Past Winner
2019 NSERC Synergy Awards for Innovation

A Ryerson University professor leads a research and development team combining advanced social analytics with artificial intelligence to change the way retailers offer warranties, and change the way consumers choose the best coverage to protect their purchases.

In 2010, Ebrahim Bagheri’s lab partnered with World Wide Warranty Life Services Inc., a British Columbia-based company that provides a one-stop online service for customers to track warranty coverage related to their purchases. Initially, Warranty Life’s online system required customers to manually enter information like make and model of product and date of purchase, then link the purchase to warranty options from the retailer and manufacturer. Bagheri’s team simplified this process with technology that automatically identifies all of this data and links the purchase to a standardized product data repository. Now, Warranty Life processes customer requests in real time, connecting purchases to protection plans as soon as the information is received.

The partners built on their success by introducing recommendation technology that can mine online social data to inform customers about the life cycle of their product and help them select their best option for extended warranties. Today, Bagheri’s innovations are fully implemented in Warranty Life’s software, and the partnership is helping customers in Canada, the U.S. and Australia protect their purchases quickly and easily.

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