WhatsApps from the MTN CEO

MTN has employed a chatbot to deliver internal communications to the rest of their staff. Ama’Yello is an automated intelligent assistant that works 24 hours a day, engaging with MTN employees about all sorts of important internal info.

In a world where people are inundated with information, it’s more important than ever that companies find an impactful way to reach their staff. MTN isn’t oblivious to this particular fact of modern-day life, so they partnered with Praekelt – using their AI-powered conversational platform Feersum Engine – to build an accessible and straightforward platform they could use to engage with their employees and contribute to their company culture.

And so AmaY’ello was created – the bot that chats to MTN staff on WhatsApp, and sends messages from the boardroom to the storeroom and back.

“Rather than a company’s communication getting lost in an email inbox, Ama’Yello is a personalised way of reaching every single employee,” Praekelt’s Product Director, Ebrahim Vally explains. “It’s about engaging with them on a platform that they’re already comfortable on.”

The intelligent assistant can be used to share ideas, read news and special offers, give feedback, and hear from the ExCo. They can even find out what those pesky acronyms mean using the Jargon Buster.

This two-way communication system between newbies, board members, and everyone in between means every member of the MTN team has 24/7 access to the info they need, resulting in 33% of MTN employees actively engaging with the bot within weeks of its launch. The service can also segment the user base by location or seniority within MTN.

With all this feedback, data and stats from AmaY’ello going through Feersum Engine, MTN can keep its finger on the pulse of its people at all times.

By talking to their team – no matter its size – on platforms they’re already on, companies like MTN now have the ability to create a method of communication that’s personalised, easy to use, and feeds important data back to those who need it.

Maybe a friendly WhatsApp from the CEO isn’t as strange as it sounds.