Be My Eyes Chooses Twilio to Bring Sight to People With Visual Impairments
January 22 2020 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Innovative app connects three million
volunteers to 178,000 low vision users to increase independence
Twilio (NYSE: TWLO), the leading cloud communications platform,
today announced that it has been selected by Be My Eyes to power
its mobile app connecting sighted volunteers with blind and low
vision users over video chat.
Across the globe, an estimated 253 million people have a visual
impairment that affects their daily activities and can make them
reliant on friends and family. Be My Eyes wants to bring visual
assistance to blind and low vision people everywhere through the
power of communication. In just a few seconds, a user can connect
with a volunteer or a representative from one of the companies
listed on the Be My Eyes platform. By simply pointing their phone
camera toward an object, the user can enable the volunteer to
describe or assess the situation and provide assistance. The goal
is to provide the independence that users want by helping with
everyday tasks and pivotal life moments, from reading information
on a packet of food to the results of a pregnancy test.
Be My Eyes launched its mobile app for iPhone and Android
devices in 2015. Visually impaired people are able to use a
smartphone via accessibility features that provide a synthetic
speech and touch-based interface on iPhones and Android devices.
The user requests help via the app and is connected to a volunteer
or a partner company representative that speaks the same language
within one minute, with 90% of connections being made within 30
seconds. Specialized Help, a customer support platform within Be My
Eyes, connects users to a partner company rather than a volunteer,
enabling them to contact an official company representative to
provide assistance regarding their products or services.
Upon its launch, the app was an immediate success, racking up
10,000 volunteers and 1,000 visually impaired users overnight,
making it clear that there was value in the inventive approach.
However, as the Be My Eyes user base grew in the following years,
this scale threatened to create lags in connection time, creating a
significant problem for users.
Be My Eyes had initially sourced video connectivity from
multiple providers, but determined that Twilio Programmable Video
offered faster connections with higher quality and greater
stability. Since migrating to Twilio, Be My Eyes has reduced
connection times by more than 50%, resulting in a more positive and
impactful user experience.
“Relying on friends and family for everyday tasks can be taxing
on relationships and prevent people with visual impairments from
achieving true independence,” said Alexander Hauerslev Jensen,
chief commercial officer of Be My Eyes. “Be My Eyes is a
Twilio-powered community support platform that solves a visually
impaired person’s problem in a fraction of the time that it would
take via audio. When you’re asking for help, a little bit of time
can feel like an eternity. Every second we can shave off wait times
means more trust, more engagement, and a stronger bond in our
community. A 50% reduction in connection time can mean a world of
difference for the user and the Twilio platform enables us to
achieve this.”
“Be My Eyes is enabling people with visual impairments to live
independent lives, no matter where they reside in the world,” said
Erin Reilly, chief social impact officer of Twilio. “Their
innovative use of Twilio enables Be My Eyes to make sure that their
users get help when they need it. Twilio.org was established to
help social impact organisations use the power of communications to
create positive change on a global scale, and it’s inspiring to see
Be My Eyes doing just that.”
Be My Eyes now connects 178,000 blind and low-vision people with
more than three million sighted volunteers to companies such as
Microsoft, Google, Lloyds Banking Group, P&G and others for
visual assistance through a live video call. Be My Eyes is
available globally, spanning 150 countries and 185 languages, all
with free and unlimited 24-hour access.
For more information on Be My Eyes, please visit
https://www.bemyeyes.com/.
ABOUT TWILIO.ORG
Twilio.org works with nonprofits and social enterprises to fuel
communications that give hope, power and freedom. By connecting
social impact organizations, passionate software developers and the
full power of the Twilio platform, Twilio.org ignites positive
change on a local and global scale. To date, more than 3,000
charities and nonprofits have used Twilio to send more than a
billion messages for good.
ABOUT TWILIO
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.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200122005044/en/
Cris Paden press@twilio.com
Highwire PR Twilio@highwirepr.com
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