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Wiraya, a Marketing Technology firm based in Sweden 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 (“Wiraya AI”).

The contribution is intended to 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. With such deployments of AI being predicted to potentially revolutionise the customer experience across a range of use cases including support issues, this development could be an interesting development for field service organisations.

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 - Oskar Klingberg, CEO, Wiraya SolutionsCurrently, European mobile telecom operators are facing continuing rising industry challenges to tackle low customer satisfaction and loyalty and despite advanced churn prediction models, operators still often communicate with their customers as if they were still prospects, using generic communication that erodes trust and commitment. This is a challenge that Wiraya are aiming to tackle.

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 v, 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 adds: “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.”

Should the pilots be successful it will be interesting to see if this could as act as a proof of concept to roll out across over service-centric sectors.

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Field service is one of those sectors most likely to be affected by a European Court of Justice ruling on what constitutes “working time” for mobile employees.

The ECJ has ruled that time spent travelling to and from first and last appointments by workers without a fixed office should be regarded as working time. Previously some organisations, including those engaged in field service, have not regarded this element of travelling time as work.

The court says the ruling, which has caused some controversy among European Union member states, has been enforced to protect the health and safety of mobile workers as set out in the EU's working time directive, which stipulates that they cannot work more than 48 hours in a week unless they opt out. Member states will be required to ensure national legislation on working time complies with the ruling. Workers are required to sign a waiver in order  to opt out.

Mobile workforce management software developer Auto Time is one company advising that service organisations may now find themselves in breach of EU working time regulations unless they review operations. Christian Berenger, Operations Director at Auto Time says: “The new ruling could leave contractors, already under pressure to deliver their services cost-effectively, confronted by increased labour costs and facing a tough battle to operate profitably within tight margins. To minimise compliance risk, employers need to put systems in place that will enable them to gain total transparency of their workforce, track their movements and plan staff workloads to coincide with their daily commute to minimise costs.”

The ruling by the European Court of Justice deeming time spent travelling to and from first and last appointments by workers should be regarded as work means businesses now more than ever should be carefully considering the deployment of their workforce, agrees Marina Stedman, director at ClickSoftware.

“Thousands of employers may be in breach of employment law, requiring them to implement workforce management strategies that take this ruling into account. Businesses not already doing so should be looking at software that manages all time related services with one single platform, to ensure when staff are dispatched to a task, this is being factored in. Having this in place, businesses will be able to proactively design rosters that consider the capacity of staffing shifts days and weeks in advance.”

Christian Berenger adds: “The role of technology in supporting organisations to comply with the new ECJ ruling surrounding mobile workers should not be underestimated. With HR teams under increased pressure to keep up with changing employment regulations, employers must evaluate their business practices or risk falling foul of the law. By gaining instant visibility of their remote workers and streamlining compliance tasks, workforce management systems. can not only meet their legal obligations but optimise their workforce for future bottom line growth.”

 

Real-time data access allows managers to track the whereabouts and task status of their workforce, calculate the ‘actual hours’ worked and respond to operational issues with better informed decisions as they happen, he points out and recommends empowering staff to manage their hours, via a secure web portal using their smartphone or tablet. ”

There’s likely to be an impact on schedule optimization, too, thinks Bereneger. “Scheduling functions provide managers with the ability to optimise staff shifts by allocating job tasks to dovetail with their daily commute, ensuring assignments at the start and end of the day are located near employees' homes to minimise travel time.

 

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