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Our unique message regulation system that uses Artificial Intelligence techniques to route e-mails and SMS messages according to the personal interests of the customer. Messaging mayhem … The need for a technical solution that is smart … What Chaperon™ does: Personalisation! … How Chaperon™ works … The customer benefits … The operator also benefits …   Messaging mayhem ... Will you be able to keep subscribers to your mobile services satisfied in the face of the looming messaging mayhem? Volumes of SMS messages are soaring and the popularity of the medium has not escaped the attention of those seeking new routes to customers, old and new. Also e-mails can now be routed to mobile phones, thus the existing levels of spam to the desktop will also be experienced on the mobile device. Already, companies are lining up wireless advertising campaigns, ready to bombard customers' personal communication devices with large volumes of unsolicited commercial messages, through both SMS and e-mail. But even they are worried about how it all may end up: "If used improperly, wireless advertising has the potential to cause irreparable harm, expense to the customer, and undermine the value of an important communication line between customers and advertisers" noted Tim DePriest, Chairperson of the WAA. (www.iab.net), (www.waaglobal.org) And there are other threats: e-mail 'sniffing' and the unregulated distribution of e-mail lists, e-mail 'bombing' and viruses targeting the mobile device. This doesn't look good for organisations trying to sell the so-called 'mobile experience', especially when there is such a large potential market to be captured. The need for a technical solution that is smart ... If it is going to be so bad then surely someone is doing something about it? Mobile devices are particularly sensitive to the flood of junk messages. The mobile phone is a very personal device and, even at a low level, junk mail has a much more intrusive effect than if it were received via a PC. Customers will not stand for the aggravation and personal intrusion, and will abandon the wireless experience in droves. Unfortunately, on the legislative front, it doesn't look likely that anybody will do anything. Plans by the UK Government to use distance-selling rules to impose legal constraints on 'spamming' were dropped in September 2000 in favour of self-regulation approaches such as the US E-mail Preference Scheme. This is despite the obvious requirement for regulation of messages in the mobile domain that prevents the customer's device from clogging up with unwanted material. There is a further, equally essential, requirement: which is to clarify the mobile operator's business model in the 3G environment with respect to charging for data reception and transmission over mobile devices. At EasyAction we are doing something. We have a technical solution that regulates message flow and adapts to the changes in the customer lifestyle, changing the criteria for acceptance or rejection of a message depending on the accrued knowledge of customer behaviour. Without such a technical solution, organisations will not realise their investments in the mobile future - because there won't be one! What Chaperon™ does: Personalisation! Chaperon™ enables the customer to gain the maximum benefit from their mobile device and the services available through it. With Chaperon™ each customer has a personal profile, describing their interests and contacts, which Chaperon™ uses to regulate the incoming messaging flow. Each message is analysed and compared with the profile. Only those messages, from all sources, which are in the customer's personal interests are permitted through to the mobile device. This is what it means to the customer: As the customer makes their way through the day their mobile device is 'always-connected' to the operator network through which millions of e-mails and SMS messages are constantly circulating. The mobile device 'beeps' as messages from friends or family arrive. As the customer walks past a Japanese restaurant, the mobile 'beeps' again as Chaperon™, aware of the customer's interest in Japanese cuisine, allows through a wireless advert from the restaurant describing a special lunchtime offer. Later on, a further message arrives. Earlier, the customer had told Chaperon™ that they would be travelling to Paddington the following day. He has just now received the latest travel information concerning the Paddington journey from an information travel 'push' service that constantly transmits travel updates for scores of different rail journeys. This is the mobile experience as it should be. But it is only possible if all of the mobile services being developed have an independent personal veneer - otherwise they will not be taken up! How Chaperon™ works Chaperon™ integrates neatly with the operator's existing infrastructure, sitting on the server side of the network alongside other service components. Chaperon™ uses knowledge bases ('Structured Environment' or SE), customer personal profiles and tried and trusted Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. All incoming messages for a registered customer are routed through and processed by Chaperon™. Each message is read and information recognised as belonging to a SE associated with the customer is extracted. The inference capability of the SE is then used to enhance the extracted information using relationships defined within it. AI techniques are used to express the resulting information as a pattern. The pattern is then matched with the customer's personal profile to determine relevance. The original message will then only be sent through to the customer after the system has determined that it will be of interest to them. Chaperon™ also offers autonomous adaptation of message regulation by processing the customer's outgoing messages. Where the message indicates that the customer has developed new interests pertinent to the SE, or existing interests have been abandoned, then their profile is updated to reflect this. Thus, regulation of the message flow to the customer's mobile device will be refined to reflect this change. The customer benefits ... Allows the mobile experience to become truly personal by inserting a management facility in front of all other mobile services so that they are tailored to the customer's lifestyle. Prevents degradation of service quality due to the accumulation of irrelevant messages on the receiving device. Guards against inappropriate or offensive material (exploitative advertising for example). This is especially important, where the target audience maybe teenage or younger. The operator also benefits ... Acts as a Value-Added Service differentiator to give advantage to the operators in a competitive market. Regulation enables the justification of an operator charging policy (clarifies the business model). Captured customer data enhances the operator's opportunities in the mobile value chain.   | Home | About | Services | Products | Contacts |  Published by Headway Consultancy Ltd © 2001