NEW YORK, June 28 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- LivePerson, Inc. (Nasdaq: LPSN), a leading provider of conversational commerce solutions, has added support for RCS business messaging into its LiveEngage platform as part of Google's Early Access Program, making possible rich messaging between brands and billions of consumers around the world. RCS is a major upgrade to the older SMS standard, adding rich text, graphics, interactions, and secure payments.

The GSMA's RCSstandard – dubbed "SMS 2.0" – is backed by many of the world's largest mobile carriers and handset makers, and supported by Google, which has built it into the native Android Messages app. With the GSMA projecting more than 1 billion RCS-enabled handsets by Q1, 2019, and 86% of handsets by 2021, the integration with LiveEngage allows world-leading brands to use it at scale, reaching this massive global audience.

"We are proud to be the first enterprise conversational commerce platform to integrate RCS, and give the world's largest brands access to this important conversational channel," says Robert LoCascio, founder and CEO of LivePerson. "Our mission is to make life easier by simplifying how people connect with brands, and we're excited to work with Google to make this a reality for billions of Android users over time."

"We are pleased to have LivePerson join our Early Access Program to integrate RCS directly into their LiveEngage platform," says Amir Sarhangi, Director of partnerships, messaging for Google. "With many of the world's largest consumer brands using LiveEngage for conversational commerce, native support for RCS will bring the benefits of rich messaging, including graphics, interactivity and payments, to more consumers worldwide."

With RCS now built into Android Messages and rolling out worldwide, with support from the largest handset makers and carriers, large brands are increasingly interested in adopting the standard to power rich interactions with their consumers, and leaving behind the many limitations of SMS, which was created in 1992, long before the modern smartphone era.

As all major smartphone operating systems, social platforms and voice assistants open up brand-to-consumer communication options, the LiveEngage platform is unique in offering coverage across all modern modalities and truly allowing brands to be "in the pocket" of every consumer. Brands may begin development for RCS business messaging solutions immediately.

About LivePerson

LivePerson makes life easier by transforming how people communicate with brands. Our 18,000 customers, including leading brands like Citibank, HSBC, Orange, and The Home Depot, use our conversational commerce solutions to orchestrate humans and AI, at scale, and create a convenient, deeply personal relationship — a conversational relationship — with their millions of consumers. For more information about LivePerson (NASDAQ: LPSN), please visit www.liveperson.com.  

Contact
Allison Franzese
afranzese@liveperson.com 
212.609.4224

SOURCE LivePerson, Inc.