Opposition party the Democratic Alliance (DA) has announced the use of mobile messaging in during its election campaign to interact with voters and campaigners and to secure its IT infrastructure with one-time passwords (OTPs) using mobile messaging and push notifications.

The DA has secured the services of global mobile services company CM Telecom's Hybrid and SMS messaging solutions.

Hybrid messaging, which combines push notifications, voice messages and SMS text messaging, ensures that messages are delivered on every device.

Voice and SMS text messages might also be used as back-up if the push notification is not delivered on to the handset within a period of time.

Mobile passwords create an extra layer of security – two-factor authentication – which prevents data breaches for login sessions.

DA executive director Warwick Chapman said the party traditionally relied on SMSes for OTP delivery, but was keen to use CM Telecom's hybrid messaging to drive down costs of OTPs in the long term.

“A secondary target was to introduce a mobile application to the Apple and Android stores that served as an authenticator and a starting dashboard into our ecosystem of applications,“ he said.

Country Manager of CM Telecom in South Africa James Bayhack said the DA's view on mobile being the 'way forward' re-affirmed the view that organisations needed to embrace the efficiencies and reach of the mobile ecosystem.

Bayhack said CM Telecom was delighted to be able to compliment the DA's mobile strategy and assured the party that they would support it as it’s needs continued to grow.