Customers are becoming increasingly cautious about answering calls from unknown numbers or engaging with unfamiliar messages as spam and digital fraud become more prevalent. This is also creating a challenge for legitimate businesses attempting to connect with customers for transactions, service updates and support.
Airtel is seeking to address this enterprise communication challenge through Airtel IQ, its cloud communications platform. Airtel IQ brings together verified business communications, multiple customer-engagement channels, artificial intelligence and spam protection to help businesses deliver more trusted customer interactions at scale.
The platform is designed to help enterprises move beyond transactional communication and provide consistent, personalised and secure experiences across different customer touchpoints.
“As Sharat Sinha, CEO, Airtel Business, said, “Technology helps businesses cut through digital clutter, creating trusted, seamless interactions that build loyalty and lasting customer value.”
One of the capabilities offered through Airtel IQ is Airtel Business Name Display, which enables participating businesses to display their verified brand identity when calling customers.
The feature is intended to help customers recognise genuine business calls instead of seeing only an unfamiliar phone number. Greater visibility of the caller’s identity could help businesses improve call-answer rates while reducing the uncertainty associated with calls from unknown numbers.
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According to Airtel, more than 250 businesses participated in pilot deployments of Business Name Display. These businesses used more than 1.5 million phone numbers to make approximately 12.8 million customer calls within 30 days.
Airtel said the deployment resulted in better customer recognition, improved engagement and greater trust in business communications.
Bringing Different Communication Channels Together
Customers now interact with businesses through voice calls, SMS, email, chat, WhatsApp and other digital channels. Managing these channels separately can result in fragmented customer journeys and an inconsistent experience.
Airtel IQ brings multiple communication channels together on a single platform, enabling businesses to manage customer interactions across voice and digital touchpoints.
The platform also uses AI, automation and real-time analytics to help businesses create more relevant and contextual customer journeys. These capabilities can be used to personalise communications and determine how and when a customer should be contacted.
Such an approach may be particularly relevant for sectors including banking, financial services, retail and digital commerce, where businesses regularly communicate transactional information and service updates to customers.
Airtel IQ’s Three-Layer Spam Protection Framework
Airtel IQ also incorporates spam and fraud protection based on a three-layer framework comprising Detect, Prevent and Suspend.
Under the Detect layer, AI is used to identify potentially fraudulent or spam-related activity. The Prevent layer uses direct connectivity between enterprises and the telecom network to support trusted delivery of business communications.
The Suspend layer focuses on blocking malicious sender IDs, message templates and phone numbers found to be associated with fraudulent activity.
The objective is to protect customers from suspicious communications while helping legitimate enterprises maintain trusted communication channels.
Airtel Reports a 98 Percent Reduction in Spam Messages
According to Airtel, Airtel IQ Spam Protection has reduced spam messages by 98 percent, bringing daily spam volumes down from more than two million messages to near-zero levels.
The company also said that the platform identified and blocked more than 8,000 malicious SMS headers and helped protect over two million customers from attempted fraud.
The reported numbers demonstrate how telecom-network intelligence can be combined with enterprise communication tools to identify suspicious activity before fraudulent communications reach customers.
Trust Becomes Central to Customer Engagement
Airtel IQ combines business verification, communications, personalisation and security within a single enterprise platform. It supports omnichannel customer journeys while using AI-powered insights to help organisations improve the relevance of their interactions.
The platform is backed by Airtel’s telecom and digital infrastructure and builds on the company’s broader efforts to identify spam calls and messages for mobile users.
As businesses expand their use of digital channels, the ability to establish the authenticity of every interaction is becoming increasingly important. Verified caller identities and stronger spam protection could help businesses distinguish their legitimate communications from the growing volume of unwanted and fraudulent activity.
Through Airtel IQ, Airtel is extending its anti-spam and customer-trust strategy to the enterprise segment, helping businesses create customer interactions that are more recognisable, personalised and secure.
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FAQs
What is Airtel IQ?
Airtel IQ is a cloud communications platform that allows enterprises to manage customer interactions across voice, SMS, email, chat, WhatsApp and other communication channels.
What is Airtel Business Name Display?
Airtel Business Name Display enables participating businesses to show their verified brand identity when calling customers, helping recipients recognise legitimate business calls.
How does Airtel IQ protect customers from spam and fraud?
Airtel IQ uses a three-layer framework called Detect, Prevent and Suspend. It identifies suspicious activity, enables trusted enterprise-telco connectivity and blocks malicious sender IDs, templates and phone numbers.
How many businesses participated in the Business Name Display pilot?
According to Airtel, more than 250 businesses participated in the pilot and collectively made approximately 12.8 million customer calls in 30 days.
How effective is Airtel IQ Spam Protection?
Airtel claims the platform reduced spam messages by 98 percent, blocked more than 8,000 malicious SMS headers and helped protect over two million customers from fraud attempts.
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