“AI/ML Algorithms Help Creating Customized Engagement Strategies”, Says Harsha Solanki

 For companies looking for newer and better engagement strategies, particularly through voice-based channels, cloud communications come to mind. Apart from relieving the company from building its own telecom infrastructure, it has numerous other benefits in terms of flexibility, compatibility, and an ability to scale up to the growing demand making it an omnichannel option. Infobip, a cloud communication platform, known to be the world's most connected platform provides cloud base- tools to help businesses and developers build and develop engagement activities throughout the customers' lifecycle. Analytics Insight has engaged in an exclusive interview with Harsha Solanki, Managing Director – India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, Infobip.

1.Kindly brief us about the company, its specialization, and the services that your company offers.

Infobip is a global cloud communication platform that offers a gamut of services, enabling brands to create memorable experiences for their customers. The company was incepted in 2006 with a mission to democratize the future of interactions between businesses and people. At Infobip, we are continuously striving for innovation. Our unique, easy-to-use and reliable tech-based solutions primarily focus on platform and connectivity, customer engagement, and channels. With more than 15 years of experience, we are present across six continents with over 70 offices and a 3500-strong workforce.

Our platform deals with various conventional and new-age communication channels, including WhatsApp, SMS, MMS, email, voice, mobile app messaging, RCS, live chat, Messenger, Instagram, Viber, etc. We have also recently added Google's Business Messages, Apple Messages for Business, and Web Push to our portfolio.

Besides Infobip's SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) portfolio, we were one of the earliest CPaaS (Communication Platform-as-a-Service) platforms to transition to the co-creation model from a developer-driven approach. We augmented our platform with new capabilities to deliver full-stack solutions to our customers. While Infobip continued to evolve in the CPaaS ecosystem, we extended our services from A2P communication to the CCaaS model through our unified solution, 'Conversations'. Not only does it enable P2P communication via a digital-first cloud center, but it also improves CX through hassle-free omnichannel interactions.

'Moments' is our omnichannel customer engagement solution that enables brands to onboard, engage, and retain their customers with relevant offers and campaigns. The in-depth customer segmentation allows via intelligently automated behavior helping our partners to send personalized messages, leading to higher conversion rates. Answers, the chatbot-building platform completes our SaaS portfolio. It brings a new level of automation and enables the companies to provide 24X7 customer support and increase sales with minimum human intervention by deploying a virtual assistant. It can be integrated across all communication channels, including WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook Messenger, RCS, etc., from a single platform.

Another critical service provided by Infobip is the 'Mobile Identity' authentication. It is a solution that allows our partners to verify and protect their customers in a frictionless way with their mobile numbers. Not only does it improve customer experience, but it also increases engagement. When it comes to data, 'People CDP' is our customer data platform that collects and unifies data to create in-depth customer profiles to give companies a 360-degree view of their channel preferences and communication history. Our motto is 'Worlds Connected,' and we are committed to enabling our clients to reach their customers effortlessly in a personalized way to deliver what they need when they need it.

2.Tell us how your company is contributing to the IoT/AI/Big Data Analytics/Robotics/Cloud Computing industry of the nation and how the company is benefiting the clients.

Needless to say, the future of business communication is digital-first. In the post-Covid-19 world, technologies like AI, IoT, Robotics, Machine Learning, cloud computing, etc., will play a crucial role in shaping engagement strategies. And that's where Infobip steps in, as it all ultimately comes down to customer experience. We assist businesses by offering them data-driven insights by leveraging these latest technologies. Via such tech-based solutions, companies deliver personalized CX, leading to increased customer engagement and loyalty. 

A 2021 study conducted by Aberdeen Strategy & Research estimated that firms with AI capabilities enjoy 3.5X greater improvement in customer satisfaction rates, and the statistics say it all. Our innovative solutions are primarily based on AI and ML algorithms that assist companies in creating customized engagement strategies. Answers, our intuitive chatbot-building platform, enables companies to save time and reduce costs while keeping human intervention minimal.

Today's hyperconnected world has made a brand's online presence a necessity more than a luxury. The omnichannel era is driving customer behavior today, and we are committed to creating meaningful interactions between organizations and their customers. Our omnichannel engagement, instant support, and user authentication help businesses deal with the complexities of delivering a seamless CX. 

3.What is your biggest USP that differentiates the company from competitors?

In an age where brand loyalty is declining, it's the experience that will keep people coming back. Consumers' expectations of brands – from product to service – are high and constant, and they are unforgiving if those expectations are not met. But those who have great experiences, keep being customers. Infobip's business is designed to make sure a company's perception of their performance matches their customers, helping brands create meaningful relationships over multiple channels, at scale. Our products – Moments, Conversations, Answers, People, and Mobile Identity – are easy-to-use and do not involve higher investment in sophisticated hardware, making Infobip the preferred choice for customers. We believe in forging genuine human connections between companies and their customers, which further gives us a competitive edge over our peers.

Working towards our goal of changing how the world communicates, we offer natively built technology with the capacity to reach over seven billion devices worldwide connected to 700+ direct telecom connections, which means reliable, always-on communication, and 40+ data centers, meaning uninterrupted business. Also, our Partner Connect Program allows partners and their customers to leverage our global experience, connectivity, communication solutions, and industry expertise to create innovative client solutions that drive business growth.

Furthermore, we have been named a leader in the CCaaS Leaderboard 2022 by Juniper Research, as well as ranked as Leader in Omdia's CPaaS Universe Report 2022. Also, we've been recognized globally and were named a Leader in the 2021 IDC MarketScape for CPaaS. We were also awarded the Best CPaaS provider of the Year, Best RCS Provider of the Year, and Mover & Shaker in Telco Innovation by Juniper Digital Awards in 2021. In the same year, ROCCO SMS Messaging Vendor Benchmarking Report 2021 rated us as the Best A2P SMS Provider.

4.How do you plan to revolutionize the Indian market, what are your plans to tap the market?

India is one of the fastest-growing markets, especially in digital transactions. So, we are constantly focusing on enhancing customer experience by expanding our efforts and working on creating end-to-end journeys. End-to-end journeys start from authentication through customer engagement, customer support and eventually also payments, receipts and all the order and purchase processing. For example, through our SaaS solutions and tools, brands will enable their customers to search for what they want, and they will be able to transform transactions in the chat app and do a check-out. So, we are expanding pieces of this customer journey through purchase activation. They can have it further expanded with customer support in the same chat app and in the same conversation flow, and it will gradually evolve to after purchase. In other words, Infobip will be expanding both vertically and horizontally in this space in the way to put tools in the hands of its clients and customers to build delightful experiences.

Globally, our plans include expanding into Conversational Commerce which is at the intersection of eCommerce and messaging apps, WhatsApp, and text messaging. We are betting big on it by doubling down on innovation in that space. We are building innovation tools, where the brands can create their own chatbot to enable conversations call centers to provide omnichannel customer support. The companies will be able to store all of these interactions with customers, so the next time you interact with your customer, the channels will have a memory, and the customer will not need to repeat everything, and it can enable hyper-personalization. These conversational journeys give a better experience for customers and superior results to the business.

One such example is our association with Uber. We developed a chatbot solution for Uber India that enables customers to order rides via WhatsApp, making the entire booking experience seamless. The AI-powered chatbot has been built and deployed on the WhatsApp Business Platform using Infobip's chatbot-building platform, 'Answers.' We have also helped various civic bodies to transform the citizens' experience by digitizing engagement.

5.The industry is seeing the rising importance of business and technology enablers like virtualization, convergence, and cloud. How do you see these emerging technologies impact your business sector?

At Infobip, we are committed to democratizing the global business communications landscape, and technological advancements are unlocking several opportunities every day. For instance, in 2022, the challenge is to connect, especially at scale, and a centralized cloud communication solution is the best bet here. Cloud technologies not only provide fast and flexible solutions while keeping the data in a single space, but they also enable businesses to manage the entire customer engagement lifecycle more effectively. 

The power of customer experience cannot be underestimated in a 5G and AI-dominated era. I believe CX is just as important as the product/service the business sells. With new technologies emerging every now and then, it gives us the opportunity to expand our horizons and introduce innovative tech-based solutions to help organizations deliver personalized customer experiences.

6.How is the Big Data/AI/Robotics industry changing? What are the key technology transformations in this space?

Technology is evolving for good, and there's no turning back. AI, Big Data and Robotics have transformed customer experience. And one of the biggest changes is being more data-driven and keeping customers at the center of the experience. One of the changes is sentiment analysis and gauging customer intent. For example, recently we created an AI chatbot for a luxury brand. To build the chatbot we used AI to identify over 100 different intents and the sentiment behind emojis and GIFs – leading to a hyper-personalised conversational experience. In other words, customer engagement is one of AI's most popular use cases. Integrating these conversational technologies will allow customers to interact with the machines as they would with humans. The intuitive chatbots not only require minimal intervention, but they also help organisations gain trust among their customers by being available round the clock. Other emerging technologies garnering attention in the industry include Metaverse, where communication channels will help enhance customer experiences significantly.