Safaricom Set to Transform Digital Experience for Kenyan Consumers Using AWS

Safaricom  has today announced an extension of its work with Amazon Web Services (AWS)  in the Kenyan market to accelerate innovation with customer experience using Generative AI.

As part of the existing digital transformation program, Safaricom has developed Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML) big data and analytics capabilities using AWS cloud technology to launch various Generative AI use cases. These have already delivered measurable improvements in customer experience across connectivity, financial and digital-lifestyle services. The service provider has also combined internal training and upskilling of its engineers and data scientists, with the support of AWS, to include Generative AI proficiency.

” We’re committed to supporting Safaricom’s teams with the tools and training needed to develop Generative AI solutions that serve their customers effectively. The results we’re already seeing in areas like fraud detection and customer service automation demonstrate how cloud technology and Generative AI can deliver measurable improvements and impactful changes.”

–Fabio Cerone, GM of Telco EMEA, AWS.

Since 2022, Safaricom, in collaboration with AWS, has been accelerating cloud adoption and additionally to use AI/ML capabilities. One of the areas this has been deployed is in fraud detection and prevention, resulting in increased fraud detection accuracy of up to 89% (F1 score (a measure of predictive performance)) for social engineering using graph neural networks.

“Delivering exceptional digital experiences is essential for thriving in today’s highly competitive landscape. With AWS’s innovative cloud and AI services as a force multiplier, we’re empowering our customers with the frictionless, personalized and on-demand experiences they deserve across our world-class network and digital services.”

–Dilip Pal, Chief Financial Officer, Safaricom PLC. 

Through its Zuri chatbot, which handles an array of customer queries, Safaricom is already leveraging AI to enhance customer experience and reduce traffic to its Care Centre. In collaboration with AWS, Safaricom will continue exploring additional opportunities to simplify processes for consumers, offer personalized services, reduce wait times and help customers get first-time resolution to their queries.

The agility provided by AWS will enable Safaricom to accelerate ideas into production. This will be through services such as big data on AWS, Amazon SageMaker and Amazon SageMaker Jumpstart, as well as advanced Large Language Models (LLMs) available through Amazon Bedrock, combined with other cloud solutions for effective compute and storage.