European Commission awards Wiraya €2m to stimulate artificial intelligence innovation in Europe

Wiraya, which develops a Managed Mobile Customer Activation software, has been awarded €2 million in innovation grants by the European Commission, for the development of Wiraya Activation Intelligence.

The contribution will enable further development, validation and optimisation of Wiraya’s artificial intelligence software to help Europe’s mobile operators improve customer value for their subscribers, and thereby customer loyalty.

The new functionality, Wiraya AI, automatically creates interactive voice and text communications, which allows individual dialogue with large customer groups. This will revolutionise the customer experience for a range of use cases such as upgrades, renewal, changes and support issues.

This will address rising industry challenges as European mobile telecom operators continue to tackle low customer satisfaction and loyalty. Despite advanced churn prediction models, operators often communicate with their customers as if they were still prospects, using generic communication that erodes trust and commitment.

Using machine learning, the software predicts and customises what, when and how to communicate with each individual, by matching the individual’s profile with specific communication journeys. With the implementation of Wiraya AI, 5% of the annual churning customers can be saved each year, corresponding to substantial savings for the operator, and increased customer satisfaction.

“We are really proud to be one of the few companies selected by the European Commission. The grant gives us a great opportunity to be able to drive the development of artificial intelligence within customer communication in Europe. We have always tried to challenge ourselves by identifying and solving important industry-specific business problems. For the telecom sector, AI functionality will solve resource-intensive and complex customer communication flows with highly effective, automated personal dialogues.” says Oskar Klingberg, CEO of Wiraya Solutions.

The development of AI functionality begins with pilot projects in 2018 and then full commercial launch in 2019. Initial tests suggest up to 5 times higher conversion rates compared with today’s way of communicating, while delivering substantial yearly savings.

Klingberg added: “We are now developing the functionality specifically for mobile operators, but our plan is to implement the functionality across other industries, proving the same opportunity for a whole range of businesses.”

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