AB Majlis podcast: e& accelerates AI push with 900 projects as telco economics shift rapidly
Speaking on the sidelines of the World Government Summit in Dubai, as part of a special series by AB Majlis, e& Group CEO Hatem Dowidar outlined how AI is reshaping the company's operations.
'AI now is different because AI has moved from being something that only a data scientist or a specialist can work with to something that is touching everybody's work, touching everybody's life every day', Dowidar said.
The company's transformation comes at a critical juncture for the industry.
e& UAE CEO Masood M. Sharif Mahmood highlighted the fundamental challenge facing traditional telcos: 'The billions that we're pouring in the infrastructure, we have to continue pouring billions. So the investments go like this, but the price that our customers are willing to pay is going like this. Two forces moving in the opposite direction.'
This pressure has catalysed e&'s evolution from a traditional telecom provider to a technology company.
The transformation is already showing results, with customer complaint volumes dropping 40 per cent and satisfaction indices rising by 20 per cent over the past three years, according to Mahmood.
The company's AI initiatives span from network operations to customer service. 'Normally now we are solving customers issues even before the customer knows there's an issue', Dowidar noted.
The push into AI aligns with the UAE's broader technology ambitions, which saw the country become the first to appoint a minister of AI in 2017.
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