Nokia unveils its new digital assistant ‘MIKA’ for engineers and telecom operators

After its foray into Android smartphones with Nokia 6, the Finnish telecommunications giant Nokia seems to have got its mojo back. It has created a customised digital assistant “MIKA” which it says will help engineers and telecom operators. Nokia says MIKA will increase the work efficiency by providing engineers faster access to critical information. The name MIKA stands for “Multi-purpose Intuitive Knowledge Assistant,” and lets engineers and telecom operators access information through voice commands.

MIKA is powered by the company’s cognitive services platform, using “augmented intelligence with automated learning to provide access to an extensive range of tools, documents and data sources.” In layman language, MIKA is a digital assistant like Siri and OK Google and designed to provide quick answers to engineer questions, based on experience drawn from other networks. The only difference is unlike Siri or Alexa which can light up your smart bulbs and check on local weather or movies, MIKA will answer engineer questions.

“MIKA taps into the power of the Nokia AVA platform to provide quick and accurate answers, avoiding time wasted on fruitless searches. It is customised to support the specific needs of telecoms, and can deliver recommendations based on experience from networks around the world,” said Igor Leprince, Head of Global Services at Nokia, in a statement.

In addition to launching MIKA, Nokia introduces ‘Predictive Repair’, a service that will enable operators to reduce costs and improve network quality by moving away from break-fix approaches to hardware maintenance.

“The care service can predict hardware failures and recommend replacements up to 14 days in advance, with up to 95% accuracy,” the company said.

Nokia made the announcement about MIKA ahead of the much awaited Mobile World Congress. Nokia is also expected to showcase its latest Nokia Android smartphones and Android tablets at MWC.