You can automatically send SMS text messages to agents using a trigger, escalation or SLA. This is useful for alerting agents to important events, such as a high-priority ticket being created or an SLA failure.

In order to do this you will need an account with either of the following third-party SMS services:

• Twilio
• Clickatell (you need a Clickatell Developers’ Central account)

To enable SMS delivery, install the Deskpro app for the service you wish to use from the Apps section of the admin interface.

Enter the required credentials from the service you are using.

For Twilio:

• Twilio Account SID (from Account Settings on the Twilio site)
• Twilio Auth Token (from Account Settings on the Twilio site) - click the padlock icon to reveal it
• From Number (must be a phone number registered with Twilio)

For Clickatell:

• Clickatell Username
• Clickatell Password
• API ID (from APIs > Manage APIs on the Clickatell site)

You will now have a Send a Twilio SMS message/Send a Clickatell SMS message action available for use in your triggers/escalations/SLAs.

For an agent to receive SMS messages, ensure that there is a mobile phone number saved for them in the Properties tab of their details in Admin > Agents. Agents can also enter their mobile numbers through the agent interface in Preferences > Profile.

You can send an SMS to an individual agent, or all the agents within a team, a department (i.e. all agents with full permission to access that department) or to a specified number.

It is obviously a lot more useful if the SMS message contains details of the specific ticket. You can use the same variables as in snippets to automatically generate the message.

See the Deskpro Knowledgebase article How do I use variables in snippets, messages and webhook actions? for full details of the available variables.