Introducing Genius BOTS

As part of our ever expanding suite of services, OHT-Connect has added Genius BOTS to our messaging platform.

Our messaging platform now seamlessly bridges the gap between dumb phones, feature phones and smart phones. Send a message to your database of contacts and the messaging platform will automatically route the message on the most affordable and efficient bearer possible for that contact.

Our messaging platform also allows USSD applications to be migrated to Genius BOTS with zero changes to your code base. Leverage the superior performance and price of a bot while maintaining the availability of the USSD application for feature phones and dumb phones.

Genius BOTS using Telegram (app) allow the sharing of photos, videos, files, locations, calendars, contacts and more. These bots come without the restrictions of other messaging apps and are quick, flexible and cost effective.

Should a subscriber not be available on Telegram, or not have data or have unsubscribed, Genius BOTS will automatically fail over to SMS to ensure that the message is always delivered. While Genius BOTS uses Telegram at the moment – any application such as Whatsapp, Twitter DM etc. can be integrated on demand and managed.

Genius BOTS is perfect for loyalty programs, financial services, local and extended government, insurance businesses and the hospitality and personal services industries.

“Seamlessly bridging the gap between dumb phones, feature phones and smart phones.”

A FEW EXAMPLES:

LOYALTY PROGRAMS

Encourage your members to install Telegram and subscribe to your bot. This is a simple process of following a link from a normal SMS, or from a Genius SMS. It is possible to incentivise the member with extra points / airtime or rewards.

Our messaging platform with Genius BOTS will manage these subscriptions, abstracting the technology and routing from your loyalty program. Your loyalty member can now interact with your bot at any time to request statements, points updates, specials or redeem points. As the loyalty program you can message only the subscribed members, or the unsubscribed members, or both. Genius BOTS will deliver the message over Telegram to the subscribed members and over SMS or Genius SMS to the non-subscribed members resulting in significant cost savings.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Transaction alerts, statements, payment reminders, OTPs and offers can be made using Genius BOTS. Existing USSD services are seamlessly ported onto your bot without the need to change any underlying technology or business rules.

HOSPITALITY AND PERSONAL SERVICES INDUSTRY

Daily specials and promotions can be sent with images or video to your customers at a reduced rate to normal SMS. Customers can interact with your bot and place orders, view menus, book tables, book rooms, enquire about availability and pricing. Importantly, the bot can also be used to encourage feedback from a customer. Booking reminders are cheap and easy to send. The Genius BOTS platform will manage the subscriptions for your client base and automatically route to SMS or Telegram depending on where the subscriber is available.

GOVERNMENT

Genius BOTS will be highly effective in government. At local government level the platform can be used to notify residents of service delivery problems, by elections, ward meetings and disaster warnings. Genius BOTS is also perfect for the distribution of municipal statements, valuations, collections and payment reminders.

Residents can use the bots to report service delivery problems. The bots can receive photographs and locations of the problems such as leaking pipes, pot holes, cable problems and more. Residents can also submit meter readings and make enquiries.

The Genius BOTS messaging platform is also well suited to provincial and national government departments. SASSA messages and enquiries can be elegantly handled, SARS and DHA can easily disseminate notifications and information while the platform automatically routes the messages to the correct messaging type. The platform is also ideal for communications with employees of government, police, armed forces, teachers and health care workers. Any form of communication (statements, pdfs, images, videos, stickers etc) can be enabled by Genius BOTS

CENSUS AND DATA COLLECTION

 

Genius BOTS has several features that elegantly solve many of the pain points in the collection of data, geospatial information, imagery and forming audit trails on the quality of the information provided. Agents installing the Telegram application make the following available:

  • Manual data collection (name, surname, ID numbers, addresses, LSM stats etc)

  • Location – GPS coordinates of where the device is

  • Location tracking – every minute the device reports its location – built audit trail of

    movement

  • Images – photos of the physical dwelling, ID documents, residents etc.

  • Video – the ability to take and send video’s

  • Messages – the ability to send messages to groups or individual agents.

  • Failover messages – messages fail over to SMS when the device does not have a data

    connection

  • USSD failover – the ability to collect data via USSD services.

  • Open and closed bots – agents need to validate to access a bot, while the public can

    access a bot without validation or verification.

  • Our messaging platform also includes an affordable SIM APN solution where the SIM card in the device is managed by the messaging platform and has whitelisted IP addresses allowing communication between the device and specified destinations. In other words the device will

only be able to make use of Telegram and access a StatsSA portal – this ensures the security of the data and limits the agent to only using the device for the purpose of collecting information. This is also important in managing the costs of data.

Agents can make use of their own devices and the bot can register and maintain records of successful censor data recorded.

 

When it comes to members of the public doing a self-censor questionnaire the BOT can be programmed to validate information received from members of the public and will guide the person through a simple series of menus in the language of their choice. The messaging platform also caters for the awarding of data bundles to people who successfully complete the survey as a form of incentive to self-censor. A reverse billed USSD service code can mimic the BOT’s menu system for people who do not have access to a “smart” device that can have Telegram installed. In the case of USSD, the added functionalities of location, images, video etc are obviously not possible. The messaging platform will also manage the dissemination of messages to members of the public, automatically routing the message on the appropriate bearer.