LONDON – Paywizard, pay-TV subscription, billing and customer relationship management (CRM) specialist, has launched Paywizard Singula, an innovative standalone platform that empowers pay-TV operators and OTT providers to take a more intelligent, data-driven approach to subscriber engagement than ever before. The solution utilises subscriber insights and artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce churn, grow average revenue per user (APRU) and more effectively acquire new customers.

Paywizard Singula was designed to draw on all available customer data so operators of all types can gain a full view of each subscriber at key stages of the customer journey to identify a ‘next best action’ that strengthens the customer relationship. The cutting-edge platform uses AI and automation to determine and execute each action, and then incorporates the result via a valuable feedback loop that utilises machine learning to update the analytical models – generating ongoing insight into future recommendations on how to best to target individual subscribers.

Bhavesh Vaghela, Paywizard’s Chief Executive noted: “The notion that you can harness data to predict how likely a subscriber is to churn or their propensity to purchase a package is great, but what makes Paywizard Singula so unique and powerful is that it allows operators to accurately identify the best action to take next in real time – in other words, determine what activity or interaction will work to keep that customer happy, on-board and positive about their experience. This action could be to offer a timely promotion, an informative communication, or even the decision to do nothing, depending on the recommendations provided within the Paywizard Singula platform.”

Built in the cloud, Paywizard Singula leverages the expertise and innovation of the EPCC at the University of Edinburgh, a globally recognised, world-leading centre of excellence in the field of data science and taps into Paywizard’s 20-year heritage in pay-TV subscriber management. Leveraging expertise gained from supporting more than 100 subscription and pay-per-view businesses across the pay-TV industry – with millions of subscribers in total – Paywizard offers a combination of customer management experience and innovative technology that enables service operators to advance their analytics capabilities and gain a competitive edge.

The new Paywizard Singula platform relies upon three core elements:

• Understanding Subscribers: 

By pulling together all of the data an operator has as its disposal –including billing, profile, demographic and behavioural insights – into one single environment, operators can quickly create a single view. This provides a holistic view of the customer that provides an extensive analytics base for more accurate profiling, segmentation and modelling.

• Determining Next Best Action: 

All data gathered in the customer entity is then filtered into the next best action engine, which utilises AI-driven models created in collaboration with Edinburgh University to indicate which action the operator should take, depending on where that subscriber is in the customer journey and what the analysis says about their value as a customer, their likely response and other factors. This advanced predictive modelling prompts the operator to take an action from inside Paywizard Singula, that will provide the best possible customer experience for the individual and yield the best value for the business – which for a subscriber predicted to churn, for instance, can be to provide a specific tailored package, or to offer a downgrade, or even do nothing and allow the customer to cancel.

• Execution of Action and Feedback: 

The final stage then supports operators to take the most appropriate channel to execute the action, whether this is a push notification via an app, social advertising, a text to mobile, an email, even the appearance of a new customised user interface, or another type of communication via web chat, an electronic programming guide (EPG) or agent contact. Paywizard Singula allows operators of all types to act across a range of channels in near real-time with automation and AI to precisely targeted communications and offers. Machine learning functionality then takes data generated from customer interaction and unresponsiveness to enrich customer profiles, update analytical models and continuously revise the next best action for each and every subscriber, to improve performance, campaign success and customer engagement long-term.

Vaghela added: “We have managed thousands of campaigns for our clients over the last 20 years and have significant knowledge of what drives customer behaviour gleaned from working with 100-plus pay-TV brands. For Paywizard Singula, our aim has always been not to develop a black box but to bring our learnings and expertise into the new platform, to drive significant changes in key business metrics for our clients like acquisition, churn and revenue from the get-go and in the future.”

Paywizard Singula will see its official debut at IBC 2018, where visitors to the Paywizard booth (14.G27) will be able to experience demonstrations of the new capabilities in action. As part of the platform’s debut, Paywizard is working alongside partners to launch the Paywizard Singula Beta Programme, which will allow operators to trial the new enhanced capabilities on an initial three-month basis.