In an exclusive interview with Telecom Review, Rabih Farhat, founder and CEO of Related, discusses the company’s innovative solutions to answer the new mobile operators’ needs and challenges.
Tell us a bit about Related’s journey into the MENA ICT market. How is Related redefining customer engagement in the era of 5G, metaverse and Web 3.0 in the UAE and wider Middle East region?
For the last 10 years, Related’s main focus has been to elevate the customer experience within the ICT industry, increase customer lifetime value, create new revenue streams and boost customer satisfaction. I’ve always believed that innovation thrives at the intersection of vision and technology. With the burgeoning metaverse and Web 3.0 landscape, especially in the UAE and the broader GCC region, the future of customer engagement is being redefined. At Related, we’re not just observing this shift; we’re actively driving it. Our award-winning Reward 3.0 solution is a testament to our commitment to pioneering and harnessing technological advancements to elevate brand and customer interactions in this new digital age.
Please take us through Related's strategic partnership approach. Which are your target growth sectors?
Related has succeeded throughout the years to build and expand its client portfolio in different industries such as ICT, FSI, retail, utilities, entertainment, and F&B. Today, Related creates moments of happiness for more than 25 million customers across the region. We were behind the success of anchor and globally recognized programs such as Baitak Rewards of Kuwait Finance House, as well as Nojoom of Ooredoo, one of the leading mobile operators in the world.
At Related, we strongly believe that our sustainable growth and expansion rely on the strategic partnerships built with leading technology, payment, and service providers in the region. With the rising investments (15% yoy) in the loyalty and rewards program in the GCC, our target growth sector in 2024 will be mainly the Telecom industry. Mobile operators, who were at the forefront of the digital transformation journey, will use loyalty and rewards add-ons and the latest tools and technologies as a competitive edge to increase customer engagement and adoption in order to remain relevant to their customers.
How is Related addressing the sustainability and ESG objectives of its customers? Any recent project(s) that you would like to highlight?
With the rising importance of sustainability strategies and initiatives, specifically in the region, government and private institutions are seriously considering new initiatives to educate and encourage citizens and consumers to be the main contributors towards achieving sustainability objectives. At Related, we believe in the power of rewards and incentives to influence human behavior and increase social and environmental responsibility. One of our latest breakthroughs is a nationwide water conservation program designed to incentivize and reward citizens for their saving efforts. We have created an online smart meter that tracks a user’s water usage and compares it to his yearly average water consumption; the more you save water, the higher the value of your reward. We also deployed our reward catalog to ensure citizens enjoy a seamless experience and a variety of rewards and benefits from the huge partnership network we created from water bill payments, deals, and offers from different brands and categories.
At Related, we’ve always believed in building a purpose-based rewards program that has an impact on society. We're proud of this project because, through it, we pushed ourselves to leverage our innovation and skills to create a program that targets environmental goals on a large scale. It brought to reality the idea of going beyond points and transactions to ultimately build better relationships with the planet and with each other.
How is Related helping mobile operators enhance the user experience journey? How are you incorporating emerging technologies to achieve your objectives?
With mobile operators looking for new ways to elevate the user experience journey and to remain relevant to an ever-evolving young and tech-savvy generation, we have built innovative solutions to answer the mobile operator’s needs and challenges: personalized rewards catalog powered by AI tools, gamified and trigger-based customer interactions, a blockchain-enabled platform, omnichannel loyalty, and rewards solutions.
We are committed to delivering on our mission to create moments of happiness for customers and to help our clients thrive in their customer experience initiatives.