AHMED MAHMOUD OF STARTUP DXWAND: ON THE ACCESSIBILITY OF AI

Can you walk us through your journey from Microsoft to Dxwand, and how come one leaves such a giant to establish their own company?
At Microsoft, we learned a lot about the potential of technology to solve real-world problems, but we felt there was an untapped space where AI could really make a difference It was a big decision to leave such a powerhouse, but we realized that to truly innovate and make a lasting impact, we needed to take the leap ourselves.

In 2018, Mahmoud and I founded DXwand with a mission to address business growth and operational challenges using AI, focusing initially on conversational AI solutions. After successfully helping over many clients, we saw a greater opportunity in 2021 to pivot toward serving corporates and enterprises. What sets us apart is our proprietary knowledge intelligence and no-code/low-code Agents builder, which eliminates the need for manual data labeling, accelerating onboarding and making it easier to tackle complex enterprise use cases while maintaining efficiency in costs and high quality standards.

Backed by over $6 million in funding, including a critical funding round during the 2023 market downturn, we’re now expanding into key markets like Saudi Arabia, Africa, the U.S., and Europe. Our growth has been fueled by a relentless focus on delivering AI solutions tailored to the region’s cultural and linguistic diversity, proving that taking bold risks often leads to even greater success.

 

Away from the technical jargon, what makes Dxwand so interesting and why would anyone be interested in a world where AI has become a lip-service?

We get it, AI can sometimes sound like a buzzword, but at DXwand, we’ve focused on making AI actually work for businesses. It's not about just tech for tech's sake; it's about solving real problems.

We prioritize practical implementation, offering benefits like complete offline support, 70% TCO reduction, 8X faster time to market, 30% higher accuracy, and 80% cost savings compared to industry benchmarks.

We’re not just building software; we’re creating a movement. We have a diverse range of clients who trust us across various industries, including government, fintech, healthcare, banks, Education and many more. This wide client base is a testament to our ability to deliver impactful solutions that meet the unique needs of different sectors.

At DXwand, we believe in empowering businesses with advanced AI technology, bridging the digital divide, and driving growth and success at unprecedented speed, which helps businesses streamline operations, boost productivity, and scale effectively, while staying attuned to local cultural and linguistic nuances.

We’re here to empower businesses, not with just another flashy AI product, but with real, actionable results that help them grow and thrive.

How is Dxwand breaking barriers for businesses and what could they benefit from using your product?

At DXwand, we don’t just offer a tool, we offer a solution that makes it easier for businesses to transform digitally and start seeing results fast. The platform makes onboarding easy, enabling users to operate the product independently without the need for extensive training. This reduces the time to value and allows businesses to quickly see results.

Instead of focusing on just one use case, Dxwand experiments across multiple areas like procurement and customer support to determine the most effective solutions for each business. By leveraging a unified technology platform, businesses benefit from improved efficiency, reduced costs, and the ability to scale seamlessly across departments.

Currently, procurement Agent has been a standout success, with 80% of our campaigns focusing on this area. This agent alone can lead to improved processes, cost savings, and quicker decision-making for our clients. At the same time, we continue offering other services like customer support to meet the varied needs of businesses, ensuring flexibility and adaptability as they grow and evolve.

Apparently, your flagship product ORXTRA turns weeks of data work into seconds, serving 40+ clients in fintech, e-commerce, and healthcare. Can you tell us more about it?

ORXTRA, designed to simplify business operations, acts as a high-powered assistant that can transform weeks of data work into seconds. This allows clients, particularly those in fintech and healthcare, to prioritize essential tasks over data management.

The platform offers two primary solutions: ready-made AI agents for specific use cases (e.g., procurement, HR, customer service), and an AI Agent Builder platform for creating and deploying custom AI agents with minimal hardware. ORXTRA.AI boosts efficiency through workflow automation, improved decision-making, and insights generated via dynamic dashboards.

Key features include a proprietary RAG pipeline, support for both structured and unstructured data, and a simple scripting language for easy customization. The platform also includes a Generation Panel that creates visual representations like graphs and summaries based on knowledge base prompts.

For regulated clients, DXwand offers an offline version of ORXTRA.AI to meet data privacy requirements. To address the high hardware costs and long procurement times, the company introduced ORXTRA Fermata, reducing hardware needs by up to 80%. ORXTRA.AI aims to transform business operations, delivering enhanced efficiency, productivity, and growth with scalable, cost-effective solutions.

You also launched Prism which delivers 70% higher accuracy for real-time business insights, how does that work?

Prism, a new small language model, was recently launched at the AI Everything Global Summit. It will also be featured at the upcoming Web Summit in Qatar to further explore its business applications.

It enhances businesses' ability to access and understand information through clear, context-aware answers. It is available in two versions: a 1B and a 3B model. The 1B model is fast and cost-effective, ideal for devices with lower power. The 3B model is more powerful and accurate up to 70%, suited for complex queries. Both are fine-tuned for high performance with minimal hardware requirements and operate seamlessly across all devices.

Prism excels in both English and Arabic, with magnificent improvement in Arabic language accuracy compared to other models, making it ideal for businesses operating in multiple languages. Additionally, Prism is designed for cost-effectiveness, allowing businesses to access valuable insights affordably.

And eventually, considering all this, are you not afraid you are making a lot of people redundant and therefore eligible for unemployment via your products? Is this something that might happen with AI at large?

This is a really important question, and I totally understand the concern. AI's true purpose is to empower individuals by automating mundane and repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on more creative and valuable work. While some jobs may change, new ones will emerge or evolve. We want to be part of this transformation, not just the automation aspect.

The key is helping people adapt to these changes and learn new skills. It's not about replacing people, but about finding ways for humans and AI to collaborate, ensuring that no one is left behind.