Fernando Menéndez-Ros

A few years ago, Telefónica began a digital transformation process with the aim of seeking simplification, adaptation and the comprehensive digitalisation of the Company through the design and implementation of a cognitive engine that came into being through Aura, its Artificial Intelligence (AI). Aura was designed with the mission to create a relationship with its customers based on trust, giving them the option to converse through natural language with personalised responses and in real time. "Aura as a global product generates a positive impact on business indicators, automation efficiencies, new ways of monetisation, improved customer loyalty and satisfaction." José Ramón Gómez Utrilla, Head of Aura Product Strategy. Presence of Aura around the world Aura around the world Aura is present in seven countries - Brazil, Spain, United Kingdom, Germany, Argentina, Chile and Ecuador - and will soon be available in Colombia and Uruguay, opening up a strong presence in Latin America. In addition, about two million people use this service each month with more than six million conversations and about 30 million interactions during its first year in existence. Moreover, it has more than 1,000 use cases (between personalised cases and knowledge bases)and is integrated in multiple channels, both our own channels and mobile apps (Mi Movistar; Movistar +, My O2, Meu Vivo Móvel), commercial websites and the new Movistar Home device; as well as in social channels, such as Facebook Messenger, Google Assistant and WhatsApp. What can it do for customers? The use cases that AI can offer range from resolving issues related to contracted products and services, asking for the details of the latest bills or the remaining data for the customer to consume, to managing connectivity in the home or making video calls. The present and future of the project This year Aura will reach a total of 9 geographies and will be present in more channels and with more functionalities so that users can make the most of Telefónica's Artificial Intelligence. For example, in Spain it will be available through the Movistar + decoder so you can interact with Aura through the Movistar television remote and be able to search for series, films and other content "a phrase away". It will also soon be integrated with the television application Movistar Play in Argentina. Thanks to the "Local CDOs" initiative, local teams have been created with a Global/local Governance, so that they can create locally relevant use cases for Aura in each country. This will help scale the project in a sustainable and efficient way. It is also important to highlight the "Aura as a Platform" project whose three core features are explained in this infographic. Aura as a platform From now on, in the words of Irene Gómez, global director of Telefónica Aura, "Aura's next steps will be focused on relevance, or context and ideas to make Aura smarter, empowerment and personal data privacy, control and management tools so that the user has control of their own data, and creating an open ecosystem with third parties to create a new home experience.” Movistar Living Apps If you would like to know more about Aura, visit volumes 1 and 2, which tell you its history from its beginning to the present day.

Last week Chema Alonso, Chief Data Officer of Telefónica, and Irene Gómez, Director of Telefónica Aura, gave a keynote speech about the company’s vision and ongoing projects on data & Artificial Intelligence at Telefónica’s Industry Analyst Day event held in Madrid. “Telefónica’s transformation is already happening and is based on intelligent connectivity, new digital services and experiences built on top with Artificial Intelligence” commented at the beginning of the keynote. From 4 Platform to Home as a Computer (HaaC) Irene gave a recap on the different highlights from Mobile World Congress 2017 (MWC’17) up to the event held this year in Barcelona. She said the Company announced on the MWC’17 event it’s four platforms data strategy and on top of the Fourth Platform they decided to build Aura, its AI. “Aura is a new customer relationship model. You can speak with it in real time through natural language and voice interfaces. It can be experienced in different channels and brings personalization and customized experiences thanks to its adaptative learning.” stated Irene. The executive also told its audience that during the MWC’ 18 event Aura was launched in six countries (Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, UK and Chile) and Movistar Home, Telefónica’s smart home device with Aura by design, was presented. Only 8 months later, Movistar Home was launched to the Spanish market. Irene Gómez: “We embarked on a project that was our first step to bringing AI to our customers’ Home Ecosystem. A project that was part of a much more ambitious vision: Home as a Computer (HaaC).” She also explained that HaaC project, presented some months ago by Chema during the 2019 event, will enable new AI-powered in-home experiences for Telefónica customers in Spain. Telefónica’s Aura Director also discussed some Aura highlights like the new country where it is available, Ecuador, or that Telefónica’s AI is now active in more channels like Whatsapp or various webs, among others. It also has more use cases, skills and capabilities. According to her, this has helped a lot resulting in the monthly active users growing up to 71% in the first four months of the year. Home as a Computer (HaaC): AI-powered new in-home experiences Chema continued afterwards and said that Movistar Home device is having great success since 9 out 10 customers in Spain would recommend it to friends & family. Furthermore, it is updating with new features like: Twitter moments: check and listen to the latest news Social games: at least one new game per month related to top contents Calls: emergency calls to special preselected numbers, leveraging Telefónica’s networks He also explained HaaC strategy and why the home is becoming more important for the Company. Chema Alonso: “Our mission is to deliver AI-powered new in-home experiences, to help us gain relevance in the lives of our customers. Home is a key part of our lives and Telefónica is already the number 1 provider of home technology in most of our markets. We're bringing together the best connectivity, new home devices, voice assisted AI and best services to deliver new powerful digital experiences.” To conclude, he gave some examples of the experience that Telefónica is going to deliver to its customers, opening a new ecosystem for third parties to develop Movistar Living Apps. The attendees could see two videos of Movistar Living Apps: Air Europa airline and Smart Wi-Fi service created by Movistar. If you want to know all about Aura, don’t miss out “Aura Story Book” which describes the vision, process of creation of Aura and the most important highlights in its first year of life.

The TM Forum 2019 has recently taken place in Nice (France), a forum that encourages the industry’s association and drives the digital transformation of companies, that was attended by leaders of the most important telecommunications and technological industries. Telefónica has been represented by Irene Gómez, Global Director of Aura, and José Ramón Gómez, Head of Product Strategy at Aura, with the collaboration of Rick Lievano, Director of Industry Technology Strategy and Communication at Microsoft. "Data, Cloud and AI are the fuel for digital transformation", said Irene Gómez. Irene Gómez and José Ramón Gómez Irene stressed that the history of Telefónica is the history of continuous change. Born as a fixed-line network company, it opened up to mobile networks and then to the world of data by incorporating digital services into its portfolio. More than three years ago it was idealised as a platform company, and significant efforts were made to execute that vision successfully. Telefónica, a platform company The First Platform is networks and other company services, which serve as a fundamental base to support the rest of the assets. The Second Platform is unified IT systems, while the Third Platform encompasses all the digital products and services that it offers to its customers. On the basis of the capabilities provided by these platforms, the Fourth Platform was developed to reinforce Telefónica's capacity to collect, store, analyse and understand customer data in real time and offer them personalised experiences. It is a cognitive power realised through Aura, Telefónica’s Artificial Intelligence, which is already established in seven countries and soon to be in two more. “Aura has become a new way to create a relationship based on trust with our customers. Our customers want a simple, reliable, multi-channel experience. This is Aura’s mission.” Irene Gómez In addition, she stressed that the company has already been recognised by Morgan Stanley as number 1 in the digitization ranking or by the Financial Times as one of 20 leading corporations that are using digital technologies to transform themselves. For his part, José Ramón Gómez commented on some of the challenges they face with Aura: Multi-local operation: launched in seven different countries with different languages and dialects. To scale up the project, local teams have been created with a Global/local Government, so that they can locally create relevant cases of Aura use in each country. Time to market: Telefónica has an internal team that builds the product in-house, supported by Microsoft, which allows them to be quick at deployment. Global Product: it has to have the same user experience for all customers while remaining both personalised and relevant. Graphic explanation of the Fourth Platform Aura, an international project The Telefónica executive also pointed out that Aura is currently present in seven countries with 2 million active users per month, 6 million conversations per month through 20 different channels, which is why it will continue to evolve gradually with each new case of use and channels, depending on the needs of each country. In addition, Aura has recently been launched in Ecuador and will arrive in 2019 in Colombia and Uruguay. To conclude, regarding the implementation of Artificial Intelligence in companies, the three pointed out that change is constant; it is necessary to transform, so that data, cloud and AI are the fuel for digital transformation, that innovation will come from each person, and that technology must have a human side and create different and personalised experiences for customers and employees.