In its continual efforts to enhance customer experience, ABB is investing in Stockholm-based start-up, Mavenoid.
The hardware support platform uses innovative artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to solve customer enquiries with high success rates.
Despite $1.3 trillion being spent globally every year on 256 billion customer support calls, 50 per cent of these calls still go unresolved.
Designed to reduce escalations to human service teams, as well as improve user satisfaction, Mavenoid’s pioneering technology utilizes data from sources such as manuals, product documentation, and online communities, to train its highly evolved ML and AI engines to resolve repetitive support requests.
Mavenoid CEO, Shahan Lilja, said after winning ABB’s Electrification Start-Up Challenge in 2020, the company has continued to develop its technology to address the increasingly complex needs of users.
“Working with smart home channel partners and customers to provide automated support via the existing ABB App, we set ourselves a target of resolving 30 per cent of self-service resolution. We actually achieved 60 per cent over a 12-month period. “Despite the growing support cases overall, the AI based tool still reduced the number of support cases into the ABB help center significantly.”
Already in use in selected markets with smart home solutions such as ABB-free@home, the self service and live support platform spans automation, workflow, escalation, and product intelligence feedback.
ABB’s investment underlines its vision for enhancing the comfort and efficiency of buildings for occupants while optimizingcustomer experience through the power of partner relationships, according to Mike Mustapha, president of ABB Electrification’s Smart Buildings division.
“This collaboration not only presents a more efficient way for our customers and installers to interact with physical products and systems in the home automation, door communications and energy metering domains, it also provides us with valuable user feedback,” he said.
“The data gathered helps us innovate better solutions more quickly as needs evolve, as well as extend our collaboration with installers.”
Head of Ventures at ABB Electrification, Malin Carlstrom, said the ability to guarantee technical product support based on Mavenoid’s true easy-to-use and powerful artificial intelligence engine gives them a strong competitive edge.
“Mavenoid constitutes the kind of investments we look for,” he said.
“We know from focus groups with major organizations that rapidly rising interest in smart building technology has been coupled with concerns about complexity, as well as the scale and cost of maintenance.
“Over the coming months, our partnership will expand from end users in homes into our installer network to cover commercial buildings, and into other business areas of ABB.”