More than 30% of businesses are prioritizing rich messaging as a development and investment priority in 2026, according to a new report from a global cloud communications provider Bandwidth, Inc.

Bandwidth, Inc., surveyed 1,000 businesses and 500 customers for its report, “The Future is Conversational.”

Globally, there are about 3.8 billion RCS users, compared to 5.5 billion SMS users. Smaller percentages use WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, Telegram, and WeChat.

Meanwhile, 96.2% of smartphones are RCS-enabled, and RCS is supported by all mobile carriers on both Google Messages and the Apple Messages app (as of iOS 18).

Despite the proliferation of communications channels businesses can use to engage with their customers to enhance the customer experience (CX), the report said SMS messaging is indispensable for marketers and customer service teams. It should be the “default fallback” across the board, Bandwidth says.

SMS texting works even when a customer can’t connect to the internet, meeting the primary concern for companies in the survey: deliverability.

The report still recommends SMS messaging for the following uses:

• Sending a promo code
• Simple reminders
• Requesting appointment times
• Sending alerts to large groups
• Simple OTP (one-time password) or 2FA (Two-factor authentication) messages

However, it says RCS is better in the following scenarios:

• Marketing campaigns that include videos, images, and interactive features
• Customer support interactions that include suggested actions
• Suggested “dial” actions that call out to a preferred customer support line
• Customer surveys

About two-thirds of customers surveyed said they would be more likely to engage with a business text if they could “interact with buttons/selection/scheduling features without having to leave the message.”

The report found that, while a third of businesses plan to focus on RCS, nearly as many plan to center artificial intelligence (AI)-powered messaging solutions this year.

Agentic AI may be able to play a role as customers share information with brands through multiple channels, like voice, messaging, provider apps, and email, the Bandwidth report predicts. That can mean faster resolution for customers and reps, especially when AI chatbots are brought into the mix.

“Business messaging is expected to evolve faster than ever in 2026,” said Tim Sherwood, Bandwidth’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of Messaging. “To stay competitive, enterprises are deploying richer channels and AI to engage customers where they are.”