TLDR
Vodafone,
the
global
telecommunications
giant,
is
making
a
significant
push
into
artificial
intelligence
(AI)
to
revolutionize
its
customer
service
operations.
The
company
announced
on
Thursday
that
it
plans
to
invest
€140
million
($151
million)
in
AI
systems
this
year,
focusing
on
enhancing
its
chatbot
capabilities
to
handle
customer
inquiries
more
efficiently.
The
cornerstone
of
this
initiative
is
the
upgrade
of
Vodafone’s
existing
chatbot,
TOBi,
which
was
introduced
five
years
ago.
The
new
version,
dubbed
SuperTOBi
in
many
markets,
leverages
advanced
AI
technologies
from
Microsoft
and
OpenAI.
This
enhancement
aims
to
enable
the
chatbot
to
respond
faster
and
resolve
customer
issues
more
effectively
than
traditional
chatbots.
TOBi
has
already
proven
its
worth
in
Vodafone’s
customer
service
ecosystem.
In
Germany
alone,
the
chatbot
handled
8
million
customer
inquiries
last
year,
successfully
resolving
about
65%
of
them
without
any
human
intervention.
With
the
planned
upgrades,
Vodafone
expects
to
see
these
numbers
improve
significantly.
The
rollout
of
SuperTOBi
is
already
underway.
The
system
has
been
introduced
in
Italy
and
Portugal,
with
promising
results.
Germany
and
Turkey
are
set
to
follow
later
this
month,
and
Vodafone
plans
to
expand
the
implementation
to
other
markets
throughout
the
year.
Vodafone’s
investment
in
AI
is
not
just
about
improving
response
times.
The
company
envisions
SuperTOBi
assisting
customers
with
a
wide
range
of
tasks,
from
troubleshooting
hardware
issues
to
setting
up
fixed-line
routers.
This
expanded
capability
is
expected
to
significantly
enhance
the
customer
experience
while
also
streamlining
Vodafone’s
support
operations.
The
technology
powering
SuperTOBi
is
a
product
of
Vodafone’s
partnership
with
Microsoft.
Specifically,
the
telecom
provider
is
using
Microsoft
Azure
OpenAI,
which
integrates
technology
from
OpenAI.
This
collaboration
allows
Vodafone
to
tap
into
cutting-edge
AI
capabilities,
including
those
similar
to
the
widely
known
ChatGPT
chatbot,
as
well
as
other
OpenAI
innovations
like
the
DALL-E
image
generator
and
the
Whisper
speech
transcription
model.
However,
this
push
towards
AI-driven
customer
service
comes
against
the
backdrop
of
significant
organizational
changes
at
Vodafone.
In
March,
Vodafone
Germany
announced
plans
to
cut
and
relocate
around
2,000
jobs,
affecting
13%
of
its
workforce.
This
decision
is
part
of
broader
cost-saving
measures,
which
include
an
increased
reliance
on
AI
technology.
Go to Source
Author: Oliver Dale
