du and Unified Inbox (UIB) announced their strategic partnership to bring to the UAE market a new, convenient, and secure way for users to communicate with du and everything meaningful in their daily lives without downloading another app or using a separate web-based service. The announcement was made during GITEX 2017, the Middle East’s largest ICT show which brings together technology leaders from around the world. It is in line with du’s long standing association with the Dubai Future Accelerators.
Samer Geissah, Vice President, Innovation at du said: “Our association with the Dubai Future Accelerators gives us the agility to bring innovative solutions to our customers today. In line with the recent UAE Artificial Intelligence strategy made by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, we are already able to support our government in its Vision for 2021 and beyond.”
The benefits of working with the DFA are many-fold. Under the directive of the UAE leadership, the DFA fosters innovation and collaboration at its incubation centre in Emirates Towers to ensure that we resolve the issues we face more efficiently. The association with DFA has enabled du to further its investment in the entrepreneur community and facilitate a knowledge sharing environment, putting innovation into action in the UAE.
In line with this association, the between du and UIB will integrate UIB’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) messaging capabilities in du’s network, allowing users to benefit from UIB’s UnificationEngine™, an AI-powered Internet of Things (IoT) messaging platform. Customers will not only be able to communicate with du’s customer care and services but can eventually also control the devices in their smart homes and offices via simple text and/or voice messaging on the channels of their choice including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype, WeChat, and many others.
UIB’s ability to enable communications with customers in natural language text and voice messaging will provide a simple way for users to access all of their IoT devices. The service will have significant applications and benefits for du’s enterprise customers who will be able to control their smart industries, smart manufacturing equipment, and their smart offices via a single contact in their smartphones. It facilitates ease of control and simplicity for du’s enterprise customers and also reduces costs and increases productivity.
Another exciting feature of this technology will be the option for customers to avail various offers based on their location/time or on demand by simply chatting with du like you communicate with a friend. The service will be available in English and Arabic with the option of adding more languages in the future.
UIB was recently selected to participate in Dubai Future Accelerators’ third cohort, where it is working directly with du and alongside other government bodies. The partnership brings the newest intelligent IoT messaging technology to the region already leading the world in its introduction of innovative and disruptive telecommunications services.
Geissah added: “We are excited to be the first ones to introduce this revolutionary technology in the UAE which will help both our individual and enterprise customers. Our vision is to allow customers to ask us anything through their preferred way of communications such as WhatsApp, and together with UIB, it will become a reality for our users to communicate with us and also control their smart devices via simple messaging in their preferred platform and language.”
Using AI with Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP), UIB will be developing a dedicated assistant for du’s customers that will cater to all their needs. The choice of channel and language, whether text or voice, along with no need for a separate app will save time, increase loyalty, and most importantly, build “conversational relationships” with du’s customers. These conversations will allow du to better understand customers’ needs and requirements, building upon the warm relationships du enjoys with its customers. For example, as WhatsApp is already an essential part of customers’ daily lives and is used to communicate with colleagues, friends, family members, and even customers, bringing all of the users’ communications needs into a single contact on WhatsApp will bring them one step closer to du.
UIB CEO Toby Ruckert added, “We are very happy to be working with du, one of the world’s most innovative and customer-oriented consumer and business brands. We will be working very hard to ensure du’s customers are able to enjoy easy access to all of their services and devices without the need for separate apps, calls, or web services. Our focus is to enable du’s customers to chat with du as easily as they chat with their friends, on their favorite social media, messaging, and chat platforms.”
