From here, it is possible to spread load across multiple servers to deliver services. We operate Ansible playbooks to allow for quick provisioning of additional servers, should our monitoring indicate failures or the need for additional resources.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: Delivery reports, click reports and credit usage.
• Reporting types:
  • API access
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Reports on request

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
• Government security clearance: Up to Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: United Kingdom
• User control over data storage and processing locations: No
• Datacentre security standards: Managed by a third party
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CHECK service provider
• Protecting data at rest: Physical access control, complying with another standard
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type: Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
• Equipment disposal approach: A third-party destruction service

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: Data can be downloaded as a csv file, including sent messages, received messages and contacts
• Data export formats: CSV
• Data import formats: CSV

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Other
• Other protection within supplier network: FireText utilise firewalls and access controls to restrict communications between systems in our network.

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: FireText will guarantee 98% monthly availability of the Services, between 8:00am and 11:00pm Monday to Sunday. Should the FireText SLA be violated and the customer has made a pre-purchase of SMS credits, the customer can request a refund of any remaining credits (less any administration costs, such as G-Cloud management charge fees).
• Approach to resilience: We operate in multiple geographically separated datacentres with multiple clusters within each datacentre. More information is available on request
• Outage reporting: FireText use StatusPage for communication during outages. Users can view the StatusPage here: http://status.firetext.co.uk/ and can also subscribe via this page to receive updates via email.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Username or password
  • Other
• Other user authentication: Users are authenticated through the web platform with a username and password. Through the API authentication can be done with a username and password or an apiKey. Additionally, 2 factor authentication can be enabled.
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: FireText management enable access control for all members of staff, and permissions are managed as required. Permissions are managed independently for interfaces as well as support channels. Access can be restricted at various levels, including complete or partial restriction.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: User-defined
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• How long system logs are stored for: At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: The British Assessment Bureau
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 7/8/2015
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: N/a
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications:
  • DSP toolkit
  • Cyber Essentials
  • DataSeal

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards:
  • ISO/IEC 27001
  • Other
• Other security governance standards: DSP Toolkit, Cyber essentials and DataSeal
• Information security policies and processes: As per our ISMS Manual, the management are committed to defining and establishing our ISMS policy. This includes, but not limited to, defining objectives, the roles and responsibilities, approach to risk assessment, regular audits and continued improvements. Training is provided to all staff when they join, and at least on an annual basis. All staff can report directly to SIRO.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: FireText adopt a strict version control for all source code and configuration, so we can investigate and rollback deployments as required. Maintenance of physical components is managed by our accredited datacentre provider, and components are tracked using reporting tools such as Runscope and Opsgenie. All changes are assessed for security impact.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: FireText monitor and apply patches and updates when they become available. The infrastructure is designed with security as the priority. Any potential threats are mitigated through the design of the infrastructure, the servers & datacentre configuration, and is re-enforced by external annual penetration testing by an approved 3rd party security company. Threats are monitored via information provided by National Cyber Security Centre.
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: Our systems are behind multiple layers of security, we proactively monitor for abnormal activities and investigate any alerts triggered immediately
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: Incidents are communicated with all customers. We use an external platform that allows for regular updates to be communicated. This includes initial report of incident, the investigation into the incident, the status of the incident, right through to resolution. Incidents are followed up by a 'post-mortem' of which details the incident. All of which are communicated instantly via email to subscribed customers. Users can report incidents through the normal support channels.

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v3.0)

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: No

Pricing

• Price: £0.02 to £0.04 an instance
• Discount for educational organisations: Yes
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: Setting up a free trial account online gives access to the full web platform, which can also be accessed via the API. Users receive 10 free trial SMS credits for testing - credits do not expire. Users can send SMS, create groups and upload contacts.
• Link to free trial: Www.firetext.co.uk/pricing/trial/gcloud

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at gcloud@firetext.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.