Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1130632
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 JUNE 2019 17 COMMERCIAL THE typical Maltese summer is nicely kicking in, tempera- tures are rising as the island prepares itself for an endless season of outdoor activities, partying, days at the beach, BBQs' and of course the tra- ditional Maltese Festas which bring so much colour to our beautiful villages. Once again, Vida looks at this season from the eyes of various people who together form Malta's society. Celebrities and common people come together to share with us their own stories and their experience of summer. The VIDA summer edition is set for distribution to all Malta & Gozo on 18th June 2019. We have prepared for our readers amazing content featuring articles on the local music industry, Maltese tra- ditions including the Maltese bread, traditional village festa and the making of the much debated fireworks. It will fea- ture, travel stories, interviews with interesting personalities, as well as food recipes. The magazine has also be- come home to incredible competitions, giving readers the chance to win unimagi- nable prizes, such as the on- going partnership between SsangYong, Domino's, iGO and il-Fiera l-Kbira who to- gether are offering a free new SsangYong Tivoli! So wherever you're planning on going this summer, make sure to take your VIDA copy with you!! The VIDA lifestyle magazine project is an ongoing one, with plans to release new exciting issues every quarter. The third issue of the revamped maga- zine is set for distribution in September, following 1 more 2019 issue in December. If you have suggestions or in- teresting material which is VI- DA style, contact us on (+356) 2339 2339, email on info@fkl. mt or visit us on www.vida. com.mt. You can also follow us on Fa- cebook: www.facebook.com/ VidaMag or Twitter: www. twitter/vida_magazine. For advertising opportunities, contact us on (+356) 2339 2407/8 or sales@vida.mt. VI- DA is a lifestyle magazine by FKL within Famalco Group | Building Businesses. Enjoy summer with Vida VASSALLO Group hosted the 6th Edition of the annual 'The Shine Awards'. The group strongly be- lieves in rewarding hard work and loyalty and this event awards all those employees who in some way or other excel. Award categories in- cluded Customer Focus, 3 R's Achievement, Service Qual- ity, Brand Ambassador, Extra Mile, Health & Safety, Train- ing & Development, Best Em- ployee, Best Supervisor, Best Manager, Diversity & Inclu- sion, Best managed project. This year a new category was introduced awarding 'Em- ployee Wellbeing'. Kevin De- battista, General Manager at CaterEssence won this year's Chairman Award. This event also awards em- ployees for their long service towards the companies within the group, starting from five years and reaching up to 40 years. This year's Shine Awards ceremony was concluded by Group Chairman Nazzareno Vassallo's speech who shared his appreciation towards all the employees who now to- tal 1900. He spoke about the group's newest projects name- ly Campus Hub, the Vassallo Business Park and the new Learning Works Training Hub which was inaugurated on the same day. He also proudly an- nounced that the major com- panies within the group had been re-certified with the Equality mark on that same day. He also said that it was a fruitful year for the disability sector with HILA launching I Care as their service excel- lence programme as well as other new projects in the pipe- line. The event was compered by journalist Keith Demicoli and included entertainment by employees coming from various companies within the group. The Shine Awards came to an end with a reception ca- tered for by Vassallo Group's CaterEssence. Vassallo Group employees' time to 'SHINE' LEADING insurance company MAP- FRE Middlesea is the first to imple- ment the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the insurance industry in Malta. The AI has been implemented in the form of a chatbot called Emma which is now available on both the MAPFRE Middlesea website and Face- book page. Thanks to newly emerging technolo- gies, the implementation of chatbots has been on the rise in recent years, bringing a new way for businesses to communicate with their custom- ers and address any particular queries which they may have. These chatbots are programs which apply the use of AI in order to simulate real interactions with users through a chat interface. Since Emma is constructed with AI, the chatbot is able to comprehend lan- guage and not just commands. There- fore, the more conversations that a chatbot such as Emma has with users, the more intelligent they may become. The MAPFRE Middlesea chatbot Emma has been designed to address a number of customer queries 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Emma is capable of addressing queries pertaining to insur- ance quotes, claims, complaints, con- tact information, and even queries re- garding the company's benefits such as MAPFRE Assist and their 'Insure and Save' Loyalty Scheme. However, in light of Emma's constant availability, customers will always have the opportunity to speak to a repre- sentative during working hours should they wish to do so. Notwithstanding this, the use of AI has enabled MAP- FRE Middlesea with the ability to place greater importance towards more complicated matters, while Emma is able to address the simpler tasks and queries at hand. Even though the introduction of AI marks the beginning of an innovative digital approach to customer engage- ment for MAPFRE Middlesea, going forward, the company will continue to place readily-available customer sup- port at the forefront of their business practices in order to ensure timely res- olutions as well as customer satisfac- tion for their clientele. MAPFRE Middlesea: First to introduce AI within the insurance industry in Malta