NTT Docomo puts AI to work 

• Japanese telco NTT Docomo has been encouraging the internal development of new AI-enabled services and business ideas 
• It is launching a new AI business and a new AI-enabled service for the B2B sector

Many companies are branching out with new AI-enabled services, teams or businesses and Japanese telco NTT Docomo is no different, having just announced the impending launch of a new AI-enabled service for the business-to-business (B2B) sector and the spin-out of a new business. 

The service is Ancar, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution to be offered by NTT Docomo Business (its rebranded enterprise services division) that combines AI with communications services to “evolve various customer touchpoints”, such as contact centres, sales offices and stores. 

The aim is to help companies “maximise” customer experience, improve NPS (net promoter scores) and “enhance” employee experience, thus increasing employee productivity and spurring business growth. 

The service aims to help solve “business issues such as labour shortages, difficulty in recruiting, measures against customer harassment, and measures against disasters and disruptions”, noted NTT Docomo in this announcement (in Japanese). To do so, it combines “various AI technologies” with NTT Docomo Business telecom services, such as toll-free numbers, NaviDial (dedicated phone number prefixes), Arcstar IP Voice (enterprise-grade internet protocol telephony), mobile services and “proprietary data unique to telecom carriers” (such as call congestion statistics that may help to understand terminated calls).

The new business, which was launched on Tuesday, is an “AI-powered IP [intellectual property] supervision platform”, or AIPEX, and focuses on the digital character sector that was developed by Docomo staff as part of the operator’s new business creation programme and won an internal startup award. Thanks to the popularity of anime, manga and gaming, the ‘character’ sector is huge in Japan: It is estimated to be worth 2.7tn yen ($18.37bn), according to Docomo.  

The new company’s platform allows copyright (IP) holders and licensees “to complete supervision work on a single platform, utilising AI technology to streamline and shorten the production process”, which is currently lengthy, manual and prone to delays and errors. 

Docomo notes in this announcement (in Japanese) that AIPEX will be led by Atsushi Oshiro, the employee who conceived the idea, and will be funded by unspecified investments from Docomo, early-stage venture capital firm Anobaka and Cinca, a Tokyo-based company that helps startups get up and running.    

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV