With phone calls being considered as too intrusive, and emails as slow and without impact, companies struggle to interact with their customers in an efficient and effective way.



Meanwhile, many companies have failed in implementing web chat solutions, while employees use their private SMS and WhatsApp accounts to communicate with customers, resulting in commercial, privacy and security risks.



After reading this article, discover the solution: combining #Interact and Proximus NextGen voice. 







<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Challenge 1: Not answering phone calls</h2>



It&#8217;s impossible to answer every phone call, but more often than not, companies frustrate their customers with endless menus and transfer loops, or not picking up the call at all… The result is missed revenue, churning customers, and damage to the company&#8217;s reputation.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
Don&#8217;t let your customers wait forever, or frustrate them with endless menu options or transfer loops
</blockquote>



<a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/flexio/overview">NextGen Voice</a> from Proximus can automate phone calls or perfectly handle missed calls, for a fraction of the cost of a missed phone call. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Challenge 2: not following-up missed calls</h2>



Even worse: many companies fail to follow up on callback requests, or voicemails left by their customers, or prospects. Employees just don&#8217;t listen to their voicemails anymore, shared mailboxes don&#8217;t offer the proper reporting, and ticketing systems often don&#8217;t deal well with audio files.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="720" height="720" src="/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-2.png" alt="Many companies are not properly following-up missed calls" class="wp-image-5422" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-2.png 720w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-2-300x300.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-2-150x150.png 150w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>







Discover how NextGen voicemail can deliver voice messages, including transcript, via mail or API to to shared mailboxes, MS Teams channels, or other applications. These can be CRM or ticketing systems, or tools like <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/interact/overview">#Interact</a> that focus on omnichannel interactions, and that are able to queue, route and report on voicemails and other interactions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Challenge 3: Customers have also stopped answering their phone</h2>



Since ages, customers complain about companies&#8217; reachability, but the opposite: companies complaining about customers, no longer picking up their phone, has become even more problematic. Many people, and especially the younger generation, consider phone calls being very intrusive, and expect companies to communicate when it suits them, on the channels they prefer.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="720" height="720" src="/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image.png" alt="Customers have stopped answering their phone" class="wp-image-5419" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image.png 720w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-300x300.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-150x150.png 150w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>







Messaging channels like SMS, WhatsApp are less intrusive, less formal, more concise, and highly responsive, which makes them the ideal channels to effective and efficiently reach out to customers. Discover how #Interact can unlock these messaging channels to all customer facing employees while keeping costs under control.. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Challenge 4: Many companies have failed in implementing web chat solutions</h2>



While online chat is one of the simplest solutions, to start interacting via a text channel, many companies have failed, to sufficiently automate these conversations, and have them properly followed up by an employee, given that they usually take place, over weekends and in the evenings.



This problem can easily be solved, by continuing web conversation via SMS, or replacing web chat with WhatsApp or SMS in the first place. Discover how <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/interact/overview">#Interact</a> unlocks web chat deflection.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Challenge 5: Professional use of personal messaging channels by employees</h2>



Many employees use their personal mobile number to communicate with customers, via text message or WhatsApp, to overcome the challenges mentioned earlier. This not only poses commercial risks, but may also violate privacy, security, and other regulations.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="720" height="720" src="/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-1.png" alt="Professional use of personal messaging channels" class="wp-image-5421" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-1.png 720w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-1-300x300.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-1-150x150.png 150w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>







With <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/interact/overview">#Interact</a>, any employee can use the company&#8217;s messaging channel.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Easily solve the challenges of phone calls and text messages with #Interact and NextGen voice from Proximus </h2>
</blockquote>

Phone calls and text messages challenge companies when interacting with customers

Companies want to <a href="https://www.brusselstimes.com/200332/right-to-disconnect-boss-may-no-longer-call-employees-after-hours" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">protect their employees</a> from burnout situations, but they also want to serve their customers in the best possible way. Find out how the PRoximus NextGen voicemail can help you achieve this, while even strengthening your commercial and employer brand!



Proximus NextGen Voicemail is a highly visible way of showing that you care about both your customers and employees:







<ul>
<li>take care of your callers while your employees can&#8217;t: implement a company standard voicemail message, which can include references to 24/7 customer service and escalation numbers, up to full-blown voice bots.</li>



<li>supporting an advanced out-of-office feature, using a predefined message with the option to assign a backup and forward professional messages, or use custom, temporary greetings</li>



<li>combine professional and personal voicemail greetings, based on time-of-day or even the caller&#8217;s number (family &amp; friends), while keeping this personal data outside the employer&#8217;s systems.</li>
</ul>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="314" src="/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/5benefits.gif" alt="" class="wp-image-5243"/></figure>



From a commercial and employer branding perspective, NextGen voicemail allows to integrate company brand elements (custom jingles/taglines), as well as temporary messages to announce corporate events or career opportunities, and even the possibility to send an SMS with a link to more information.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="314" src="/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/profgreeting.gif" alt="" class="wp-image-5249"/></figure>



For the user, the NextGen Voicemail makes sure to never miss a voicemail again, combining SMS and email notifications. On top of that, we provide more user convenience, with message transcription, and graphical user interfaces for consulting and managing your voicemail



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="314" src="/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/emailnotifications-1.gif" alt="" class="wp-image-5254"/></figure>



Click here for <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/blogs/updates/nextgen-voicemail-takes-care-of-your-callers-when-you-cant">more information on the NextGen voicemail</a>, or <script>var part1 = "flexio-voicemail";var part2 = Math.pow(2,6);var part3 = String.fromCharCode(part2);var part4 = "proximus.com";var part5 = part1 + String.fromCharCode(part2) + part4;document.write("<a href=" + "mai" + "lto" + ":" + part5 + ">contact us via email!</a>");</script>

Let your employees disconnect while continuing to serve your customers

<a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/nextgen-voicemail/overview">NextGen Voicemail</a> takes care of your callers when you can&#8217;t, offers a better user experience, true convergence, and additional business insights and value.



Did you know that on average, 20 to 60% of incoming calls are unanswered?When your customers know the direct numbers (fix or mobile) of your employees, their voicemail becomes part of their customer journey. 



While every call represents a chance to capture a commercial opportunity or unsolved problem, standard voicemail systems are considered a burden for the users, an annoyance for callers, and a blind spot in your customer interactions.






<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="338" src="/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/240516-NextGen-voicemail-value.gif" alt="" class="wp-image-5469" style="object-fit:cover"/></figure></div>


For the user, it provides voicemail to email functionality, and offers additional smart features on top of a predefined, professional greeting: give your callers to option to flag a message as urgent, inform them of your absence and provide the option to transfer your messages to a backup while being out-of-office.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="314" src="/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/profgreeting.gif" alt="" class="wp-image-5249"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Take care of your callers with a customized greeting message</figcaption></figure>



Combining SMS and email notifications, you will never miss a voicemail again!



On top of that, the urgency notification and voicemail transcript offer additional convenience. Users can even store contacts, and specify the preferred greeting and greeting language, and providing the caller&#8217;s name in the email &amp; SMS notifications.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="314" src="/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/emailnotifications-1.gif" alt="" class="wp-image-5254"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Receive SMS and email notifications for each voicemail</figcaption></figure>



The <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/nextgen-voicemail/overview">NextGen Voicemail</a> can be tweaked and customized per account, with specific standard messages, jingles or temporary announcements on the fix &amp; mobile voicemail of all your employees, supporting your commercial and employer brand.



The NextGen Voicemail is compatible with most PABX systems, such as MS Teams, Proximus Forum, Call Connect and other solutions, and offers a visual interface supporting configuration by individual users, with advanced greeting options.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="559" src="/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/FlexIO-Configuration-1024x559.png" alt="FlexIO Voicemail Configuration" class="wp-image-5216" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/FlexIO-Configuration-1024x559.png 1024w, /wp-content/uploads/2022/09/FlexIO-Configuration-300x164.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2022/09/FlexIO-Configuration-768x419.png 768w, /wp-content/uploads/2022/09/FlexIO-Configuration-1536x838.png 1536w, /wp-content/uploads/2022/09/FlexIO-Configuration-1200x655.png 1200w, /wp-content/uploads/2022/09/FlexIO-Configuration.png 1573w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Manage your voicemail via a speech menu with a visual overview </figcaption></figure>



Proximus NextGen Voicemail is a business oriented converged voicemail service, that is customized on account level (minimum 10 users). It supports one mobile and one fixed number per user, for a fixed user fee, including email &amp; SMS notifications, recording and voicemail transcript.



Proximus NextGen Voicemail works best with <a href="https://www.proximus.be/en/id_catl_telephony/companies-and-public-sector/telephony.html#/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proximus fix and mobile subscriptions</a>, but up to 10% non-Proximus users are accepted within a corporate account. Interested? <script>var part1 = "flexio-voicemail";var part2 = Math.pow(2,6);var part3 = String.fromCharCode(part2);var part4 = "proximus.com";var part5 = part1 + String.fromCharCode(part2) + part4;document.write("<a href=" + "mai" + "lto" + ":" + part5 + ">contact us via email!</a>");</script>

NextGen Voicemail takes care of your callers when you can’t

At the end of February 2021, we will complete the migration of user authentication on the Proximus API Solutions platform to &#8220;MyProximus&#8221; logins and sunset the older “enco” logins. This may have implications for you so please read the following carefully and thoroughly.






<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li></ul></div>




<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Case 1 : you use a MyProximus account to log into proximusapi.enco.io today</h2>



Then all is fine and easy: nothing to do, just keep on enjoying our API catalog!



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Case 2 : you do not have a MyProximus account yet</h2>



The easiest way to proceed is for you to create a new MyProximus account using the same email address as you have been using for your older “enco” login. By creating a MyProximus account with the same email, the next time you login on API Solutions,&nbsp;&nbsp;using your newly created MyProximus identity, we will recognize the email address as the same and link all your subscriptions and keys. New MyProximus accounts can be created from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.proximus.be/en/id_ENCOregister/customs/spalnsw/apps/register-guest-customer.html?elqTrackId=2239B75926F02322B62F2716029E839D&amp;elqTrack=true" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>. Mind that it doesn’t matter if you are not a Proximus residential or professional customer as MyProximus guest accounts are open to everyone.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Case 3 : you have a MyProximus account where your userid has the same email as your enco userid</h2>



In this case there is nothing you need to do. The next time you log into API Solutions, select to login using MyProximus. We will recognize the email address as the same and link all your subscriptions and keys.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Case 4 : you have a MyProximus account where your userid has a different email than your enco userid</h2>



<ul><li>Option 1: you can create a new, separate, MyProximus “guest” account using the same email address as your enco userid. In this case, just follow the instructions as for case 2.</li><li>Option 2: you are not able or do not want to create a new guest account and prefer to use your current MyProximus account. This operation will require manual intervention on our side; therefore we will not support this approach for users who are only registered to Free and Trial plans. Users registered to Premium, Paid or Special Plans please reach out as soon as possible to <a target="_blank" href="mailto:support@enco.io" rel="noreferrer noopener">support@enco.io</a>. Please include in your mail: your enco email login, your MyProximus email and the reason to request manual migration support from us.</li></ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Case 5 : you are a Proximus MyAnalytics registered user and have no API asset subscription on Proximus API Solutions</h2>



MyProximus is leveraging the &#8220;enco&#8221; login has a mean of user authentication. Even if you do not have any API asset subscription on the API Solutions platform and only use your &#8220;enco&#8221; credentials to access MyAnalytics, the transition to MyProximus authentication is identical. You can safely follow the procedures described in case 1 to 4 according to your own situation.

Sunset of the “Enco” login

We are happy to announce the launch of a complete new set of communication capabilities now integrated in the Proximus API Solutions marketplace : Proximus FlexIO is a Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS) solution to address business use cases that require flexibility of communication to engage with customers and employees.







Imagine having communication buildings blocks, usable via API or using a Visual Designer, allowing your applications to support scenarios such as creating private calls between your customers, building an interactive voice response system in front of your ordering system, having your applications trigger voice call-outs to customers to remind them about upcoming appointments or deliveries, queuing calls for your support team and record phone conversations for later analysis and education&#8230; 



Imagine being able to not only play your own audio files in phone calls, but having the ability to leverage multiple speech to text and text to speech engines, in a wide variety of languages so your communication scenarios can be totally flexible across multi-cultural environments&#8230; 



Imagine having your local national telco operator delivering such modern communication assets built on top of its renowned quality of service&#8230; 



These are the promises we intend to fulfil with Proximus FlexIO !



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Proximus FlexIO at a glance</h4>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/zerocoding-1024x398.png" alt="Proximus FlexIO : CPaaS with APIs and Visual Designer" class="wp-image-4708" width="512" height="199" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/zerocoding-1024x398.png 1024w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/zerocoding-300x117.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/zerocoding-768x299.png 768w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/zerocoding-1200x467.png 1200w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/zerocoding.png 1486w" sizes="(max-width: 512px) 85vw, 512px" /></figure>



Proximus FlexIO is built upon 4 major components:



<ol><li>Number management: the ability to instantaneously order fixed phone numbers in Belgium and associate them to your applications. Numbers can be used both for inbound and outbound calls</li><li>Visual Designer: a graphical user interface that allows to create voice or SMS applications requiring zero coding, ideal for business users or rapid development and prototyping</li><li>Communication APIs: a complete set of REST APIs that allows the creation and control of voice calls and messaging conversations</li><li>Turn-Key Solution APIs: solution-oriented high-level APIs supporting higher level functions such as 2 Factor Authentication and call queue management</li></ol>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Only pay for what you use</h4>



Proximus FlexIO is a pure Pay-As-You-Use, zero commitment solution enabling businesses to pay only for the services they consume. The inherent scalability of our cloud architecture enables users to consume as much or as little services as needed by their application or business processes.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">How to get started?</h4>



It doesn&#8217;t matter whether you are already a Proximus customer or not, all you need to get started is an account on <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proximus API Solutions</a>, a credit card linked to our account (invoicing also possible for enterprises) and to <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/flexio/price?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">activate a subscription</a> to Proximus FlexIO.



Need some guidance to get started? Discover our <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/blogs/tutorials" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">zero-coding tutorials</a> or <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/contact-us">give us shout</a> and we&#8217;ll get back to you.



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/flexio/overview?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/try-it-now-a.png" alt="Get started now with Proximus FlexIO" class="wp-image-4857" width="354" height="126" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/try-it-now-a.png 707w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/try-it-now-a-300x107.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 354px) 85vw, 354px" /></a></figure></div>

Proximus FlexIO, the CPaaS platform from Proximus

Everyday you have interactions with your customers. In these days of social networks, they can voice their satisfaction or frustration in seconds. How can you stay on top and pulse your customer satisfaction by measure your <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_Promoter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Net Promoter Score (NPS)</a>, integrating the measurement right into your business flows ? 







<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Triggered from your applications</h4>



Integrating systematic customer surveys is an easy job using our APIs: have you just closed a support ticket, hung up the phone or handled that customer complaint file ? As long as your applications or workflows allow to trigger external calls based on such events, you&#8217;re good to go!



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Unlimited multilingual surveys</h4>



With our new <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/customer-survey/overview?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">customer Survey API</a>, you can create as many surveys as needed to support the various projects or teams that you want to measure. Each survey can be define to support multiple languages.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Normalizing the answers</h4>



Using the Customer Survey API, you can make sure to always send the same question for a defined process, interaction or team. Bad responses are automatically eliminated. We also make it possible to add segmentation (like tags) when sending the survey allowing finer grained reporting without revealing personal customer data (we don’t store any personal data).



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Get your score</h4>



When using the API to retrieve your result reports, you will get a recap of your request, the NPS score and some response statistics. The NPS score is a number between -100 and 100. We also provide the number of promoters and detractors (absolute values) to give a finer view on the response split. Statistics are provided purely on the response so that you can evaluate the response rate and how well your surveys are performing. 



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Get started in minutes</h4>



Do you want to start measuring your NPS score and overall customer satisfaction now ? Developers can get started in minutes by simply signing up to our Customer Survey API <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/customer-survey/price?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Free Plan</a>. Once you get your hands on the APIs and tested your integrations, you can scale up to our <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/customer-survey/price?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Premium Plan</a>.



Do you have any question ? Feel free to <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/contact-us">reach out</a> to us!



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/customer-survey/overview?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cobweb.events/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/try-it-now-a.png" alt="Try the Customer Survey API now" width="354" height="126"/></a></figure></div>

Proximus API Solutions customer survey API

Measure your Net Promoter Score with our Customer Satisfaction API

At Proximus, we want to make it easy and friction-less for LoRaWAN to support your new bright idea, whether you&#8217;re starting a new business from your home or need to include IoT networks in your school or academics project. LoRa4Makers is the answer to your needs.

<h4>What is your new big idea?</h4>
<blockquote>Every once in a while, a new technology, an old problem, and a big idea turn into an innovation. [Nick Camen]</blockquote>
It might be a connected hive or chicken coop, a way to measure underground rainwater storage, a new tracking device for UAV or the next pager system for crisis scenarios. Connected devices are everywhere, support more and more scenarios and these scenarios each comes with its own requirements for connectivity. You have narrowed down your needs to a long-range, low energy network such as LoRaWAN. At this point, all you want is to start building your first prototype and include connectivity in it.
<h4>Proximus LoRaWAN, a commercial network</h4>
For several years now, Proximus has extended its national network coverage to include the LoRaWAN protocol. We deployed LoRaWAN gateways across the territory and cover now most of the territory of Belgium &#8211; as you can see on our <a href="https://www.proximus.be/support/en/id_sfaqr_map_network/personal/support/internet/internet-on-the-go/surf-on-4g-or-3g/network-coverage-map.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">network coverage map</a>. All of these investments came at a cost and it is therefore not surprising to understand that access to our LoRaWAN network is a commercial offering. The access fees could be summarized as such:
<ul>
<li>a fixed, one-time charge activation fee</li>
<li>a very small fixed monthly fee per LoRaWAN device (about 1€) with a daily message allowance (288 messages/device/day)</li>
<li>additional optional fees (site survey services, etc)</li>
</ul>
This LoRaWAN commercial service from Proximus is known as &#8220;Proximus MyThings&#8221;. Should you already aim for a large roll-out and production use of our network, no need to read further &#8211; just reach out to our IoT colleagues at <a href="mailto:iot@proximus.com">iot@proximus.com</a> and ask to be recontacted about Proximus MyThings.
<h4>Proximus LoRa4Makers, temporary free access for makers and academics</h4>
As stated in the introduction, we understand that some people might just not need full-fledged commercial access to our LoRaWAN network. What they need is the ability to experiment low scale. With the launch of <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/lora4maker/overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Proximus LoRa4Makers</a> on the <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Proximus API Solutions</a> platform &#8211; formerly known as Proximus EnCo &#8211; we make it possible for anyone to activate up to 5 devices for free for 4 months on our national network. LoRa4Makers can be operated both from a user interface (which we call a microsite) and by REST API.
Let us list below a number of important points:
<ul>
<li>each device will be allowed 288 messages per day. Any further message above this limit will not be delivered</li>
<li>LoRa4Makers support ABP (Activation By Personalization). If you need OTAA (Over The Air Activation), you need Proximus MyThings</li>
<li>LoRa4Makers supports uplinks (messages sent by your device). If you need downlinks (messages to your device), you need Proximus MyThings</li>
<li>LoRa4Makers will not perform any payload decoding, except for AllThingsTalk LoRaWAN RDKs. You can however use the Proximus CloudEngine to develop your own payload decoder</li>
<li>Once the 4 months period has ended, messages from your devices will not be delivered anymore. You can always access your device list to get their details or delete them. Deleting them will allow you to reuse their devEUI on our network should you move your usage to Proximus MyThings for instance.</li>
<li>Accessing your device&#8217;s messages requires the use of <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/cloe/overview">Proximus CloudEngine</a>. The good news is that CloudEngine also offers a free usage tier with enough capacity to handle all messages coming from your 5 devices.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Getting started</h4>
It&#8217;s easy : if you don&#8217;t have an account on our API Solutions platform, just register for a new one. It&#8217;s free and all you need is a valid email address. Once this is done, register to the LoRa4Makers and to CloudEngine. Our documentation includes starting guides, step by step tutorials and script samples for CloudEngine. You&#8217;ll be up in no time !

LoRa4Makers : opening our LoRaWAN network to makers and academics

We have the pleasure to announce that the Real Time Crowd Management (RTCM) API is now out of beta and has become a full commercial offering.
<h3>Contents</h3>
<ol>
<li><a style="color: #4d439e;" href="#_Toc5626713">What is Real Time Crowd Management API (RTCM API)</a></li>
<li><a style="color: #4d439e;" href="#_Toc5626714">Making sense of the RTCM data</a>
<ol>
<li><a style="color: #00bcee;" href="#_Toc5626715">Turning zones into bins</a></li>
<li><a style="color: #00bcee;" href="#_Toc5626716">Mapping bins to the cellular network</a></li>
<li><a style="color: #00bcee;" href="#_Toc5626718">Bin overlapping cells</a></li>
</ol>
</li>
<li><a href="#_Toc5626719">RTCM data streams</a>
<ol>
<li><a style="color: #00bcee;" href="#_Toc5626720">HTTP destination</a></li>
<li><a style="color: #00bcee;" href="#_Toc5626721">EnCo CloudEngine destination</a></li>
</ol>
</li>
<li><a href="#_Toc5626722">How to get started?</a></li>
</ol>
<h3><a name="_Toc5626713"></a>What is Real Time Crowd Management API (RTCM API)</h3>
The RTCM API allows users to access Proximus’ mobile network data and retrieve the number of national and international mobiles detected in a user-defined zone in real-time (or near real-time). Each mobile connected to our network generates data, based on its communication activities (calls, SMS &amp; data). Before being exposed through the API, all this activity data is further aggregated and fully anonymized to prevent individual people tracking (f.i.: no data is returned if less than 30 mobile endpoints are detected in a cell). Mind that as we know our mobile market share, any data we measure is extrapolated to the total possible population. So what you get are not just detected Proximus mobile phones.
RTCM doesn’t require you to deploy any onsite infrastructure, because it relies on the nationwide mobile network coverage of Proximus. Unlike audience measurement solutions that rely on WiFi or Bluetooth sniffing, smart cameras or radar technologies. This doesn’t mean these other technologies are not valid. They may be of greater value when finer-grained audience data is needed. Just think about measuring the audience within a room of a specific building. Reading this article further should help you understand when RTCM can be applicable to your use cases.
Equally important to understand is that being API-based, RTCM is not a complete end-to-end solution including data storage and pre-canned reports. Users in search for such a solution can look at <a href="https://www.proximusanalytics.be/website/en/solution/crowd-management">Proximus Crowd Management</a> on the <a href="https://www.proximusanalytics.be/website/en">Proximus My Analytics portal</a>.
The API allows developers to:
<ol>
<li>Define a geographic zone (using the API or the RTCM microsite on <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io">proximusapi.enco.io</a>)</li>
<li>Establish schedules for generating the data stream on the zone (stream duration and data interval frequency)</li>
<li>Determine the target for these data streams (typically an HTTP endpoint)</li>
</ol>
<h3><a name="_Toc5626714"></a>Making sense of the RTCM data</h3>
<h4><a name="_Toc5626715"></a>Turning zones into bins</h4>
To use RTCM, you start by creating zones that will be divided into “bins”, as described in the <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/rtcm/documentation">RTCM API documentation.</a> The mobile device count that you receive in your RTCM data streams is related to each of these bins. The size of individual bins can range from 100m x 100m to 7,5km x 7,5km, depending on the total area of the defined zone.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4327" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Image1-2.png" alt="" width="800" height="320" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Image1-2.png 800w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Image1-2-300x120.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Image1-2-768x307.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" />
It is important to understand that bins in a zone will be related to some cells of the mobile network. This has a direct influence on the precision of the data you are expecting to receive.
Let’s dig in!
<h4><a name="_Toc5626716"></a>Mapping bins to the cellular network</h4>
Let us take an example where you would need to count the number of people in the “Cinquantenaire Park&#8221; in Brussels, as shown in the picture below:
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-4325 aligncenter" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Image2-2-1.png" alt="" width="400" height="320" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Image2-2-1.png 400w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Image2-2-1-300x240.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 85vw, 400px" />
We can see that the bins of the defined zone are matching quite well with 2 of the network cells. Therefore the reported data will be quite accurate.
Now let’s assume you want to measure audience at a golfing event. You create a zone made of 5 bins, as shown in the picture below. In the RTCM microsite, you can see the border of the network cell (“Show shapefile” option on the RTCM map) which covers these bins. The mobile data we are using is not based on GPS info from the mobile devices. This means we know how many mobiles are detected in a network cell, but not how they are spread within. Therefore, each bin within that cell will return an average value proportional to the cell size. For example, if my cell can hold 300 bins, then each of the bins will report 1/300th of the total cell count.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-4329 aligncenter" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Image3-1.png" alt="" width="400" height="320" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Image3-1.png 400w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Image3-1-300x240.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 85vw, 400px" />
Back to our golfing event. RTCM will not allow you to know the number of people on the golf green in these bins: the selected bins are a too small area compared to the hosting network cell.
As we can understand from this example, RTCM will return more adequate counts when the selected zone is close to the size of the cells in that area or covering multiple cells.
<h4><a name="_Toc5626718"></a>Bin overlapping cells</h4>
As in any data project, it is key to understand the source data you will be using. As we understand from this article, the reported mobile count by bin in an RTCM data stream will depend on the relation between the bins and the hosting mobile cells. The following principles should therefore always be taken into account when working with RTCM:
<ol>
<li>A bin in a macro cell will report data that is in proportion of the bin’s size compared to the macro cell&#8217;s size</li>
<li>A bin overlapping 2 macro cells will follow the same principle as #1 above. Except this applies to the 2 macro cells (ie. will report proportional mobile counts from both macro cells).</li>
</ol>
<h3><a name="_Toc5626719"></a>RTCM data streams</h3>
Once you defined your zone, you can start planning your first data stream. A stream can be programmed to start immediately after creation or at a scheduled moment in the future. Streams are always bound in time. Actually, they can only be defined for periods between 1 hour minimum and 12 hours maximum, with new data being pushed every 1 or 5 minutes.
You will be presented with 2 options for streaming your data:
<ol>
<li>HTTP endpoint destination (your web service)</li>
<li><a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/cloe/overview">Proximus CloudEngine</a> : our integration event hub</li>
</ol>
<h4><a name="_Toc5626720"></a>HTTP destination</h4>
The first possible destination for your stream is your own HTTP endpoint (web service), which must support both HTTP POST and HTTP OPTION methods. As soon as your data stream kicks in, your endpoint will start receiving a json structure as below at each interval:
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4346" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Code.png" alt="" width="900" height="280" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Code.png 900w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Code-300x93.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Code-768x239.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px" />
<h4><a name="_Toc5626721"></a>EnCo CloudEngine destination</h4>
The second way to deal with your stream is to send it to the EnCo CloudEngine, which allows you to do things such as:
<ul>
<li>Duplicating the incoming RTCM data stream towards multiple destinations at one</li>
<li>Summing up the count of national/international mobiles, and only send these sums at every interval</li>
<li>Send the stream data to a MQTT broker, to Microsoft Azure IoT Hub, and other type of destinations and protocols.</li>
</ul>
To leverage CloudEngine you only need to specify a unique tag identifier in your stream definition. Then use the same tag(s) in the RTCM inbound endpoint in CloudEngine:
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4352" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Image4-1.png" alt="" width="900" height="260" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Image4-1.png 900w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Image4-1-300x87.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Image4-1-768x222.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px" />
<h3><a name="_Toc5626722"></a>How to get started</h3>
First of all, create an account on <a href="http://enco.io/">enco.io</a>. Anyone can create an account on the platform, regardless if you are a Proximus customer or partner already. Once done, simply register to the RTCM Free Plan in our <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/rtcm/price">marketplace</a>. The free plan allows you to trigger up to 3 data streams on a predefined zone defined around the Proximus Towers in Brussels. To create your own zones and have full flexibility on data stream definitions, you need to subscribe to the RTCM Premium plan which will be billed on a per usage basis.
On our GitHub, you will find a <a href="https://github.com/Enabling/RTCM">sample Java application</a> ingesting data from RTCM and displaying it live on a Google Map. You can also find a <a href="https://github.com/Enabling/CloudengineScripts">sample CloudEngine script</a> which ingests an RTCM data stream. It sums up the national and international mobile counts of all bins, and then sends this results over HTTP in a new json structure.
Don&#8217;t hesitate to contact our team of experts on <a href="mailto:enco@proximus.com">enco@proximus.com</a> if you need more information or some help on using the API.

Real Time Crowd Management API goes out of beta

A lot of new features have been brought to the EnCo CloudEngine since the beginning of 2019. We thought it might be a good moment to pause for a second and quickly summarize all what we have added as well as give you a sneak peek at what’s coming next.
<h3>HTTP module : explicit support of OAUTH2 and internal EnCo API calls</h3>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-4254" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/3.png" alt="" width="108" height="72" />Next to basic authentication and Authorization header, the HTTP module now explicitly supports OAUTH2. It is now also possible to make API calls, using the HTTP CloE module, to any EnCo API. You can use your permanent bearer tokens in Authorization headers as well as <a href="https://docs.enco.io/docs/authentication-1">OAUTH2</a>.
Why might you find this useful?
<ul>
<li>Push your <a style="color: #808080;" href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/cloe/documentation#usinggoogleapifromencoscript">IoT data to Google Sheets</a>, like <a style="color: #808080;" href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/blogs/updates/proximus-enco-helps-goodplanet-to-measure-the-impact-of-their-activities">GoodPlanet</a> does</li>
<li>Use MyThings API in a script to send a downlink message to a LoRaWAN device</li>
<li>Create a simple monitoring script to check for CloE script execution errors and warn you by email or SMS</li>
<li>Use our Address AutoComplete or Address Scoring API from within your scripts</li>
</ul>
<h3>Loopback inbound &amp; outbound modules: calling a CloE script from within a script</h3>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-4258 alignleft" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/1-2.png" alt="" width="108" height="72" />We make it now possible to call a CloE script from within another script using 2 new inbound and outbound modules. The Loopback outbound module is used to call another CloE script. This module is qualified with user-defined tags and can pass data to the script being called. The Loopback inbound module is the trigger for called scripts. Scripts are triggered based on the associated user-defined tags.
Why might you find this useful?
<ul>
<li>You may have a script performing payload decoding, integration to external platforms or specific data conversion used as a “meta function” by your other scripts</li>
</ul>
<h3>CRON inbound module: triggering scripts based on predefined schedules</h3>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-4255" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/4.png" alt="" width="108" height="72" />Using the new CRON inbound module, CloE scripts can be triggered based on predefined schedule(s). The schedule definition is done in the CloE Settings page, using common CRON notation. The CRON inbound endpoint on CloE is then configured with tags corresponding to the name of your defined schedule(s). For instance, a schedule such as “*/5 8-18 * * 1-5” could trigger a script at every 5th minute past every hour from 8 through 18 on every day-of-week from Monday through Friday.
Why might you find this useful?
<ul>
<li>Checking log status at predefined moment</li>
<li><a style="color: #808080;" href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/blogs/tutorials/bridging-iot-and-legacy-systems-with-cloudengine-2-scheduled-scripts">Send accumulated IoT sensor data as a CSV file to an external system</a></li>
<li>Trigger a script to poll data via a HTTP GET to an external system – until now CloE scripts could only be triggered based on incoming events</li>
</ul>
<h3>IoT Store module : storing data in csv structures</h3>
A <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-4259" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/2-1.png" alt="" width="108" height="72" />module that allows you to persist and retrieve multiple value lines from within your scripts (only string values are supported). Multiple values can be stored with the same key and retrieved as a single concatenated string. This allows for example to store CSV lines when data is received and to retrieve them concatenated with line separators as a CSV file.
Why might you find this useful?
<ul>
<li>Accumulate IoT sensor data in <a style="color: #808080;" href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/blogs/tutorials/bridging-iot-and-legacy-systems-with-cloudengine-2-scheduled-scripts">CSV files</a></li>
<li>Manage multiple data and data keys cross scripts</li>
</ul>
<h3>sFTP outbound module</h3>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-4256" style="margin-top: 0.857143rem; margin-right: 1.71429rem; margin-bottom: 0.857143rem;" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/5.png" alt="" width="108" height="72" />
A simple new transport module allowing you to push files – which you can generate with the IoT Store module for instance &#8211; onto an SFTP server.
Why might you find this useful?
Integrate IoT data into legacy systems not supporting modern transport protocols such as HTTP or MQTT.
Are you not using CloudEngine yet, but are you interested? Register on <a href="http://www.enco.io">proximusapi.enco.io</a>, read our documentation and get started!
________________________________
<h3>What’s coming next?</h3>
Over the next sprints we intend to bring you the following new capabilities.
<ul>
<li>Script Collections : instead of a flat list of scripts in the CloE overview, we will allow you to group scripts into Collections (think of it as “folders”)</li>
<li>RTCM Inbound module : receive data from <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/rtcm/overview">Real Time Crowd Management</a> straight into CloE, and leverage its outgoing modules to stream your audience data to even more platforms.</li>
<li>Microsoft Azure IoT Hub : make it easier to integrate your IoT sensor data flows and device management with the Microsoft’s leading solution.</li>
</ul>
We have other things considered for our menu but we’ll tell you later about these… Let’s keep a bit of surprise for later. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to share your new feature desires or requirements with us, by dropping a note to <a href="mailto:enco@proximus.com">enco@proximus.com</a>

Discover the latest CloudEngine features

SAP has an IoT platform within its rich portfolio that offers strong data analysis &amp; reporting (e.g. with the leonardo solutions). The platform manages devices from multiple origins and consolidates sensor &amp; meta data.
Proximus offers the <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/mythings/documentation">My Things API</a> as part of the LoRa network. MyThings allows you to administrate the LoRa sensors (f.e. with decoding profiles and auto activation of sensors) and basic data sending. Proximus EnCo makes LoRa data integration possible in your own applications via easy scripting.
Therefore <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/cloe/overview">Proximus CloudEngine</a> is extended with different modules and a pattern that allows you to integrate on both platforms. Of course, without loosing the flexibility and still matching the security requirements of both systems. To support this, we have added 2 modules to CloudEngine that allows you to script your engine based on the input of data coming from MyThings.

<h3>1. The SAP Iot Device Management Module </h3>
The SAP IoT Device Management Module gives you the possibility to create and/or update SAP Devices, Sensors, SensorTypes, Capabilities and Properties in your SAP IOT environment. This is based on events from the &#8220;MyThings -Thing&#8221; input connector in the CloudEngine. The module will check if the provided capabilities exist. If one of them does not, it will be created. This module will update the existing capability when it lacks a provided property by one. The same mechanism will be used to make sure the provided sensor type and device exists and is up-to-date.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-4109" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/1-1.png" alt="" width="723" height="362" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/1-1.png 901w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/01/1-1-300x150.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/01/1-1-768x384.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" />
<h3></h3>
<h3>2. The SAP data module</h3>
This module allows you to send data to the SAP IoT platform. It will use MQTT as an underlying transport. Therefore, you need to make sure you activate an MQTT gateway on the SAP IoT platform, when you send data to devices on SAP. &#8220;MyThings Data&#8221; is in this case eligible as the input for the CloudEngine.
It&#8217;s possible to expand this solution with multiple SAP capabilities/properties per device. What&#8217;s the maximum value reached for this sensor for instance? A concrete implemented case is the Proximus cable yard. To be efficient, it&#8217;s important to have a good view on the distributed stocks. Therefore Proximus installed IoT LoRa sensors on its reels. The Omniplex sensors are measuring GPS, temperature and movement. This information is sent to the SAP IoT platform via MyThings &amp; Proximus Enco. As a result, we can use their advanced reporting to see for example which reel is present where.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-4121" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/5.png" alt="" width="727" height="404" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/5.png 900w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/01/5-300x167.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/01/5-768x427.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" />
Not registered on the EnCo platform yet? Subscribe now and try out some of our great assets to integrate with your applications.
<a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/cloe/price"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-4148 size-full" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Button-3.png" alt="" width="180" height="60" /></a>

LoRa data integration made possible in your own applications via easy scripting

Proximus API Solutions has released the <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/rtcm/overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Real Time Crowd Management API</a>, a new capability to measure live national &amp; international footprint or audience on any geographic location in Belgium. Any software developer can now integrate live data streams on people count in their own solutions. Supporting smart city or smart mobility projects, assessing the impact of cultural events or opening the road to completely new solutions is once again made simpler today.

<h3>Audience monitoring &#8211; the usual ways</h3>
As an event organizer, large shopping mall manager or dealing with crowd-sensitive situations, being able to perform real-time audience or crowd monitoring can be a very complex task. If several technologies do exist today, they come with step-in requirements which may be difficult to achieve. To take a few examples:
<ul>
<li>Wifi sniffing requires this technology to be activated on the smartphones of your audience. With the multiplication of mobile price plans including large, if not unlimited mobile data, several have started to observe that <a href="https://opensignal.com/blog/2018/04/19/time-spent-on-wifi-in-the-us-falls-as-users-move-to-unlimited-plans/">the time spent on wifi is actually starting to come down</a>. Not to mention people whose concerns about <a href="https://www.csoonline.com/article/3246984/wi-fi/why-you-should-never-ever-connect-to-public-wifi.html">the security of public wifis</a> may be totally justifiable.</li>
<li>Bluetooth-based location services most often leverage <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBeacon">iBeacons</a>. This technology requests that the visitors not only have Bluetooth enabled on their phone, it will also demand a dedicated mobile application to detect the iBeacons. Getting your branded app installed on your target population smartphones can already be very challenging,<a href="http://info.localytics.com/blog/21-percent-of-users-abandon-apps-after-one-use">making sure it&#8217;s not deleted too quickly</a> is an extra hurdle you need to tackle.</li>
</ul>
Wifi, bluetooth or even new approaches such as smart cameras all require the deployment of a specific infrastructure to be able to collect the data. While this can be manageable in a controlled area such as a sport stadium or concert hall, it will become more complex in open spaces, because of the size of the place or simply because you may not get any authorization to deploy.
<h3>Could we use mobile network data ?</h3>
<figure id="attachment_3908" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3908" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-3908" src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/lady-mobile-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/lady-mobile-300x169.jpg 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/lady-mobile-600x338.jpg 600w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/lady-mobile-1024x576.jpg 1024w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/lady-mobile.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3908" class="wp-caption-text">All phones leave traces for everything they do</figcaption></figure>
Now think for a moment about all of the mobile phones out there in every one&#8217;s pocket or bag, whether smartphones or feature phones. Phones are connected all of the time to the mobile network, even if your wifi is on and connected. Every action, such as making or receiving a call, sending or receiving a text, transferring data because of surfing or messaging, all these actions do generate a trace on the mobile network, 365 days a year and 24 hours a day. The mobile network infrastructure is there, there is nothing you have to deploy. We can actually leverage the mobile location data, and after making sure it is properly anonymized and fully GDPR compliant, make it available to external parties to measure audience both historically and in real time. This is exactly what Proximus&#8217; <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/rtcm/overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Real Time Crowd Management</a> (RTCM) does.
<blockquote>We can actually leverage the mobile location data and after making sure it is properly anonymized, make it available to external parties</blockquote>
The mobile network being divided into &#8220;cells&#8221;, we won&#8217;t be able to track an individual person nor tell you how many people are in a square of 2&#215;10 meters, but we can report live on the number of national and international mobiles connected per cell or &#8220;TACS&#8221; (accumulation of 2G/3G/4G cells in a specific location and direction). It is important to note that the size of cells does vary and tend to be bigger in rural, open areas, while being smaller in dense urban or city spaces.
<figure id="attachment_3911" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3911" style="width: 599px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-3911" src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/mobile-cells.png" alt="" width="599" height="205" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/mobile-cells.png 965w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/mobile-cells-600x205.png 600w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/mobile-cells-300x103.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 599px) 85vw, 599px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3911" class="wp-caption-text">Theoretical mobile cell map</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Real Time Crowd Management use cases</h3>
<h4>Low hanging fruit</h4>
The availability of location insights coming from mobile networks, such as <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/rtcm/overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Proximus RTCM</a> is offering on our <a href="http://enco.io">API marketplace</a>, facilitates the enablement of &#8220;low hanging fruit&#8221; use cases such as pulsing the heart of a city in real time, assessing the national and international footprint during large outdoor music festivals, or helping tourist find quieter areas at the Belgian coast during sunny week-ends.
<figure id="attachment_3929" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3929" style="width: 651px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-3929" src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/bcoast-rtcm-1024x661.png" alt="" width="651" height="420" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/bcoast-rtcm-1024x661.png 1024w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/bcoast-rtcm-600x387.png 600w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/bcoast-rtcm-300x194.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/bcoast-rtcm.png 1315w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3929" class="wp-caption-text">Visitor heatmap at the Belgian Coast</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_3921" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3921" style="width: 651px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-3921" src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/rtcm-de-broeckere-300x124.jpg" alt="" width="651" height="268" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/rtcm-de-broeckere-300x124.jpg 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/rtcm-de-broeckere-600x247.jpg 600w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/rtcm-de-broeckere-1024x422.jpg 1024w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/rtcm-de-broeckere.jpg 1489w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3921" class="wp-caption-text">Total count of national and international visitors returned by RTCM over a day in the area of Place de Broeckere</figcaption></figure>
<h4>An open door to innovation</h4>
Real Time Crowd Management definitely opens up the road for new use cases. Let&#8217;s take one example. If you live in a large city like Brussels, for sure you have already seen these large digital billboards which, in fact, are always showing the same ads or messages.
<figure id="attachment_3931" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3931" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-3931" src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/place-de-brouckere-300x180.png" alt="" width="300" height="180" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/place-de-brouckere-300x180.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/place-de-brouckere-600x359.png 600w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/place-de-brouckere.png 939w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3931" class="wp-caption-text">Digital billboards on the place de Brouckere (Brussels)</figcaption></figure>
Now, let&#8217;s imagine I&#8217;m Coca Cola. Maybe I would be ready to pay more to the billboard company if my ad was to be displayed on sunny days when there are at least 2000 people in the area of the boards. While if I&#8217;m working for the city promotion, I may find it a bargain to buy display time at low price to thank Americans and Chinese tourists for visiting the historical town center despite the rainy weather. We would call such trade platform the Advertisement Auction Platform, built along these principles :
<ul>
<li>Collect real time national and international footprint in the area of the billboards without deploying any infrastructure nor relying on mobile apps : <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/rtcm/overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">real time crowd management APIs</a> on EnCo</li>
<li>Collect real time weather information using battery operated sensors to lower maintenance : LoRa sensors combined with <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/mythings/documentation">MyThings APIs</a> on EnCo</li>
<li>Manage digital billboards location and availability using a cloud-based platform</li>
<li>Manage a digital asset library, where users can upload their digital content</li>
</ul>
<figure id="attachment_3932" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3932" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-3932" src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/ad-auction-1024x926.png" alt="" width="1024" height="926" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/ad-auction-1024x926.png 1024w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/ad-auction-600x543.png 600w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/ad-auction-300x271.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/10/ad-auction.png 1055w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3932" class="wp-caption-text">The Advertisement Auction Platform based on real time audience monitoring</figcaption></figure>
<h3>You can start testing today</h3>
Do you have great ideas or projects where live audience data would be required ? Any developer can enroll today on the <a href="http://enco.io">API Solutions marketplace</a> and request access to the <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/rtcm/documentation">Real Time Crowd Management</a> beta program. During our beta, you will get unlimited access to the APIs and can define any zone and data stream you need to properly assess our APIs. As a beta tester, we will value your feedback and may adapt our roadmap to your needs.

Real time audience and crowd insights : tapping into mobile data opens new use cases

Proximus expose Telco assets via the API Solutions marketplace for the developer community. SAP API Business Hub is the central catalog of all SAP and partner APIs. Developers can build sample apps, extensions and open integrations with SAP, offering access to a broad set of intelligent capabilities (like the ones offered by SAP Leonardo). It&#8217;s logical that both worlds will meet because telecommunication is a cornerstone in a lot of business processes.  As a partner of SAP, we worked on the integration of 2 different assets (SMS and IOT ).
<h1>The Proximus SMS Toolbox API</h1>
You can discover the Proximus SMS Toolbox API and test it on the <a href="https://api.sap.com/shell/discover/contentpackage/ProximusEnco/Artifacts" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SAP API Business Hub</a>.
<figure id="attachment_3691" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3691" style="width: 400px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-3691" src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/blogsap1-300x130.png" alt="" width="400" height="173" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/blogsap1-300x130.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/blogsap1-600x260.png 600w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/blogsap1.png 875w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 85vw, 400px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3691" class="wp-caption-text">Proximus EnCo SMS APIs are now integrated in SAP&#8217;s API marketplace</figcaption></figure>
Frederik Op De Beek, Presales Platform &amp; Cloud technology at SAP, made this very clear <a href="https://youtu.be/6-KysA3KWOE" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">video</a> demonstrating how to integrate <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/sms/overview">our SMS APIs</a> for notification scenarios from within business processes or apps. You can also find another example about how SMS can be used in a SAP Cloud workflow in this SAP blog <a href="https://blogs.sap.com/2018/04/20/sap-cloud-workflow-meet-sms-notifcation-approvalrejection/?source=social-Global-sapcp-TWITTER-AudienceEngagement-Developers-SAPCloudPlatform&amp;campaigncode=CRM-YD18-SOC-DEFLT">article.</a>
<h1>Proximus LoRa &amp; SAP IOT</h1>
The second part of our partnership with SAP comes as SAP IOT software modules that support the integration between the Proximus LoRa network (MyThings) and the SAP IOT cloud platform.  These modules not only help you integrate the data flow coming from your IoT sensors in the SAP IoT data structure, they also make it much easier to deal with device management, automatically creating newly network-provisionned devices in SAP&#8217;s IoT solutions.
The Proximus <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/cloe/overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CloudEngine</a> is the cornerstone of this integration, as illustrated by the screen capture below. The documentation of these modules is self contained and accessible directly from the <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/cloe/overview">CloudEngine</a>   .
<figure id="attachment_3692" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3692" style="width: 800px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-3692" src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/BlogSAP2.png" alt="" width="800" height="487" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/BlogSAP2.png 1013w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/BlogSAP2-600x365.png 600w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/BlogSAP2-300x183.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3692" class="wp-caption-text">EnCo CloudEngine including the 2 new SAP modules</figcaption></figure>
<h1>Future</h1>
The collaboration with SAP is just only starting and is already very exciting. We&#8217;ll keep you informed about new outcomes.

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