Telstra is expanding its in-house generative AI solutions, following successful trials, to improve customer interaction.
Deploying GenAI for Customer Service
The two AI products, “One Sentence Summary” and “Ask Telstra,” were developed to enhance the capabilities of frontline personnel in providing more efficient customer service.
One Sentence Summary uses Azure OpenAI's large language model to summarize recent customer comments, interactions, and transactions, minimizing the necessity for consumers to repeat information. Trials completed in 2023 showed that 90% of employees who utilized the tool were able to save time and increase efficiency, leading to a reduction of 20% in the number of follow-ups required. The tool also proved to be effective in managing difficult or sensitive situations.
Kim Krogh Andersen, Telstra's Group Executive Product & Technology, expressed certainty in the company's ability to ethically and efficiently utilize the potential of generative AI.
“We’ve been on a journey of simplification and modernization over a number of years. We've simplified our technology architecture and shifted to a 100% API-first approach to product development. We’re also migrating workloads to the public cloud and building reusable AI capabilities,” said Andersen.
Meanwhile, Ask Telstra allows staff to efficiently browse the company's vast internal knowledge libraries for information, offering AI-generated answers to inquiries. The system is based on Telstra's protected corporate information resources.
Karthik Narain, the Group Chief Executive of Technology at Accenture, highlighted the importance of this partnership in accelerating Telstra's transformation into an enterprise driven by AI.
Telstra's commitment to developing and upholding responsible and ethical AI solutions has been enabled by the profound simplification and modernization of its data environment, achieved via collaboration with partners. The responsible, ethical, and safe development of AI solutions sets a standard for data and AI advancements in the future.
