Etisalat is a telecommunications service provider based in Emirati. To enable wireless internet connections at home, they provide modems to consumers.
Technicolor, a multinational technology leader with Headquarters in France, company that produces the modems of Etisalat. They saw a reliable partner in us thanks to our experience in the telecom industry. In order to help the end customer configure the modem in to time, we were asked to create a mobile app.
Before the app was created, customers didn’t know how to access their gateway, and the modem offered little to no extra functionalities besides providing wireless internet.
We created a mobile app for iOS and Android to facilitate the set up of the modem and to extend its functionalities. These functionalities can be categorized into four categories: easy set up, security, accessibility and parental control.
The Technicolor Connected Home team specified a list of functionalities they wanted to bring alive in their app. To find the best way to implement these functionalities,they put their trust in us to perform a complete technical and functional analysis.
First, let's have a closer look to the different functionalities they wanted to implement. To have a clear overview, we divided these functionalities into four main categories.
1. Easy set up
The app allows users to configure the modem in the blink of an eye, by scanning the barcodes on the gateway. Moreover, several members of the household can use the application, and manage the access of their (and other) devices.
Users can also very easily set up custom networks. They could for example enable a ‘guest network’, so when having guests over for a visit, visitors can access the internet connection by simply scanning a QR-code.
2. Security
Another feature we added to the application is the possibility to visualize which devices are connected to the gateway. When you notice an unknown device connected to your modem, you can disconnect and even block the device.
3. Accessibility
You can use the app everywhere, any time. Even when you’re not at home or when you are still not connected to you home's Wi-Fi netwerk. You’re able to easily check your WiFi password, set up timeouts, view which devices are connected, check the signal strength of the connected devices,… .
4. Parental control
The last key feature of the app is controlling ‘timeouts’ for certain devices. Especially for parents whose children own their own device, this may come in handy. You could, for example, configure ‘Homework time’ from 16:00 to 18:00 on weekdays on your children’s devices.
Etisalat set a clear goal to sell 100.000 modems per year. That means at least 100.000 consumers will use the mobile app within the first year of being launched.
Soon it was clear to us that a regular cloud storage wouldn’t do the job. Therefore, we integrated Amazon Cloud Services for the very first time. It was a real challenge, but we managed to integrate it correctly, and we can now guarantee the app will work at its full potential - no matter how many users.
Since Technicolor is situated in Belgium, regular on-premise meetings were set up real quickly. Once a week, the technical team of Technicolor visited our office in Antwerp and sat together with our developers.
This helped us to openly manage their expectations, give them insights in the process, and tackle any possible issues.
Thanks to the efforts and the great collaboration between providers and customer, a robust yet appealing looking application has been created. An application that can withstand an enormous number of users. Moreover, the ease of installation and the increase in features will lead to higher customer satisfaction.
We’re happy that we were able to provide this telecompany with a solution that’s got them covered for a long way down the road. But our partnership doesn’t end here. We’ll still take responsibility for maintaining the application.
And for Technicolor, the possibilities of the application reach further than this project. Since the app can be branded for any telecompany who’s interested, there might be more partnerships ahead.
