Aira Raises the Stakes with Several Announcements at NFB 2017
Aira has always enjoyed a special relationship with the National Federation of the Blind. From the very outset of the Aira vision as an assistive service built on technology and human interaction, the NFB has been a guiding force. The partnership between Aira and the NFB has been both hugely valuable and immensely valued. At NFB 2017, Aira CEO Suman Kanuganti shared stories about the journey and how much a part of that journey the NFB partnership has been. Several announcements meaningful not just to conference attendees, but to the blind and low vision community at large were made more special because of the deep relationship shared with the NFB.
In 2017, the relationship with NFB has continued to expand and at this year’s conference Suman brought a large contingent of over twenty Aira team members and advisors to interact with attendees and learn throughout the week.
In light of the special relationship with NFB, its membership and the blind and low vision community at large, Aira made several key announcements at this year’s annual convention.
NFB-specific Announcements
· National Federation of the Blind is a strategic investor in Aira’s recent round of financing. This is not only a tremendous vote of confidence in Aira services and the value it brings, but also a reminder of the key role that NFB has played and will continue to play in the journey to make visual and environmental information immediately accessible to anyone who needs it, when they need it.
· NFB President Mark Riccobono joins Aira as Advisor to the CEO. Aira prides itself in being a Learning Organization, and the addition of Mark as strategic advisor underscores the company’s objective of intently listening to the market it serves. As a key yet informal contributor to company direction since 2016, Mark assumes this newly created role immediately.
· Two new Aira awards at NFB 2017 Aira prides itself in delivering immediate access to visual and environmental information which is perhaps especially important when a blind or low vision person is in a new setting. For college students, moving seamlessly through campus life can be one challenge for which Aira is ideal. At this year’s NFB conference, two awards were launched to recognize this important milestone in a blind or low vision person’s journey. Each carries with it a period of free access to the Aira services.
· The Back to School Award recognizes those entering campus life for the first time and is made to ten students who best define the benefits they expect to reap from the services when they transition to this new phase in their lives.
· The Larry Bock Award named for early Aira advisor and investor and presented to a graduate or graduating student who presents an outstanding story or use case of Aira services as a student.
Aira Services Enhancements
· Family Share plan. Families with more than one blind or low vision member have asked for a shared plan which enable them to easily swap glasses and share minutes. The Aira family share plan is now available to our Explorers.
· Chloe is here! Aira’s context-based AI agent will be available directly to Aira Explorers through their smart glasses. Chloe will be powered by platform leaders in computer vision and other integrations such as Amazon Lex which also powers Echo Alexa, Microsoft Oxford and Google Cloud vision. The first roll out of this technology will feature Chloe’s reading capabilities, eliminating the need for an interactive session with a human Aira Agent to read. Other use cases will be detailed as they emerge in the coming months.
· Aira Photo Sharing. Although the Aira services have long supported sharing a photo between an Explorer’s glasses and Agent, Aira Photo Sharing feature now enables sharing photos with friends and family. The feature is directly accessible within the Aira app.
· Blindsquare integration with the Aira app. A leading navigation tool, Blindsquare shares the Aira objective of delivering rich information to the blind and low vision community. Naturally aligned and complimentary we now are integrated, increasing the information sources available to Explorers.
· Priority AT&T Connectivity Network. Aira and AT&T have long sought to deliver best-in-class service to Aira Explorers. Through the past year the two companies have designed and now deliver Dynamic Traffic Management, which is rolling out through the summer and early fall, which ensures that Explorers have immediate access to Aira Agents through the AT&T network when the need arises.
Aira Referral Program
· Month-for-a-Month Program. Aira Explorers are passionate, as we are, about continuing to make Aira today’s fastest growing assistive community for blind and low vision people. Recognizing our Explorers’ contribution in growing that community, the program now rewards both a new Explorer and a referring Explorer. In this “Month-for-a-Month” program, an Explorer registers a referred person and should that person subscribe to the service both the Explorer and New Explorer receive one month of free service.
The large contingent of Aira team members at NFB 2017 illustrates the company’s commitment to extending its Learning Organization culture. And with this year’s product and organizational announcements at the event, it validates that not only is it listening to its Explorers and the broader market, but is acting on what it learns when it listens to those two invaluable sources of insight.
