Very interesting; however personally - I would have an issue with the mental perception of it. Texting is for my friends and family, I don't want to think of it as 'work' when I'm sitting there organizing my social life.
We see this use case a lot, inbound lead gen via text is very effective.
We also offer voice on SendHub, so you can get calls on the number too. I believe we're unique in offering both those services on toll free numbers too.
I keep dreaming of the day I can order my Starbucks by text before I go pick it up. Same for everything I order. I would text any business before I pick up the phone and call them or launch Gmail.
I also like keeping my personal and professional lives separate. However, there's a lot of times where texting is more efficient than email in the workplace and we've found that businesses communicating with a lot of people - like on demand companies - need more powerful tools.