Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 37 | Page 19

NEWS Zain Bahrain launches zBot for smart customer service Skybox calls on oil and gas companies to unify IT and OT cybersecurity Z ain Bahrain, a leading telecoms operator, has announced the launch of zBot, an all-new interactive digital channel for smart customer service. The launch of zBot falls in line with Zain’s strategy to deliver exceptional customer experience by investing in robotics technology to provide customers with a reliable and fast live chat service where customer inquiries can be answered in a fully automated manner without the need of human interaction. zBot utilises robotics and the latest Artificial intelligence (AI) and Natural language Processing technologies (NLP), making it one of the most advanced customer service solutions in the industry. Available 24/7 in the English language, the new zBot interactive channel offers its customers a range of fully automated services via Zain Bahrain’s portal and mobile application, including: post-paid billing inquiries, pre-paid inquiries, usage details, latest offers, managing accounts, purchasing smart devices from the online store and information on branch locations and opening hours. Abdulla Salmeen, Acting Director of Customer Care, Zain Bahrain, said: “We are witnessing growing adoption across our digital channels in general and specifically the mobile application and live chat service, and thus we came up with this new addition to continue delivering superior customer experience. “zBot is a technologically advanced interactive customer care service which responds to the customers’ inquiries in a reliable and fast manner. “Zain Bahrain is fully committed to continue its efforts in enriching the customer experience, offering them alternative solutions and platforms to fully service their needs and upscale their satisfaction rates and customer experience.” www.intelligentcio.com S kybox Security has called on industry leaders to take a unified approach to securing IT and operational technology (OT) networks so that they align with the needs of each environment. The warning was issued as the 2018 Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) got underway, bringing together 110,000 industry experts. Sean Keef, Director, Skybox Security, said: “Many oil and gas providers contend with large and complex IT-OT networks with a huge exposure to vulnerabilities, and although security teams are addressing threats as soon as they are identified, often the path from vulnerability detection to remediation is too long and creates unacceptable levels of corporate risk. Actively scanning critical services can also disrupt networks and even is prohibited in many OT environments. “There is a clear need to passively identify risks on an ongoing basis and accurately prioritise their remediation and mitigation. Total visibility of the attack surface is key for the energy industry to not only understand the exposure of critical or vulnerable assets, but also what security controls can be put in place to mitigate that risk. “Being able to identify network-based changes that would create layers of security and isolate vulnerabilities is incredibly important to protect OT assets that can’t be patched due to operational needs, are no longer supported by their vendors or could void warranties if they are patched.” n INTELLIGENTCIO 19