MUHAMMED SHABREEN, CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, RIZEK, EXPLAINS THE IMPORTANCE OF EFFECTIVE AND TIMELY COMMUNICATION WITH USERS AND HOW THE ON-DEMAND SERVICE DELIVERY APP MEETS ITS BUSINESS GOALS WITH THE CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT PLATFORM UNIFONIC.
The UAE is one of the most rapidly evolving Arab nations globally. The country’s urbanisation and rising digital economy have made it among the best and most convenient places to live for its growing population. Those who have been navigating the hustle and bustle of the UAE know that mobile apps are lifesavers as they provide access to a gamut of services, from booking a cab, ordering food, housekeeping, and lots more.
The app-driven lifestyle was already popular during the pre-covid days and has quickly become a norm for most customers now. Creating exceptional customer experiences is the goal of every company, and when it involves not leaving the comforts of your home, then even better.
However, to successfully create those delightful experiences, relying on data is a key component. Organisations must provide the right information at the right time, so effective communication and engagement go a long way in ensuring loyal customers.
This was one of the main pillars of RIZEK’s strategy when it kick-started its operation in 2019. The Abu-Dhabi headquartered company considers itself a ‘super app,’ connecting users with a variety of home services with the click of a button. The services are available across several categories, including home care, car services, beauty, healthcare, and so on.
In fact, RIZEK, which means ‘livelihood’ in Arabic, is a marketplace structure that offers healthcare services on-demand to increase accessibility to healthcare, says its Chief Technology Officer, Muhammed Shabreen.
The app was the first to offer COVID-19 PCR tests at home during the pandemic’s peak.
When the company started, it had enabled SMS API for push notifications and personalised messaging through a global cloud communications platform.
Shabreen says, “In our line of business, regularly updating customers about the status of their services, transactional details, promotional information and other such kinds of communication is critical. We cannot compromise on the technology we use to ensure these types of information are communicated effectively and on time.
“After doing a detailed market evaluation, we selected the regional customer engagement platform Unifonic for our end-to-end SMS communication requirements.”
Shabreen adds that one of the reasons the on-demand service delivery app chose Unifonic was because of its strong regional presence. The company is currently using Unifonic’s services ad hoc, with plans to leverage more over the coming months.
“We were able to avail services from the platform as needed, allowing us flexibility, scalability, and cost-efficiency. One of the services we plan to explore in the future is Unifonic’s omnichannel communication offering,” adds Shabreen.
Unifonic’s cloud platform is designed to make omnichannel communication easy to deploy and manage through a single API that covers SMS, voice, and conversational messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook Messenger, and so on.
He explains, “Before onboarding more services, we want to identify the right use cases and the right approaches of plugging it into the ecosystem. Once these use cases are finalised, we will assess the market and Unifonic will be one of the strongest vendors for us since we already have a collaboration with them.
“Also, when we look at the past data, since we have been integrating with Unifonic since 2019, we can see that the vendor has regularly enhanced its platform. This has led to a significant reduction in the SMS dropout percentage for us. It is great to see that Unifonic doesn’t believe in resting on its laurels and aims to continuously innovate. This also aligns with our business objectives.”
Having established itself in the UAE as a strong player over the past couple of years, RIZEK is now planning for an aggressive expansion to Egypt and Saudi Arabia. “We plan to venture into these markets with Unifonic as we have had a great experience with them for their SMS offering.”
According to the company’s technology leader, RIZEK is ambitious in its IT roadmap.
Shabreen says, “We are in a hyper-growth model, and every day is learning. We are discovering new problem statements and converting them into opportunities – technology is a key enabler to achieve this.”
With an ambitious business growth strategy in 2022, RIZEK is expanding across multiple verticals and countries. It is also innovating its current services to provide a better user and an overall experience for the customer.
“To do this, we will continue to invest in advanced technologies that help us maximize data and analytics, enhance the speed of delivery and automation, and improve customer engagement, among other elements,” he concludes.