Our vision of Aura: more than just a digital assistant

This week I participated for the first time in the Telco AI Summit, which took place in London. During the presentation entitled “Our vision of Aura: much more than a digital assistant” I was able to tell more than 200 attendees about Telefónica’s comprehensive digital transformation process to provide intelligence to the three Platforms it already had and the creation of the 4 Platform to reinforce Telefónica’s capacity to collect, store and analyse customer data.

Thanks to this initiative, Aura, Telefónica’s IA, was launched in six markets: Spain, Brazil, United Kingdom, Argentina, Germany and Chile in 2018. Aura was born so that the company’s customers can use a natural language, obtaining answers in real time, and always personalized related to the products or services that the company has contracted with the company.

Aura is available through Telefónica’s own channels such as mobile apps (My Movistar, My 02 or Meu Vivo Móvel), websites or the Movistar Home device and also through social channels such as Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp or Google Assistant.

Aura is born with super powers

• SIMPLIFY: talk to technology and make things happen.
• ENRICH: transform data into profit insights.
• EMPOWER: control your data (transparency, consents)
• DISCOVER new experiences (of TEF and third parties)

Since its launch, Aura has evolved enormously, in 2019 it has reached new markets such as Ecuador and Colombia and will soon be available in Uruguay. In addition, it is already integrated in more than 30 global channels to be more relevant to our users. It has more than 1,000 usage cases and 3 million active users per month. In addition, Telefónica is making a very strong commitment to bring AI to the home of Spaniards. Recently the opening of the home ecosystem has been announced so that third parties such as Air Europa, Atlético de Madrid, Iberia or LaLiga can develop unique experiences called “Movistar Living Apps”.

Note that Aura is available in the UK through the mobile application “My 02“. Specifically, they can talk to the virtual assistant through voice or text and see their invoices, see the products and services contracted, see the use of data or answer more than 100 generic questions, among other features.

Attendees were delighted with the initiative and understood the innovation that Telefónica has brought with Aura. A new relationship model based on trust that means treating our customers in a unique and special way. Indeed, Aura is much more than a digital assistant.