Phonon's AI bots to provide real-time flight status on social media, calls

Currently, the services include flight status, fare search; e-check in will be enabled later

Vadodara-based interactive automation company, Phonon.in is set to launch the country's first multi-modal flight bot for aviation sector, Trixie, which provides real-time flight status on any domestic flight over social media platforms and through voice-recognition based speech platform.

Phonon's chatbot deployment uses enhanced artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) to provide instant responses to simple queries raised by passengers. The speech-based NLP system that works in English is capable of understanding queries in various Indian accents as well. On the other hand, the text-based bots on Facebook and Twitter can respond to questions asked in various Indian languages as well.

"Trixie, our automated flight status bot, is a point of inflection in delivering information at your fingertips. Machine learning and automation have opened up tremendous possibilities in the customer service industry. Phonon has an impressive array of customer service automation applications lined up for launch through this quarter. The applications will focus on travel, banking, financial services and insurance," said Ujwal Makhija, CEO, Phonon Communications Pvt. Ltd.

The entirely bootstrapped startup already has tie-ups with some of the major airlines even as more collaboration are expected. According to Vijay Mannur, AVP - Sales at Phonon, currently more than 60 per cent of India's flyers get flight reschedule intimations through Phonon's multicast service.

Given its growing hold over artificial intelligence products, Phonon could take Trixie international given its existing presence in South Asia and Gulf region through customer interaction automation services.

While currently services catered by these bots include flight status and fare search, there are possibilities of other services such as e-check-in being added to Trixie.

As per Makhija, close to 70 per cent calls in any call center are transactional in nature, of which even if 50 per cent calls are automated, it could lead to a 35 per cent saving in cost, apart from giving service companies the flexibility of deploying the same funds for value adding activities.

The global chatbot market, which was valued at $113 million (roughly Rs 725 crore) in 2015, is predicted to expand at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.8 per cent by revenue, from 2016 to 2024. By end of 2024, the global chatbot market is expected to touch $994.5 million (Rs 6,400 crore approximately).

  

However, Phonon estimates that automating a close to 30 per cent of all calls, there is a $120 billion (Rs 7.70 lakh crore approximately) global opportunity without accounting for the new opportunities exposed through increased adoption of social media.