Cape Town, 7806, ZA,
South Africa
NML
NML, a prominent reseller, system integrator, and consulting company, that plays a vital role in numerous system integration and digital transformation initiatives. NML collaboration with software players such as Microsoft empowers organizations to embrace disruptive technologies and accelerate their journey to the cloud, thus reshaping their business models.
| Reseller and SI | Vendor | Application | Category | Market |
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| NML | Microsoft | Microsoft Azure Bot Service (AI) | Chatbots and Conversational AI | AI-Powered Application |
| NML | Microsoft | Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services (AI) | Cognitive Computing | AI-Powered Application |
| NML | Microsoft | Microsoft Azure Language Understanding Intelligent Service (LUIS) | ML and Data Science Platforms | AI Development |
| Logo | Customer | Industry | Empl. | Revenue | Country | Vendor | Product | Category | When | Insight |
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NedBank | Banking and Financial Services | 25954 | $63.6B | South Africa | Microsoft | Microsoft Azure Language Understanding Intelligent Service (LUIS) | ML and Data Science Platforms | 2017 |
In 2017, NedBank deployed Microsoft Azure Language Understanding Intelligent Service (LUIS) as the NLU core for its Electronic Virtual Assistant, positioning the implementation within the ML and Data Science Platforms category. The project targeted Nedgroup Investments call center interactions and aimed to move client engagement from voice channels to messaging and web channels, with implementation and advisory support from NML and Microsoft Digital Advisory Services.
The implementation configured Microsoft Azure Language Understanding Intelligent Service (LUIS) for intent classification, entity extraction, and localized language models, complemented by dialog management and response tone control. Capabilities implemented included conversational intent recognition, form prepopulation using existing client data, escalation rules for live agent takeover, and iterative linguistic tuning, reflecting standard natural language understanding and dialog orchestration workflows for bot services.
Operational integration aligned LUIS with the Microsoft Bot Framework and Azure AI Bot Service to run conversational flows, and the solution was provisioned for front end channels beginning on the Nedgroup Investments website with planned expansion to messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Slack. Live agent handoff was instrumented so agents could take over sessions and also use the virtual assistant as an internal knowledge retrieval and content delivery tool, improving answer consistency across channels.
Governance and rollout followed an iterative, multidisciplinary process, engaging linguistic experts and marketing to localize intents and responses, and establishing content management and escalation workflows for compliance and customer experience consistency. The development cadence was rapid, with a prototype delivered in three months and a fuller production release less than four months later, under implementation services provided by NML and advisory input from Microsoft Digital Advisory Services.
EVA went live in February 2017 and, as reported by NedBank, handled 80 percent of the programmed inquiries at 10 percent of the cost of live agents, freeing live agents for exception handling and serving as a support tool for agent research. The deployment demonstrates an enterprise pattern of embedding Microsoft Azure Language Understanding Intelligent Service (LUIS) within conversational automation to scale customer service while retaining human escalation points.
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NedBank | Banking and Financial Services | 25954 | $63.6B | South Africa | Microsoft | Microsoft Azure Bot Service (AI) | Chatbots and Conversational AI | 2017 |
In 2017, NedBank deployed Microsoft Azure Bot Service (AI) to create a conversational assistant named EVA, developed in collaboration with Microsoft and SI NML. The deployment is categorized as Chatbots and Conversational AI and targeted client-facing investment advisory and customer service workflows.
EVA was configured to understand the context of client questions, answer queries, provide investment advice, and prepopulate forms for investor clients. Core functional capabilities implemented included contextual intent recognition, dialog management, advisory scripting, and automated form prefill functionality using Microsoft Azure Bot Service (AI).
The implementation linked the chatbot to backend investor data sources and onboarding workflows to enable form prepopulation and advisory context, and it was embedded into NedBank digital channels in South Africa. Operational scope emphasized investor clients and wealth management touchpoints within NedBank rather than an enterprise-wide rollout.
Governance and delivery involved collaboration between NedBank, Microsoft, and SI NML for development and rollout, with initial production use in South Africa. The program established a conversational layer for customer service and investment advisory, combining contextual understanding, scripted advisory responses, and automated data capture for investor forms.
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NedBank | Banking and Financial Services | 25954 | $63.6B | South Africa | Microsoft | Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services (AI) | Cognitive Computing | 2017 |
In 2017, NedBank implemented Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services (AI) under the Cognitive Computing category. The bank deployed a virtual call center solution built on the Microsoft Bot Framework that understands the context of client questions and answers programmed queries at 10 percent of the cost of live agents. The project was executed with systems integrator NML supporting implementation and integration activities.
The deployment uses a cloud-based architecture that leverages Azure Cognitive Services for natural language understanding and the Microsoft Bot Framework for conversational orchestration, creating a virtual workforce layer to augment customer-facing channels. Functional capabilities implemented include contextual question answering, conversational session management, and automated client routing configured to support wealth management workflows. Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services (AI) is employed as the core Cognitive Computing platform for intent recognition and language analytics.
Operational scope initially centers on the NedBank Wealth Division, where the bank has identified a priority shift toward serving individual investors within the next 12 months, and the intent is to scale the bot technology across its operations in seven African countries. Governance and process changes focused on embedding conversational agents into customer service and wealth management workflows and reallocating routine inquiry handling from live agents to automated bots. The program is positioned to expand use cases beyond the virtual call center as part of a broader strategy to improve client service delivery while controlling operating costs.
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