Travis CI is a widely used Continuous Integration (CI) tool that syncs with GitHub accounts and automates the building, testing, and deployment processes. To receive SMS notifications when a project fails to build or test, Travis CI can be configured to use Twilio Functions, which are hosted by Twilio and allow for automation without renting and configuring servers. The process involves installing Node.js and the Travis CI Client, creating a GitHub repository, building a boilerplate Node.js app, configuring build notifications, handling Travis CI requests with Twilio Functions, setting up webhook notifications, testing the webhooks, and customizing notification frequencies in the `.travis.yml` file. With this setup, developers can receive SMS updates whenever their project fails to build or test, allowing for more effective communication with teams of developers.