How Vodafone plans to create AI-powered tech-comms powerhouse with Microsoft
Following the news that Vodafone has decided to increase the number of Microsoft 365 Copilot licences from 300 to 68,000 across its business, we speak to Scott Petty, Vodafone’s Chief Technology Officer, about the reasons for the move.
Scott Petty is in no doubt that generative AI is going to “impact all areas of our business” in a profound way.
A successful trial of the generative AI software produced reams of data crunched by consultancy KPMG that convinced Vodafone – which has more than 330 million mobile and broadband customers and around 100,000 employees – to make the data-driven decision to use Microsoft 365 Copilot.
“It will clearly drive great productivity improvements for the general workforce, but we see great opportunities to improve the quality of our experience and the experience we offer to our customers,” he says.
Positive results
One surprising result of the trial was just how much the Legal & Compliance team benefited from generative AI, he says, as it helped them analyse, draft, and renegotiate contracts – a huge part of a regulated telecommunications business.
“The legal team became our biggest advocates internally,” he says.
Another positive result was just how much Microsoft 365 Copilot was welcomed by Vodafone’s neurodiverse staff – particularly those with dyslexia.
“AI really helps people comprehend in different ways, understand documents in different ways, and communicate in a way that makes them more effective in working with their peers across the organisation,” Scott says.
Staff who took part in the trial reported being more productive and – crucially – happier at work, convincing Scott that AI will “become a differentiator for companies looking to attract diverse talent to their to their organisations”.
Quality of work improved, too, he says.
In short, when generative AI does all the low-value admin tasks – what Scott describes colourfully as “drudgery” – it frees up employees to concentrate on activities that really “add value” to the company.
Better customer service
AI has been particularly helpful for contact centre operators using the software to summarise calls and understand all the interactions the customer has already had with the company, says Scott
This is making for better, more empathetic conversations and leading to higher Net Promoter Scores (NPS) – a measure of how much a customer would recommend the company to someone else.
NPS has gone from “low single digits into the high 30s” for those services where customers interact with AI.
And Vodafone is supercharging its chatbot TOBi with AI to create SuperTOBi, which it is currently rolling out across Europe. This is already leading to much higher comprehension and completion rates of various tasks customers and employers ask it to do, says Scott.
“The more we can improve our customer experience, the lower our churn rates, the higher our loyalty rates, and the more that customers want to stick with Vodafone as an organisation,” he says.
“Customer experience is at the heart of our company strategy.”
Network nous
Vodafone already uses AI and machine learning to optimise and manage its network, from energy usage to data flows. And now it’s using Microsoft 365 Copilot to help manage its estate of many thousands of base stations throughout Europe, Scott explains.
Each of these sites is governed by contracts and leases that eventually expire and need to be renewed or scrapped. The network engineering and planning teams are using Copilot to summarise these documents and keep track of expiry dates.
This tells the team that it’s not worth building a new mast or base station on a particular site because in two years, say, they’d have to move it to another location.
“This is helping our network planning, which will result in a higher quality network and a better customer experience for every mobile customer,” Scott argues.
“Generative AI is playing an incremental role on top of these traditional machine learning and AI capabilities.”
Attracting talent
Being an early adopter of generative AI will also help Vodafone attract “the right talent to our organisation,” says Scott, “making Vodafone an employer of choice, enhancing our employee value proposition, and that will help us be a winner in the marketplace.
“Competing is very much based on the quality of talent and the people you have within your organisation. Making Vodafone a great place to work is going to help us be successful.”
Generative AI is definitely not seen within the business as a way to reduce workforce numbers, he emphasises.
New revenue opportunities
As well as enabling Vodafone to improve the quality of its work internally and the quality of its customer service, Scott believes generative AI will accelerate innovation, leading to new products and revenue streams.
By way of example, he cites the Group’s fast-growing Internet of Things business.
“We’re already seeing the opportunity to offer generative AI capabilities inside existing platforms, like IoT, to enhance our data analytics and summarisation capability,” he says.
Unlocking benefits
Scott concludes that “generative AI used in the right way, with the right frameworks and the right policies, can be game-changing for your organisation.
“Understanding how to apply that to your company is something everyone should be doing.”