Nokia plugs AI to get MWC ball rolling

Nokia has announced the launch of its network of Cognitive Collaboration Hubs which will aim to bring telcos and enterprise into its realm to work on a series of AI usecases.

Fitting very well into Mobile World Congress’ ‘Intelligent Connectivity’ theme, the network based on a similar Cloud Collaboration Hubs, focusing on developing cloud-based capabilities. While artificial intelligence has been praised as one of the saviours of connectivity and a justification for 5G, the usecases are relatively simplistic, this initiative will aim to correct this.

“Network operators are eager to deploy AI to improve network operations and strengthen customer relationships,” said John Byrne, Nokia’s Service Director for Telecom Technology & Software, Global Data. “Nokia’s Cognitive Collaboration Hubs can help accelerate those plans by providing a space for operators, partners and enterprises to co-create new AI solutions utilizing a mix of data science and telco domain expertise.”

One example of these usecases is Driver Behaviour Analytics, a service which aims to analyse driver performance and road conditions. The data and insight can be offered to governments to help improve driving conditions, delivery companies to aide with logistics or insurance companies to more accurately price premiums. Such a system has already been trialled by the Dubai Police.

“Nokia Cognitive Collaboration Hubs are yet another step in the expansion of our data analytics and AI services capabilities, which are widely recognized as industry-leading,” said Dennis Lorenzin, Head of the Network Cognitive Service Unit at Nokia. “Building on our data science and telco expertise, we are helping our customers apply AI technologies to improve their operational efficiency, prepare their networks for 5G, and generate new revenues.”

This is perhaps the area where many are struggling right now; generating new revenues and creating new services for the data-driven era. The most simplistic was to implement AI is relatively obvious, buy an automated bit of software and sack the employees were roles have been made redundant, but the search for value creation is much more difficult than operational efficiency.

The usecases which are being discussed today are of course of value. Self-correcting networks which can identify difficulties will improve customer experience, as will building a profile of users to improve experience, but these are examples of improving what you already have. The reason internet companies secured the lion’s share of profits in the 4G era is because they sought to create new value and revenues which didn’t exist before. The telcos need to start doing this.

It will certainly be interesting to see the usecases which emerge from the Cognitive Collaboration Hub, but for now it serves as an excellent way for Nokia to plug itself under the increasingly popular AI buzz.