By Prince Osuagwu, Hi-Tech Editor

Dr Inderpal Singh, EVP Telecom Business, Gupshup is a visionary technocrat with over two decades of experience in mobile technologies. He has authored over 40 technical papers and over 50 issued patents. He has worked at IBM and AT&T Bell Labs; and is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and led Savera Systems, Kirusa, and Dotgo that revolutionized the industry through innovations in billing, voice messaging, and RCS domains.

He discusses with Hi-Tech, the prospects of revolutionizing customer management system for Nigerian brands with Conversational AI Excerpts; 

As an expert in customer management, what latest trends in customer experience have you observed in Nigeria?

To align with changes in consumer behavior, businesses are changing across sectors. Every Nigerian company is trying to identify newer ways to boost consumer engagement and profitability. We see businesses adopting a variety of technologies to reimagine customer experience and business-to-consumer communication. For example, more and more consumers are spending time on their mobiles – using messaging apps such as WhatsApp and SMS, as well as searching what they want, via Google and Maps. So, we see many businesses engaging with customers via WhatsApp, Messages (SMS), and Google Search. This has led to an uptick in brands’ influencer marketing, social media/messaging channel outreach, email marketing, and personalization of their products and services.

What is Conversational AI, in simple terms? 

Conversational AI is the technology that enables computers to connect and engage with people using natural language – think of it as simulating a human conversation. Using conversational AI, computers will understand and process natural language inputs and respond in a natural, intuitive, human-like manner. Businesses typically use a conversational AI platform to connect with consumers in real-time on popular messaging, voice and video channels, via chatbots. Consumers can pose questions, complete a purchase, or even avail service and support via WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or Android Messages, and other frequently used social media and messaging channels. As a result, for consumers, engaging with a brand feels more like a human conversation instead of a business transaction.

How is it helping B2C companies deliver better experience to consumers?

Brands can engage with customers anytime, anywhere, and across any channel using conversational AI solutions. Advantages of conversational AI for brands include the ability to drive personalization at scale and make every engagement truly interactive, contextual and time bound. This helps businesses generate more revenue through faster conversions and repeat purchases.

Tell us about the genesis of Gupshup. 

Gupshup was created with the goal of helping businesses and consumers connect with each other through meaningful two-way conversations. Today, we are a leading global provider of conversational engagement solutions, powering over nine billion messages every month. And businesses view Gupshup as the full-stack conversational engagement platform, with solutions for conversational marketing, commerce and service/support. 

Through popular messaging channels such as WhatsApp, RCS, Business Messages, Facebook, SMS, Instagram, and others, brands use our enterprise-grade conversational engagement platform to engage and communicate one-on-one with consumers. 

How has your product roadmap evolved? 

We have a product-led growth strategy. So we continue to invest in strengthening our product suite, via organic and inorganic means. For instance, our latest acquisition, OneDirect, has significantly enhanced our capabilities in customer experience (CX), service and support areas. 

How do you see Gupshup impacting the life of common Nigerians?

Since the pandemic, consumers are demanding greater empathy, more personalization and transparency from brands, and are even willing to pay a premium for a great experience. 

However, delivering this to millions of consumers is a challenge of scale. Conversational AI solutions can help brands tackle this. Brands can talk with customers rather than talking at them. This helps build a one on one and trusted relationship with consumers like you and me. It feels like we are just texting a friend – and the information delivered to us is far more personal and highly relevant.

How important is Africa and Nigeria to your continued growth? 

Africa is one of the fastest growing markets in the world, and Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa. To keep pace with business growth and market demand, we are investing significantly on three fronts: technology, people and partnerships.

At Gupshup, we have a strong focus on Africa with operations in multiple countries, including presence in Nigeria, Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa. Through the acquisition ofDotgo, a leading provider of rich communications services (RCS) for businesses and telecom operators, we bolstered Africa presence. 

What kind of customer organizations do you work with, and across which industry verticals?

As the leading conversational engagement platform in emerging markets, which span mobile-first countries like Nigeria, we work with over 45,000 businesses, across industry verticals, in 40+ countries. Currently, Telecom, BFSI, Retail/e-commerce, EdTech and Hospitality are our key verticals. We also value and leverage our strong relationships with telcos to help drive faster adoption of conversational engagement technologies in the market.

Our customers include MTN, Airtel, Vodafone, Vodacom, Orange, BuyPower, Prudential Life Insurance, Nestle, Unity Bank, Accion MFB, Passion Air, OmniBSIC Bank, Herbalife, Haggai Bank, Flutterwave, amongst others.

How would you rate Nigeria in terms of technological development?

As the most populous African country, Nigeria is at the forefront of new technology adoption. It is a mobile first country, with high smartphone adoption, and widespread availability of high speed 4G networks. 5G networks trials are underway. There is abundant local talent to create innovative solutions in telecom, fintech, retail, and also boost the gig economy.  Indeed, Nigeria is fast emerging as a key technology-driven economy.