Orange Debuts Romanian Language Voice AI for Call Centers

Telecommunications services provider Orange has introduced a voice AI and chatbot fluent in Romanian named Djia to the Orange Romania call center. The name is reminiscent of the Djingo voice assistant created by Orange for smart home devices. The French tech giant centered Djingo around the now-canceled Djingo smart speaker, but it is still around in smart TVs and other voice-enabled products. The company tied Djia directly to Djingo in its announcement, despite their respective consumer and enterprise focus.

Orange Djia

Orange Romania customers who dial the call center may be connected to Djia before any human agent. Djia can answer questions about bills, the features of a specific subscription or phone number, and request a payment deferral for their latest invoice. Orange hasn’t released Djia universally yet, but the company is quickly ramping up its dispersal. Djia understands conversational Romanian but will send the caller to a human agent should the conversation go beyond its comprehension. Orange is hoping the virtual customer service will be faster and more reliable for customers, who otherwise have to wait for business hours to call in. The call load Djia picks up should also reduce overall customer service costs.

“By launching Djia, we continue the process of digitizing customer support channels to respond more quickly and efficiently to their needs. Djia allows you to reduce call time by identifying customers before they are transferred and helps them get answers to their questions without having to wait for an operator to be available,” Orange Romania customer service director Irina Matea explained in a translated statement. “It is a process started in April, which in the pilot phase had a success rate of over 52% and which will be improved over time.

Romanian Hills

Conversational AI for phone calls and chatbots has seen an enormous and ongoing boom. Djia also helps Orange extend the list of languages for which it can develop AIs. There’s a demand for voice assistants at home and in business that can speak in local languages. While it might fly under the radar of Amazon and Google, startups like Making Life Simple (MLS) make that a selling point, with a voice AI fluent in Greek, Serbian, Albanian, and Bulgarian. The spike can at least partially be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and any hoarding that occurs. It’s also meant lavish funding for many startups over the last year or so. That’s included the  $78.15 million raised by Yellow, $52.5 million for Shelf.io,  $14 million for higher-ed chatbot platform AdmitHub, Rasa’s $26 million round, and the $100 million raised by Gupshup, to name only some of the full list. Last month, enterprise conversational AI startup Skit raised $23 million, and the market is only getting bigger.

“Djia thus joins Djingo, the chatbot that offers support to Orange customers through the chat channel on Orange.ro,” Matea said. “With their help we will be able to offer customers a complete digital experience that blends perfectly with the involvement and experience of our colleagues in the Customer Care team.”

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