Avaya invited us earlier this week to check out their emerging technologies and how they plan to use AI, Virtual and Augmented Reality in the world of consumer and business technology that promises to forever change how we interact with companies or services in a way that heralds the future. With a predominantly young, tech-savvy population and some of the highest smartphone penetration rates in the world, the Middle East is at the forefront of the customer experience transformation. Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality, and robotics are becoming a reality in enterprises in the region, as companies look to deliver the unique, personalized experiences their customers expect. Avaya highlighted this at GITEX Technology Week 2016 real-world use cases for AI technology, and demonstrated how it is helping businesses in the region to deploy cutting-edge solutions to transform their customer service offerings and enhance customer satisfaction. I for one was floored with the level of adaptation that’s going into this. It’s also primarily Avaya’s prime objective, after all, their services are now being used at the government level.
They want AI to be part of your life.
Avaya is now working with digital disruptors across the region to harness the power of AI to push the boundaries of digital services, and create compelling customer services. According to researcher International Data Corporation (IDC), the global market for machine learning applications will reach $40 billion by 2020, as developers look to add AI features to apps. Customer service is a key priority for businesses in the region, with 83% of UAE respondents in an Avaya/BT study saying they would buy more from organizations that make it easier to do business with them. Avaya’s R&D team is developing a self-learning “chatbot” solution, capable of holding intelligent conversations with customers, answer queries and resolve customer service issues. By leveraging self-learning AI technologies to model customer language and dialogue interactions, the solution is designed to predict customer preferences and proactively resolve problems.
“Think of what Avaya is building and you’ll suddenly realize this is coming as close to having your own digital butler, ala JARVIS from Iron Man.”
While I can’t mention which entities are working to implement this technology, you can expect this service to come very soon especially during automated messaging on the phone. The technology would allow the customer to interact with the bot and perform low to mid level decisions before redirecting it to an actual person if they still want more specific queries. It would certainly mean less of button dialing during this process. It would also mean that your AI would learn more about you and adapt to your decisions and financial habits. It could do things like looking at your social activity and financial records and then suddenly remind you of that fancy BMW you always wanted and it has the ability to pick information from the web and process options which then lead you to a sales representative.
“Artificial Intelligence is set to become the new consumer expectation. Here in this region, we are already seeing the technology crossing over into mainstream use, as companies look to innovation to drive the customer experience and to leapfrog competitors in other markets. Enterprises today understand that they need to evolve digitally, deliver unique experiences and resolve their customers’ most pressing issues – almost before they have them. GITEX Technology Week is the perfect platform to showcase what we are doing to help our customers achieve their digital transformation objectives.” Mohammed Areff, Vice President, MEA & Turkey, Avaya
Equinox
Avaya also announced a new platform that is a key milestone in the company’s journey towards open systems in business communications. Avaya Equinox delivers streamlined, mobile-first communications within the applications and browsers employees use most frequently for their work. This first-ever global technology launch from the Dubai show for Avaya underscores the importance of the event as a global platform for the company, and the depth of Avaya’s commitment to the region’s ICT community. Digital transformation is driving the need for an evolution in unified communications. Customers, employees and partners are demanding a user-driven communications experience that fits into how they work instead of changing how they work. Avaya, as eight-time Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications, is uniquely positioned to provide this transformational platform.
“The vision for unified communications has always been a streamlined, user and IT-friendly experience that enables work to proceed without disruption. With Breeze and Equinox we have reached a stage where we have made it far easier to empower users to deliver real-time communications with Avaya or embedded inside their own enterprise apps. No one in the industry does that today. We are especially proud to launch this product globally from our stand at GITEX Technology Week 2016, showing the international stature of the technology showcase platform.” Nidal Abou-ltaif, President, Avaya International
Put simply, Equinox will give you full control into transforming a work space in what’s essentially now a smart office. Let’s assume you’re in a space where you find the need to collaborate, search for news on a related topic and have a video conference all at the same time, it’s possible and I saw it first hand. So much so that during the product demo, the application lets you control the ambient lighting of the space.
Augmented Reality (AR) is redefining consumer experiences and business interactions in the region and around the world. is demonstrating the application of this game-changing technology to create an Omnichannel, connected and automated experience for the banking industry. Augmented Reality open up new modes of interacting with dynamic content and sets the stage for interactive and real-time consumer engagement. The IDC has reported that the Middle East and Africa augmented and virtual reality market will grow from $181.59m this year to $6bn in 2020, projecting annual growth rates of more than 100%. With the GCC region on the cusp of tapping into this significant potential of Augmented Reality across a range of sectors, Avaya provides a glimpse into the intelligent integration of online and offline consumer experiences.
“Augmented Reality opens up a range of possibilities for the future of collaboration and communication, and in creating unique product experiences for the customer. With rising interest in enterprise AR, we are increasingly seeing the introduction of AR enterprise applications. Platforms such as Avaya Breeze deliver an open, mobile engagement platform to develop business communications applications to help create unique value and that personal connect that customers look for today.” Mohammed Areff, Vice President, Middle East, Africa, and Turkey, Avaya
Emotional Tracking
“How does one calculate or measure happiness ? This is how.”
Happy Dubai are implementing emotional trackers that will provide analytics to see how happy you really are. It’s the same technology that was used in Russia for the Sochi Olympics to detect tension, aggressiveness, dissatisfaction and even threats by allowing the algorithms to run over security feeds that target facial expressions. In this particular demo, I was scanned and despite me being cheery, covering GITEX over the course of the week isn’t the easiest thing and it wears down on you. The algorithm correctly predicted my tension levels to be higher than average and moods were running high. It claims a success percentage of 92%. The tracker also made pie charts on my happiness, annoyance levels over time and how much potential there was to increase the positivity in me. You can see the video below how it tracked me.
It’s a brave new world and Avaya seem to be a step ahead and I can’t wait to see their tech being used in action.
