Exclusive Interview with Mohammed Sleeq, Chief Operating Officer, Unifonic

An exclusive interview with Unifonic shows how Al-powered automation is redefining customer engagement. By seamlessly integrating AI-driven solutions, Unifonic empowers businesses to create personalized, omnichannel communication experiences across SMS, voice, chat, email, and social media. Their advanced platform enables automation, real-time responses, and enhanced customer interactions, ensuring efficiency and satisfaction. With innovations like Flow Studio, AI-powered chatbots, and secure authentication services, Unifonic is at the forefront of business communication transformation. This interview presents the strategies for leveraging AI, enhancing customer experience, and staying ahead in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

What are the key innovations that you have created, or you have leveraged to develop your platform?

At Unifonic, we are committed to empowering clients with cutting-edge solutions that can streamline key business processes and enhance efficiency, while keeping up with their evolving requirements. We offer a diverse array of AI-powered conversational automation solutions that are tailored to meet varied customer requirements and maximise value. Our unique offerings are redefining customer-brand relationships by nurturing a personalised communication ecosystem that transcends traditional barriers. This innovative approach to staying ahead of market demands is exemplified by Unifonic’s advanced customer engagement platform, which can now seamlessly automate end-to-end personalised, omnichannel customer experiences. The platform boasts best-in-class features like multichannel campaigns, Chatbot, Agent Console, and Flow Studio, that enable businesses to effortlessly connect with their customers on their preferred channel. Our multichannel campaigns enable clients to automate and easily broadcast large-scale campaigns across channels like WhatsApp, Voice, and SMS, while tailoring unique messages for each customer segment. Unifonic Chatbot, on the other hand, offers round-the-clock, conversational, first-line support, enabling companies to automate multiple communication flows powered by AI. Combining the power of automation and human interaction, it can also hand over chats to live agents when necessary. Our commitment to innovation is also reflected in Unifonic’s ‘Flow Studio’, a no-code drag-and-drop visual designer that can streamline customer journeys and automate business processes quickly. It also empowers companies with no coding expertise to create personalised customer journeys and achieve superior business outcomes. With regard to cybersecurity, our 2FA service, ‘Authenticate’, supports businesses in safeguarding customer identity during each transaction. Moreover, Unifonic offers over 80 native integrations, including leading platforms like Hubspot, Shopify, MS Office, Sallah, salesforce, and Bigcommerce, among others. We recently launched our enterprise-grade customer data platform (CDP), ‘Audience’, along with other advanced customer journey automation solutions, focusing on conversational marketing and customer care automation. By utilising Click-to-WhatsApp ads and enhancing conversion rates by advancing leads to sales, ‘Audience’ helps brands to optimise their ROI from advertising expenditures. Its ROI dashboard can further analyse historical data to implement hyper-personalised targeting, thereby maximising customer lifetime value and campaign visibility. By harnessing advanced AI technologies and a robust SaaS integration ecosystem, Unifonic is redefining current benchmarks of excellence in customer engagement, paving the way for a new era marked by exceptional user outcomes.

With the rise of conversational AI, how is Unifonic leveraging this technology to create seamless omnichannel experiences for clients?

Unifonic is at the forefront of leveraging conversational AI to transform the way businesses engage with their customers. By integrating AI-powered solutions into our communication platform, we enable businesses to provide seamless, intelligent interactions across multiple channels, including SMS, voice, chat, email, and social media. Our conversational AI tools are designed to understand and respond to customer inquiries in real-time, offering personalized experiences that meet each customer’s unique needs. This technology allows businesses to automate routine tasks, provide instant responses, and ensure consistent, high-quality interactions no matter the conditions or the communication channel.

In addition, Unifonic embraces innovation to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving customer engagement industry. The increasing demand for digital-first communication is driven by a shift in customer expectations and advancements in automation technology. These advancements allow us to integrate software and processes that enhance engagement to unprecedented levels. We offer businesses the opportunity to instantly connect with over two billion smartphone users globally with a single click of a button. Our coding-free solutions, competitive pricing, and well-defined cloud APIs help businesses integrate robust outreach capabilities into their systems, allowing them to deliver exceptional customer experiences.

Through conversational AI, Unifonic enables businesses to create omnichannel experiences that maintain continuity across touchpoints, ensuring customers receive the same level of support and engagement, whether via mobile, web, or social media. This not only enhances customer satisfaction but also drives operational efficiency, freeing up human agents to focus on more complex issues while AI handles routine queries. Companies in the MENA region are now embracing CX initiatives across their organizations to enable smoother customer journeys, recognizing the importance of these initiatives in improving customer service.

Ultimately, Unifonic’s adoption of conversational AI empowers businesses to deliver faster, smarter, and more effective customer service, while staying ahead in a competitive market that increasingly demands faster response times and more efficient outcomes. Technology, automation, and AI are central to Unifonic’s strategy, ensuring businesses can stay ahead in the rapidly evolving customer engagement landscape.

How do you ensure that the platform’s operations align with customer needs?

The rapid advancements in AI will continue to alter how consumers interact with businesses in the coming years. Businesses will utilise fully automated conversations to resolve any issues with product delivery or online services, covering everything from comprehending the initial complaint to informing the relevant parties involved. We strive to make communication between businesses and clients seamless and easy. Our innovative features, robust infrastructure, and compliant framework differentiate us and help us deliver enterprise-grade, multilingual, omnichannel communications that support both businesses and customers.

Can you comment on Sestek, Unifonic’s acquired AI arm, and how the acquisition has impacted Unifonic’s evolution in AI-powered conversational automation solutions?

In today’s multibillion-dollar Internet of Things (IoT) industry, artificial intelligence (AI) is widely used for everything from industrial anomaly detection to speech-based user interfaces. We offer a wide range of conversational automation solutions that empower customers and guarantee optimal value. Since our acquisition of Sestek, Unifonic has undergone a remarkable evolution in our AI-powered conversational automation solutions. As we look back on this journey, it is clear that this strategic move has been instrumental in enhancing our capabilities and solidifying our position as a leader in the field. Sestek’s AI-powered solutions are built on text-to-speech, speech recognition, natural language processing, and voice biometrics technologies. Notably, our growth since acquiring Sestek has positioned Unifonic as a pioneering force in AI-powered conversational automation. The acquisition of Sestek is not just about expanding our product offerings – it represents our commitment to leading the charge in the AI revolution. We look forward to continuing this journey and setting new standards for the future of customer engagement.

How does having a local corporate presence in six countries contribute to delivering personalized, 24/7 support for your global clientele?

Having a local presence in six countries is a key differentiator for Unifonic, enabling us to provide personalised, region-specific support that aligns with the unique cultural, language, and business dynamics of each market. Our local teams are not just deeply embedded in their communities but are also highly responsive, offering tailored support that meets the unique needs of our diverse clientele. These teams operate around the clock, ensuring seamless 24/7 support for customers, regardless of the time zones. This local presence further strengthens our ability to build lasting relationships with clients, allowing us to better understand their real-time challenges and provide rapid, context-aware solutions. With over 10 billion transactions processed annually, our localised approach directly enhances customer experience and satisfaction, promising more efficient, responsive services. Moreover, in today’s fast-paced business environment, companies are increasingly relying on innovative technologies like cloud solutions and integrated platforms to manage communication needs. SaaS solutions are at the forefront of this shift, offering businesses a flexible, cost-effective way to access and utilise essential software tools. These platforms also simplify business operations, increase productivity, and drive innovation. By leveraging Unifonic’s SaaS solutions, companies can unlock new revenue opportunities, reduce strain on customer support, and enhance overall customer experience. With the advent of cloud communications, what used to require significant upfront investments and large development teams can now be accomplished with minimal effort, making superior customer engagement more accessible and efficient than ever before.