Text messaging remains vital to businesses, both from a customer and an employee standpoint, a new survey shows.

According to a survey of nearly 550 mobile phone owners, 36% subscribe to receive mobile messages from businesses, and 90% of them opt to receive the messages from one to five businesses.

The study by Chicago-based wireless messaging specialist Infinite Convergence Solutions surveyed 547 consumers on their mobile messaging habits and behaviors.

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Findings were evaluated based on demographic qualifiers, including gender, age and smartphone ownership, the company said, and response percentages were further evaluated on a quantitative scale to assess actionable metrics for enterprises.

The study also found that 45% of mobile phone owners use mobile messaging for business correspondence and that 61% of them say official from an employer is the most valuable information they receive, Infinite Convergence said.

The study also found that 87% of mobile phone owners open a message within 15 minutes of seeing a notification, the company said.

 “The number of mobile and smartphone owners are steadily increasing, meaning more consumers are mobile messaging,” said Anurag Lal, CEO of Infinite Convergence. “SMS and MMS messaging is the most ubiquitous form of communication and a platform businesses must leverage to reach consumers.”