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London-based technology company, FORTYEIGHT.AI, has teamed up with Twilio, the leading cloud communications platform, to help pubs and other hospitality businesses across the UK reopen while managing the risks of a second wave of COVID-19.
Venues across the UK can now request visitors check-in at a pub or restaurant, simply by sending a 6-digit code by SMS, and receiving an instant check-in confirmation, which can be visually confirmed by staff before permitting entry to the venue or being served. In doing so, FORTYEIGHT.AI is increasing the efficacy of existing COVID-19 contact tracing, by improving consumer adoption and data quality and relieving the venues themselves of the burden of managing sensitive data.
Their ‘no-app’ mobile check-in solution provides a straight-forward, low-friction experience for the customer that does not rely on the venue investing in data protection systems or other hardware and leaves them free to focus on welcoming guests back after months in lockdown. This comes on the back of new research that shows one in five pub customers admit to providing false contact information because they do not trust an establishment to keep it safe, not misuse it and delete it properly. However, Britons are most confident using their mobile phones to provide contact information via text message (83%) as opposed to less than half (47%) who are comfortable using QR codes.
FORTYEIGHT.AI will hold customer data in a GDPR-friendly “escrow”, for the minimum 21-day period advised by Government, with safeguards in-place to minimise the risk of data misuse. In the event of a customer or staff member reporting COVID-19 symptoms, the business can log into its individual FORTYEIGHT.AI management dashboard and automatically inform all visitors within a specified time period, using a combination of real-time SMS and email alerts. If contact information is passed to an authorised body such as Public Health England for contact tracing purposes, again users are informed - providing transparency at all times.
FORTYEIGHT.AI will charge venues a monthly fee for the service which has been heavily subsidised thanks to Twilio’s support. For some qualifying businesses, the initial service will be free in addition to central and local Government being offered the service on an open-book basis. By working with Twilio, FORTYEIGHT.AI benefits from Twilio’s global scale and experience in deploying secure, real-time and hyperscale communications infrastructure; helping FORTYEIGHT.AI deploy their innovative COVID-19 features to bridge the gap between public and private sector COVID-19 contact tracing efforts.
Launched just three months ago, FORTYEIGHT.AI initially received a £45,000 grant from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, to extend their next-generation transparency solution. Designed to protect human rights by informing a person each time they’ve been observed by artificial intelligence, facial recognition or other technological surveillance, FORTYEIGHT.AI have added a new set of COVID-19 transparency features that offer Britain’s hospitality industry a compliant, secure and seamless way to protect their customers and get back to business.
Nicholas Oliver, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer for FORTYEIGHT.AI added: “Building confidence in the UK’s COVID-19 contact tracing efforts will play a central role in rebuilding the economy, by getting people out of their houses and spending in local businesses. After months of lockouts rather than lock-ins, this exciting partnership helps us to provide businesses with an easy-to-use and affordable system that protects their staff and customers. We’re thrilled to be working with Twilio at such a pivotal time, and invite business across the UK and abroad to get in touch with us in order to get setup and COVID ‘contact ready’ within minutes.”
David Parry-Jones, vice president, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Twilio, comments, “The UK’s hospitality sector plays a pivotal role in our economy and our society, and has been hit hard by lockdown. As UK restrictions ease and people get back out there, it’s key that they can do so in a way that protects them and the economy and also preserves trust in the systems being used to facilitate the return to a more social lifestyle. I’m thrilled that FORTYEIGHT.AI has been able to use Twilio Programmable SMS to build a tool that can support these goals, and enable our pubs to welcome guests again, without having to become experts in technology or data protection.”
Ian Campbell, Executive Chair of Innovate UK added; “FORTYEIGHT.AI has the potential to help cut through the complexity, with a secure and transparent contact tracing system, so I’m delighted that Innovate UK’s investment will help them accelerate their launch. It’s great to see this early promise has attracted such support from a major brand like Twilio to enable FORTYEIGHT.AI to scale quickly and help customers enjoy all that Britain’s pubs have to offer once more.”
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This report was written by Avansere AS, and the research was conducted by Opinium Research. 1,908 adults in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland were surveyed between 17/07/20 and 20/07/20. The data was weighted to be nationally representative. For more information or research related enquiries please contact hello@fortyeight.ai
Sitting at the intersection of artificial intelligence, human rights and consent; FORTYEIGHT.AI helps inform people each time they’ve been observed by AI, facial recognition and other types of technological surveillance. Their innovative ‘transparency-as-a-service’ technology platform helps Governments and industry build trust and confidence in their use of next-gen technology, by affording people greater visibility to its witting, and unwitting, influence. First announced in June 2020, their Beta will focus on informing people each time their COVID-19 status is observed, helping reduce the potential for future discrimination while also re-building confidence in public health and governmental efforts to curb the pandemic through technology.
The FORTYEIGHT.AI transparency solution is free for individuals to use to build their digital identity portfolio and free to access for enterprise customers, with paid plans starting at £195/month based on usage. FORTYEIGHT.AI is now open to early access registration for end-users, and Beta trials with enterprise customers.
Millions of developers around the world have used Twilio to unlock the magic of communications to improve any human experience. Twilio has democratized communications channels like voice, text, chat, video, and email by virtualizing the world’s communications infrastructure through APIs that are simple enough for any developer to use, yet robust enough to power the world’s most demanding applications. By making communications a part of every software developer’s toolkit, Twilio is enabling innovators across every industry — from emerging leaders to the world’s largest organizations — to reinvent how companies engage with their customers.