Integrate SMS with AI agentson the channel every phone already has
Vantegrate's AI agents, Sellium and Revio, text your customers through your SMS provider's official API, such as Twilio or RingCentral: they answer inbound texts, qualify, book meetings and send campaigns only to contacts who gave consent. Every conversation is logged in Salesforce or your CRM, and the number, the brand and the data stay with your company.
How the data flows
What does it mean to integrate SMS with Vantegrate's AI agents?
Integrating SMS with Vantegrate's AI agents means Sellium and Revio talk to your customers by text message with the same logic they use on WhatsApp: they answer with your prices and inventory, qualify, book meetings, hand off to a sales rep and send consented campaigns. Messages go out through your SMS provider's API, and every conversation is logged in Salesforce or your CRM.
For US customers, SMS is the main rail, not a backup. It reaches any phone with no app to install, while WhatsApp reaches 32% of adults (Pew Research Center, 2025), and Meta doesn't deliver WhatsApp marketing templates to +1 numbers (Meta). Campaigns to US customers run on SMS, and WhatsApp stays for the customers who already use it.
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What moves between SMS, the agent and your CRM
Your SMS provider carries the message; the agent reads data from your systems to answer and logs the outcome in your CRM, along with each contact's consent and opt-outs.
Inbound texts and replies
When a customer texts your number, the provider notifies the agent through a webhook, and the agent replies in the same thread with live data from your systems: price, inventory or order status.
Consent and opt-outs
Every consent is stored with its date, channel and wording, and every opt-out, whether the word STOP or a phrase like "stop texting me", goes to the suppression list.
Outcomes in your CRM
The conversation, the delivery status your provider reports and what got done (a qualified lead, a booked meeting, a quote) land on the contact's record.
How the integration works, step by step
Vantegrate handles the setup and rollout. Your team approves the copy, validates and goes live.
Connection to your SMS provider
We connect the agent to your provider's API (Twilio, RingCentral or another) with credentials from your account and the webhook that reports every inbound message and delivery status.
A2P 10DLC registration
If you text US numbers from a local number, we register your brand and each campaign with you, in your company's name, with its purpose and how you collect consent.
Consent, opt-outs and quiet hours
We define which messages are service and which are marketing, which consent wording is stored, how an opt-out is recognized and which time window each send follows.
Validation with real data
We test with real conversations, validate with your team and roll out in phases: inbound texts first, then campaigns.
SMS where WhatsApp doesn't reach: same agent, another channel
WhatsApp is the native channel of Vantegrate's agents, but in the US it reaches a minority: 32% of adults use it, according to the Pew Research Center, 2025, rising to 56% of Hispanic adults (Pew). SMS reaches any phone with no app to install, and Americans exchanged nearly 2.2 trillion SMS and MMS messages in a single year (CTIA, 2025).
The second limit is policy. Meta doesn't deliver WhatsApp marketing templates to US numbers: conversations your customers start still work, but a campaign to +1 numbers needs another channel, and that channel is SMS. The same goes for contacts who don't have the app.
For the agent, the logic doesn't change: it answers, qualifies, quotes and logs exactly as it does on WhatsApp, using your catalog, price lists and inventory, and writes the result to Salesforce or your CRM. What changes is the format (plain text, with no buttons or catalog) and the rules of the channel, which in the US include registering your brand and getting each recipient's consent.
RCS is the rich version of SMS: a verified business profile, images, carousels and buttons inside the phone's own messaging app. Google counts more than 1 billion RCS messages a day in the US (9to5Google, 2025), Twilio prices RCS from the same base rate as SMS with automatic fallback to SMS or WhatsApp (Twilio), and 59% of businesses surveyed by Bandwidth plan to deploy RCS but haven't launched it (Bandwidth, 2026). If you want to add RCS, we evaluate it during discovery.
| Dimension | SMS | |
|---|---|---|
| US reach | 32% of adults (Pew) | Any phone, no app |
| Campaigns to +1 numbers | Meta doesn't deliver marketing templates | Yes, with consent and 10DLC registration |
| Format | Text, images, buttons and catalog | Text, or an image over MMS |
| Registration | A WhatsApp Business Platform account | A2P 10DLC brand and campaigns for local numbers |
| Patient data (HIPAA) | Not on Twilio's HIPAA-eligible list | On the list, with a BAA signed with the provider |
Channel comparison for the US market; the source of each figure is cited in the text of this page.
US SMS rules: 10DLC, TCPA and opt-outs
In the US, business texting is a registered, regulated channel, and an AI agent that texts your customers follows the same rules as a human team. Carriers require A2P 10DLC registration of your brand and each campaign (Twilio): Twilio blocks messages sent from a 10DLC number without an approved campaign (error 30034), and RingCentral runs its own registration form.
Opt-outs are where an AI agent carries the most risk. The FCC's rule requires treating a plain-language reply such as "stop texting me" as an opt-out when a reasonable person would read it that way, and the FCC has since voted to let senders designate an exclusive opt-out method (Day Pitney, 2026). Revio's flow is designed to treat those phrases as opt-outs and log them anyway, because that is what the customer asked for.
Litigation is what makes these rules expensive: the TCPA lets each recipient sue for $500 per message sent in violation, and a court can triple that to $1,500 when the violation is willful or knowing (47 U.S.C. 227). A few thousand texts to people who never consented, or who already opted out, add up fast.
In healthcare, SMS is on Twilio's list of HIPAA-eligible services and WhatsApp isn't (Twilio), and Meta states that it is not a HIPAA business associate (Meta). Using SMS with patient data requires signing a business associate agreement (BAA) with your provider first.
| Rule | What it requires | Source |
|---|---|---|
| A2P 10DLC registration | Brand and each campaign registered before sending from a local number; without an approved campaign, Twilio blocks the message | Twilio |
| Consent (TCPA) | Prior express written consent for marketing sent with automated systems | 47 CFR 64.1200 |
| Opt-outs | STOP, QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT OUT, CANCEL or UNSUBSCRIBE count as an opt-out; honor it within 10 business days at most | FCC, 2024 |
| Quiet hours | Telemarketing between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., recipient's local time; Florida and Oklahoma end telemarketing calls at 8 p.m. | 47 CFR 64.1200, Florida, Oklahoma |
| Damages | $500 per message in violation, up to $1,500 if willful or knowing | 47 U.S.C. 227 |
Informational summary, not legal advice: your legal team decides how each rule applies to your messaging program.
What the agent does with each rule: your brand and 10DLC campaigns are registered in your company's name in your Twilio, RingCentral or other provider account; consent is stored with date, channel and wording; every opt-out goes to the suppression list; and Revio schedules sends within the strictest time window that applies to each recipient.
You've seen how it connects. Want to walk through your case?
Tell us how you work with your SMS channel and we'll tell you what data we need and where the agent connects.
An agent connected to your SMS channel vs. a standalone tool
| Standalone AI tool | Agent connected to your SMS channel | |
|---|---|---|
| Data source | A copy that drifts | Your CRM and ERP, live |
| Where your data lives | In the texting tool | In your CRM, with every conversation |
| Result of each conversation | Stuck in another app | Written back to your systems |
| Consent and opt-outs | Lists with no history | Every consent and every opt-out on record |
| Reaching production | Often stalls as a pilot | Validated, phased rollout |
Why add SMS to your AI agents
Third-party figures, each with its published source, to size the channel in the US. None of them is a Vantegrate result.
~2.2 trillion
SMS and MMS messages exchanged in the US in a single year
59%
Of businesses surveyed plan to use RCS but haven't launched it
CTIA counts SMS and MMS of every kind, not just business messages, and the RCS figure is Google's count of all messages on the protocol. Pew measures who uses WhatsApp at all, not business use. Bandwidth surveyed more than 1,000 enterprise messaging leaders.
Which agents work over SMS
Both use the same channel and the same CRM: Sellium talks with whoever texts you, and Revio reaches out to contacts who gave consent.
Sellium
Sales agent: answers inbound texts, qualifies, quotes with your catalog and price lists, books the meeting and hands off to a sales rep with full context. Every conversation is logged in Salesforce or your CRM.
Explore Sellium
Revio
Marketing agent: sends campaigns and alerts only to contacts who gave consent, stored with date, channel and wording. It logs every opt-out, even one written in plain language, and schedules sends within allowed hours.
Explore RevioThe text goes out through your provider, and the data stays in your CRM
The principle is simple: AI comes to your data, not your data to the AI. Your provider carries the message and the agent works with the permissions you authorize; the number, the brand and the campaigns belong to your company.
- Connection through your SMS provider's official API (Twilio, RingCentral or another), with credentials from your account and webhooks for messages and delivery statuses.
- Least privilege: the agent uses only the numbers and campaigns you enable, within the flows you defined with your team.
- Conversations, consents and opt-outs stay in your CRM, with a log of every send.
- The agents run on Salesforce or Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, whose SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications belong to those platforms, not to Vantegrate or your SMS provider.
Frequently asked questions about SMS and AI agents
What sales, marketing and compliance teams usually ask before adding SMS to their AI agents.
How do I integrate SMS with an AI agent?
How do I integrate SMS with an AI agent?
Through your SMS provider's API, such as Twilio or RingCentral. The provider notifies the agent of every inbound message through a webhook, the agent replies with data from Salesforce, your CRM or your ERP, and logs the conversation on the contact. If you text US numbers from a local number, your brand and campaigns are registered for A2P 10DLC in your company's name. Vantegrate sets up the connection and the rules; your team approves the copy and validates before go-live.
Why add SMS if I already use WhatsApp?
Why add SMS if I already use WhatsApp?
Because WhatsApp doesn't reach everyone: 32% of US adults use it (Pew Research Center, 2025), and Meta doesn't deliver marketing templates to +1 numbers, so a campaign to those numbers needs SMS. The agent is the same on both channels, with the same CRM and the same contact history, so a conversation can start on one and continue on the other. More in the WhatsApp integration.
How does the agent handle consent and opt-outs?
How does the agent handle consent and opt-outs?
Revio stores every consent with its date, channel and wording, and doesn't send marketing to anyone who hasn't given it. Every opt-out goes to the suppression list, whether it is STOP or a plain-language reply like "stop texting me": that is how the flow is designed. The FCC sets a maximum of 10 business days to honor an opt-out. Our glossary explains opt-in.
Can the agent send RCS messages?
Can the agent send RCS messages?
RCS is the rich version of SMS, with a verified business profile, carousels and buttons, and Google counts more than 1 billion RCS messages a day in the US. It isn't an active feature of the agents: if you're interested, we evaluate it during discovery based on your provider. Twilio, for example, prices RCS from the SMS base rate and falls back to SMS or WhatsApp depending on each customer's channel (Twilio).
Is it TCPA-compliant to text customers with an AI agent?
Is it TCPA-compliant to text customers with an AI agent?
It can be: compliance depends on how the program runs, not on whether a person or an agent writes the message. Marketing texts sent with automated systems need prior express written consent (47 CFR 64.1200), so Revio texts only contacts with consent on record, honors STOP and plain-language opt-outs, and sends within quiet hours in each recipient's time zone. Your legal team signs off on the consent language before go-live.
Twilio integration
How Twilio carries WhatsApp and SMS into your Salesforce org, with A2P 10DLC registration.
Learn moreRevio, the marketing agent
How Revio runs consented campaigns and wins back customers, with every opt-out honored.
Learn moreWhatsApp integration
The agents' native channel, and what changes with US phone numbers.
Learn moreLet's connect AI agents to your SMS channel
Tell us which SMS provider you use, which countries you text and which messages you want to automate, and we'll show you how the agent answers inbound texts, how consent is recorded and what 10DLC registration takes. A 30-minute conversation, no commitment.
Francisco Morales, co-founder, takes your call. We reply on WhatsApp within 4 business hours, no strings attached.
