OKO Selects 8x8 to Enhance Engagement

Alphabet soup no longer just comes in a can. Over recent years we’ve seen a sharp rise in the adoption of CPaaS, UCaaS and their sibling cloud communications solutions. 2020 is a year many of us would like to forget, but for cloud communications providers, the pandemic is propelling digital transformation acceleration.

OKO announced the selection of the 8x8 CPaaS Chat Apps API, enabling the firm to better support smallholder farmers across Africa. In leveraging the 8x8 solution, the crop insurance provider is able to integrate commonly used chat apps, like WhatsApp, into its customer service operations.

From satellite imagery and weather forecasting, to automating claim management and extending accessible coverage area, OKO had been using SMS. The struggle with SMS was with low literacy rates of rural farmers and mobile carrier costs were too much to deny. With 8x8, OKO can expand from SMS into chat, video and voice to improve communications as well as end results.

"Our mission is to leverage the increasing influence of mobile technology to help overcome income distribution insufficiencies for those who feed the world. As a small startup, we needed a technology partner that understood the entire process, from integration to validation," explained OKO CTO and Co-founder Shezad Lokhandwalla. “We evaluated several options but following a demo from 8x8, we knew their Chat Apps API ticked all the boxes. Furthermore, being an approved Business Solutions Services Provider gave us the reassurance we needed that our solution would be approved by WhatsApp and Facebook.”

Emerging markets prove fertile ground for innovative, cost effective engagement solutions. Africa relies heavily, as a continent, on mobile technology, and OKO is opening the door for rural farmers to what digital transformation can offer.

Are your communications in the cloud, yet?

Edited by Maurice Nagle