Here are examples of what our customers are saying about the value they see: 

Generative AI is proving to be the key to unlocking unprecedented levels of personalization, performance, and customer engagement, as well as the opportunity to change the experience of being on the operator’s network. Microsoft’s strategy to support generative AI adoption in telecommunications centers on four pillars:

1. Elevating customer experience
2. Optimizing business and operations support systems
3. Modernizing the network
4. Unlocking new revenue streams

By focusing on these areas, we aim to enhance customer satisfaction through AI-powered support, streamline business operations with advanced automation, upgrade network infrastructure for better performance and security, and create new revenue opportunities through innovative AI-powered solutions. This comprehensive approach ensures that telecommunications providers deliver exceptional service while driving growth and efficiency.  

Elevating customer experiences 

Differentiation in the telecom industry is a growing challenge, and customer experience is emerging as a key competitive advantage. By leveraging AI-infused customer care, telecommunications companies are enhancing customer experiences through the use of branded service assistants. These AI-powered assistants provide personalized customer support and unique interactions—helping telecoms differentiate themselves from their competitors.

Vodafone Group is investing in both employee and customer experiences. Recently, they announced a plan to provide Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 to their workforce. This generative AI tool will be rolled out to 68,000 employees across the organization to further improve productivity, innovation, and digital efficiency. This follows a successful pilot where Copilot for Microsoft 365 saved over three hours per person, per week—freeing employees to work on more creative, innovative, and valuable tasks, improving work-life balance and enhancing services and supporting Vodafone’s 350 million customers worldwide.   

Vodafone continues to personalize services and improve customer satisfaction by leveraging Microsoft Azure AI Studio, Azure OpenAI Service, and Microsoft Copilot along with Azure AI Search to enhance its customer experience with their virtual assistant, “TOBi,” and their customer agent solution, “SuperAgent.”   

“We aim to provide fast, personalized customer experiences that inspire confidence, but to continue to do that in the face of rising customer expectations, we needed to find a way to better manage complex customer inquiries efficiently and ensure timely and personalized responses.”

Ahmed Elsayed, Chief Information Officer United Kingdom and Europe Digital Engineering Director at Vodafone Group

Today, TOBi engages in more than 45 million conversations a month with customers and is expected to grow to half a billion over the next few years while reducing average hold time by more than one minute.  

Recently, PLDT selected Amdocs’ market-leading Intelligent Networking Suite to transform their network operations. The solution operates on the public cloud, featuring unified network inventory, service and network orchestration, and business process automation capabilities. This agreement also includes the customer service solution for case management, which is part of the Microsoft and Amdocs Customer Engagement Platform (CEP). CEP is a comprehensive, AI-powered solution designed for telecommunications service providers. It offers a unified platform for marketing, sales, commerce, and customer service—enabling telecoms to deliver seamless, digital-first experiences to both consumer and enterprise customers.

Optimizing business and operations support systems 

Telecoms are benefiting from modernizing their Business Support Systems (BSS) and real-time Operations Support Systems (OSS) with data solutions and Copilot for Microsoft 365, an AI-powered productivity tool that integrates with Microsoft 365 apps. At Telkomsel, their chat–based virtual assistant Veronika contributed to a 15% reduction in customer escalations resulting in a net promotor score (NPS) that is 27% above the industry average.

Generative AI assistants for employees empower customer care agents to manage multiple inquiries efficiently, broadening their expertise and resulting in more personalized services leading to improved customer satisfaction and retention.  

Orange France is using generative AI to enhance customer service, marketing, internal and external communications, and network operations, with dedicated support from Microsoft. Use cases include fully integrated tools for rewriting FAQs, generating product sheets, and assisting developers with writing code. Laetitia Orsini Sharps, Consumer Department Director at Orange France, sees this technology as “a promising vector for improving customer service and making employees’ work easier,” allowing service teams to reduce the time it takes an agent to investigate and analyze the root cause of complex cases from 20 minutes to less than 3 minutes.

Modernizing the network 

Telecoms can improve security, network efficiency, scalability, and reliability by using a carrier-grade, AI-infused, and secure hybrid cloud. This modernization effort will reduce costs and drive revenue growth, positioning telecoms as leaders in the digital age.  

Telecoms are protecting their networks from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. Nokia’s latest innovation, the integration of a generative AI assistant with its NetGuard Cybersecurity Dome, demonstrates this proactive approach to security. Leveraging Azure OpenAI Service, this assistant enhances the efficiency of threat detection and resolution. Nokia expects the generative AI assistant to reduce the time it takes to identify and resolve a threat by up to 50 percent, depending on the nature of a cyberattack. As telecoms continue to fortify their defenses, such advancements are crucial in ensuring the security and reliability of critical operations. 

Real-time analytics capabilities allow telecoms to monitor network performance, detect anomalies, and optimize resource allocation to make data-driven decisions. Microsoft Fabric provides telecoms with real-time data, bringing order to a diverse and complicated data estate, enabling them to scale AI efforts. Fabric integrates data from various sources, including other clouds or on-premises sources, extending to where their data resides, providing a holistic view of telecom operations. The platform’s data visualization tools enable telecom companies to present complex data in an understandable format, facilitating better communication and collaboration across the organization.  

Unlocking new revenue streams 

Using Azure OpenAI Service to scale personalized customer experiences can result in an annual increase in average revenue per customer of 3% to 7% and a reduction in annual churn of 20% to 30%.² Telecom investments in AI and network modernization are unlocking new revenue streams with a platform for rapid development, deployment, and monetization of new services.  

As digital ecosystems expand, telecoms are offering advanced services where applications interact with their networks through APIs, turning their networks into programmable platforms that adapt to changing demands. Azure Programmable Connectivity (APC) offers a seamless Azure experience, providing a unified, standard interface across multiple operator networks globally while abstracting the complexities inherent to network APIs, ensuring code consistency and reliability, as networks continue to evolve. Developers can focus on building applications without worrying about underlying network changes.  

Telecoms can enhance their B2B strategy by leveraging Microsoft’s advanced technologies and strategic partnerships. Yobi Data works with telecoms to better understand customer behavior without compromising privacy.

“Accessing and managing the data necessary for effective AI can be prohibitively expensive—not to mention risky, and inefficient. Yobi Data finds the signal in the noise, empowering telecoms with access to advanced analytics and AI-derived insights into consumer behavior, network performance, and operational efficiency, all based on our own Private-by-Design data set. With these tools, telecoms can reduce churn, increase revenue, and improve customer experience—all without the time, expense, or burdens of new data acquisition.”

Max Snow, Chief Executive Officer, Yobi

The integration of real-time voice AI services using Azure OpenAI Service, Azure AI Translator, and other services allows telecoms to differentiate themselves in the market.

“By partnering with Microsoft, Norwood Systems is pushing the boundaries of innovation in telecommunications. Leveraging Azure AI in our cutting-edge solutions like our CogVoice™ and Visual Voicemail platforms, we’re empowering telecoms operators to unlock new revenue streams, elevate customer engagement, and deliver next-generation experiences. Together, we’re reshaping the future of communication services.”

Paul Ostergaard, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Norwood Systems 

As telecoms continue to integrate AI into their strategies, the opportunities for growth and innovation are boundless. Recently Korea Telecom (KT) announced a multibillion dollar partnership with Microsoft to accelerate AI transformation for 650,000 companies and 17 million customers in Korea. “The partnership with Microsoft presents a pivotal opportunity, not only for technological collaboration but also for expanding Korea’s AI foundation and driving transformative innovation across industries and daily life,” said KT CEO Young-Shub Kim.

Microsoft’s commitment to supporting this transformation through advanced AI technologies and strategic partnerships will empower telecoms to stay ahead of evolving market and customer demands. 

Explore further how AI is reshaping the telecom industry

Microsoft for telecommunications

Accelerate telco transformation in the era of AI

Start your journey

• Learn more about Azure OpenAI Service capabilities.
• Read the white paper “Scaling telecommunications AI at speed.”
• Connect with us at Mobile World Congress in Las Vegas, Nevada from October 8 to 10, 2024, where Microsoft is a Platinum Sponsor for the Telco AI Summit. We look forward to welcoming you to our speaking sessions or in our executive meeting rooms in the West Hall, Level 2.

¹ IDC’s “Telecommunications Service Provider DX Plans and Strategies Survey Highlights Study”, IDC #US52480824, August 2024. 

² New Technology: The Projected Total Economic Impact™ Of Azure OpenAI Service In Reinventing Customer And Constituent Engagement, a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting, July 2024. 

The post Transforming telecoms with AI appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs.

The telecommunications industry stands at a pivotal juncture, where the convergence of technology and communication is accelerating at an unprecedented pace. Microsoft’s role in this transformation is not just as a participant but as a leader, driving the conversation and action towards a more integrated and efficient ecosystem. Our efforts with the TM Forum and ODA over the years have been instrumental in setting new standards and fostering an environment of open collaboration.

Microsoft for Telecommunications

Accelerate telco transformation in the era of AI

Explore solutions

TM Forum DTW24-Ignite

This year’s TM Forum DTW24-Ignite event serves as a vibrant showcase of progress, partnership, and potential. Sessions will feature discussions on the latest trends and challenges facing the industry, while the Catalysts provide a hands-on look at the innovative solutions being developed.  

Catalyst projects are collaborative initiatives that bring together the collective power of the brightest minds and most influential industry figures to co-create solutions driving industry change through Open APIs, ODA, AI, and automation. Companies collaborate to unlock the possibilities of efficiency for businesses, optimize end-user experiences, and sustainable growth for all. This year Microsoft is thrilled to be actively contributing to two new phase catalysts alongside leaders from Vodafone, AT&T, Bell, Orange, Verizon, STC, Du, BT Group, and more.

• Responsible AI—Improving generative AI’s reliability for adoption at scale: This catalyst aims to address the challenges and risks associated with deploying generative AI models at scale, such as explainability, drift, and bias.
• DarkNOC: Generative AI propels insights driven NetOps—A new AI-driven cloud native stack for network assurance and service management: This catalyst aims to showcase how generative AI can enhance network assurance and service management, using a cloud native stack that aligns with industry-standard architecture, such as TM Forum ODA and Open APIs.

For those seeking a more granular view of the event, my LinkedIn post offers a wealth of information. My detailed account captures the essence of our presence at the event including information on all speaking engagements. 

Innovation Hub and ODA Accelerator

Our recent collaboration with the TM Forum Innovation Hub marks a significant milestone in our journey. By contributing to the ODA Accelerator initiative, we are helping to shape a modular, agile, and future-proof digital architecture that will serve as the backbone of the telecommunications industry for years to come. 

Microsoft has significantly contributed to the ODA program by signing the ODA Manifesto, joining the Innovation Hub, and supporting its development. We aim to transform the industry from legacy operation support system (OSS) and business support system (BSS) to cloud-native software, using standardized plug-and-play components, data models, and Open APIs. We have also created a cloud-based telecommunications ecosystem using the ODA reference canvas on Microsoft Azure, helping to drive digital transformation in the telecommunications sector.²

Our booth will serve as a hub for engagement, where attendees can experience our technologies and interact with our experts. Our in-booth presence includes stations covering: 

Developer velocity

At Microsoft, we believe that empowering developers is key to driving innovation. The ODA canvas and accelerator, along with GitHub Copilot for Open APIs, are revolutionizing the way developers work, enabling them to build more efficiently and effectively. The success stories from Orange and Lumen, as detailed in their respective case studies, are a testament to the transformative impact of these tools.

Our collaborations with TM Forum members Exos Systems and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have enriched the developer ecosystem, providing a range of tools and resources that enhance productivity and creativity. Notable projects with Jio, Proximus, Amdocs, Lifecycle Software, and the AT&T SHINE Catalyst further illustrate the breadth and depth of our commitment to developer velocity.

As part of the AI Service Portfolio, TCS has developed their AI First Telco Modernization framework leveraging their rich experience in TM Forum ODA and our strategic partnership with Microsoft.

It combines the power of TM Forum, ODA Framework, and GitHub Copilot for an accelerated modernization of software applications spanning across ideation, development, testing, and deployment. TCS has successfully implemented these generative AI tools for its clients resulting in higher productivity gains and faster innovation. TCS and Microsoft invite you to join our special GitHub Copilot session, featuring experts from Microsoft, TCS, and Proximus.

Jio is at the forefront of technological innovation within the telecommunications sector, consistently pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.

To accelerate the TM Forum ODA Component project, Jio has contributed to the ODA canvas reference implementation. Their journey began with the deployment of the ODA Canvas on Azure, which has evolved to encompass a suite of components, each designed to enhance telecommunications operations:

• Jio Network Performance Management ensures optimal network functionality.
• Jio Integrated Inventory Management streamlines asset tracking and management.
• Jio Floworx revolutionizes product validation and ordering processes.

These innovative components showcase Jio’s commitment to leading the industry’s digital transformation.

Microsoft is excited to collaborate with Jio and TM Forum on this groundbreaking journey. We invite you to experience this innovation firsthand at Jio booth (Jio Platforms Limited—Booth 232) and the Azure ODA Canvas reference implementation at Microsoft booth (Booth—315J), where the future of telecommunications comes to life.

Customer experience

Customer experience is at the forefront of our efforts in the telecommunications industry. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center is a prime example of our dedication to improving customer engagement. With Microsoft Copilot Studio, we are enabling the rapid development and deployment of intelligent, generative AI-powered automated care bots capable of resolving the vast majority of customer inquiries.

To assist telcos as they move to incorporate AI across their business, Microsoft, Accenture, and Avanade collaborated on a whitepaper titled “Reinventing telecommunications in the era of generative AI.” This paper explores the transformative potential of generative AI in the telecommunications industry and discusses how AI technologies can enhance network efficiency, improve user experiences, and redefine communication.

Vodafone is a great example of the effectiveness of these bots in a real-world scenario, demonstrating how they can significantly improve customer experience while reducing costs, expediting care, and improving net promoter score (NPS).

Charles Lamanna’s keynote at Microsoft Build 2024 provides further insights into these advancements, highlighting how telcos can use Copilot Studio to rapidly create intelligent Copilots of their own. Charles details how telcos can evolve today’s virtual agents into powerful Copilots that don’t just chat, but are capable of running in the background, asynchronously, and executing workflows with true agent capabilities.

To boost productivity and streamline employee experiences, Lumen Technologies has embraced Microsoft 365 Copilot. This generative AI tool integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Teams, providing employees with an intelligent virtual assistant. Finally, the collaboration between Microsoft and ServiceNow is pivotal in this journey. By combining our expertise, we’ve created a smarter way to work, where generative AI assistants coexist and interact. By integrating Now Assist, ServiceNow’s generative AI experience, telco employees receive conversational responses to requests and connects them to AI-powered workflows on the ServiceNow platform.

Network intelligence

The transformation of network operations is a critical component of our vision for the telecommunications industry. Microsoft Fabric Real-Time Analytics is at the heart of this transformation, enabling the collection and analysis of massive quantities of network data from complex, multi-partner environments. 

Accenture and Microsoft are demonstrating the powerful capabilities of Microsoft Fabric and Azure Data Explorer, enhanced by Accenture’s crowdsourcing data and exceptional engineering.

This collaboration aims to deliver actionable insights for Network Quality of Experience (QoE) management and planning, transforming the optimization efforts of mobile operators.

Our focus is to visualize performance issues that are:

1. Easy to comprehend and analyze.
2. Prioritized based on Accenture, umlaut score, and subscriber impact.
3. Root cause analytics, such as coverage and interference issues.
4. Easily integrate with daily workflows and additional data sources.

We will showcase how Accenture, leveraging Microsoft technology, can deliver an advanced platform built using crowdsourcing data, enriched by our custom analytics, and delivered through a user-friendly web-based front end. 

The Accenture integration shows how these capabilities align with the TM Forum Autonomous Networks initiative. Our Azure Programmable Connectivity, detailed in Ricardo’s latest blog, along with the participation of leading carriers, underscores our commitment to adhering to industry standards like the TMF931 Open Gateway Onboarding and Ordering Component Suite. 

Tecnotree recently authored an article titled “Delayering in Telcos: A Path to Agility and Efficiency” which discusses the significant transformation in the telecommunications sector, driven by the need for cost optimization and operational efficiency. It highlights the importance of delayering organizational structures and the role of Azure Programmable Connectivity (APC) in enhancing agility and customer experience.

Our partnership with Norwood Systems in voice intelligence is another example of how we are enhancing network operations. CogVoice™, their innovative AI Agent platform, is designed to re-monetize communications service provider (CSP) voice networks by delivering highly personalized and low-cost cognitive AI agent applications with breakthrough dialog performance. Leveraging Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI Speech, CogVoice brings exceptional natural language processing and speech-to-text capabilities to CSP-hosted agentic services. 

The new telco data model

We are excited to introduce a new Azure Synapse database template for wireless that promises to redefine how data is managed and utilized within the telecommunications sector. This model is designed to streamline operations, foster innovation, and enable a more seamless integration of services across the industry. 

The TM Forum Modern Data Architecture (MDA) is a strategic framework that outlines how data is collected, managed, and utilized—leveraging technologies like cloud computing and big data platforms to support scalable, flexible, and efficient data processing and analysis. We’ve been working with customers and partners to define and implement data platforms that apply this methodology. Most recently, Tech Mahindra launched a unified workbench on Microsoft Fabric, enhancing data workflow efficiency and accelerating digital transformation for enterprises. Similarly, LigaData offers a transformative approach to telecom data management with its Telecom Data Fabric, which leverages Azure to reduce integration time and enhance enterprise data agility and innovation.

Connect with us

Microsoft’s journey with the TM Forum and the ODA is a story of continuous innovation and unwavering support for the telecommunications industry. As we look to the future, our commitment remains strong—to foster an ecosystem where collaboration, technological excellence, and a shared vision drive us toward a more interconnected world. Join us at the event and connect with us online to be part of this exciting journey. 

¹Microsoft expands commitment to ODA and all other TM Forum highlights from MWC 2023!, TM Forum.

²Microsoft expands its commitment to TM Forum’s Open Digital Architecture, inform.tmforum.org.

The post Microsoft’s pioneering role in shaping the telecommunications landscape appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs.

Read the blog Accelerating Telco Transformation in the Era of AI by Jason Zander, Executive Vice President, Strategic Missions and Technology, to learn how operators are using Microsoft’s AI and Copilot solutions to elevate customer experiences, streamline business operations, monetize 5G investments, and modernize their network.

In this blog, I will share a number of exciting updates about our Azure for Operators portfolio of cloud-based solutions that enable operators to drive innovation and efficiency in the network. We are proud to announce an expanding customer base and the infusion of AI across Azure for Operators products.

Modernize networks with a hybrid carrier-grade platform and AI-powered automation and insights

Deep integration of the network with the Azure cloud is foundation to using AI-powered automation and insights to unlock improved efficiency, scalability, security, and reliability. Since the general availability announcement of Azure Operator Nexus—our carrier grade, hybrid platform, our progress includes:

• Additional Operator Nexus deployments supporting 5G standalone roll outs as primary platform.
• Expanding capabilities to address national security requirements in multiple regions.
• Increasing support for common operational requirements and refining approach to the DevSecOps models supporting multi-vendor network function deployments.
• Additional form factors to support RAN and additional workloads.
• As a service model to support customer and partner lab deployments in Microsoft datacenters.
• Expanded Nexus Ready program with over 20 certified partners and over 80 network functions.

Operator Nexus enables operators to run workloads on-premises or on Azure, seamlessly deploying and managing everything from the bare metal to the network to the tenant. Purpose-built for and validated by tier 1 operators to run mission-critical workloads, Operator Nexus:

• Accelerates time to market for new services.
• Lowers total cost of ownership (TCO).
• Drives operational efficiency and resiliency.
• Critically, improves the security of highly distributed, software-based networks.

“As part of e& UAE’s transformation to becoming a digital telco we are excited to collaborate closely with Microsoft as we drive innovation in our services and excellence in our customer experience. The use of Azure Operator Nexus and Azure Operator 5G Core to support our core network will better enable us to leverage the power of AI and automation and provide new avenues for monetization.”—Khalid Murshed, Chief Technology and Information Officer, e& UAE.

Azure for Operators

Learn how telecom operators are transforming with Azure.

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“AT&T is moving to the next phase of our cloud migration that includes deploying Microsoft’s Azure Operator Nexus platform in our network as part of the next phase of our 5G SA deployment. Continuing its leadership in cloud networking, AT&T is using cloud native DevOps tools to drive improvements such as one-touch deployment, vendor-agnostic framework, CI/CD integration, automated network testing, in-service upgrades, and advanced security and compliance management. Azure Operator Nexus’ API-driven solution helped us to significantly simplify, automate, and improve the deployment cycle time for cloud infrastructure software and configuration in our data centers.”—Yigal Elbaz, Senior Vice President, Network CTO.

Read our tech community blog to learn more about Azure Operator Nexus.

AI-enabled insights for operators

Azure Operator Insights and Copilot in Azure Operator Insights empower operators to drive efficiency, speed, and accuracy in network operations. Copilot in Azure Operator Insights, now in limited preview, represents a game-changer for network engineers. Copilot in Azure Operator Insights will empower network engineers to spend more time solving and less time diagnosing customer problems by efficiently identifying, mitigating, and resolving network issues. This service brings operator-focused gen AI-infused product enables operators to move from reactive, to proactive, and predictive network management. Network health can be continuously monitored across multiple underlying management systems, allowing for anomalous health metrics to be detected and the interaction of complex services to be more easily visualized. Network health alerts proactively inform the LLM-based prompts, accelerating the ability to mitigate using suggestions analyzed from data sources such as product manuals, support websites, user forums, and troubleshooting guides. Accumulated experiences are used to further tune the AI model using information maintained in the operator’s subscription.

Today, Azure Operator Insights and Copilot in Azure Operator Insights are delivering AI-infused insights to drive network efficiency for customers like 3UK and participating partners including Amdocs, Accenture, and ServiceNow.

Azure Operator Insights removes data silos and delivers actionable business insights by enabling the collection and analysis of massive quantities of network data gathered from complex multi-vendor network functions. Leveraging ingest and query technology designed to support Azure itself, Azure Operator Insights can analyze data streams sized at multiple petabytes per day in timeframes that cannot be achieved with conventional toolsets. Operator Insights helps operators tackle complex scenarios such as network health, performance, security, end-to-end customer experience, and operations efficiency.

Azure Operator Insights uses a modern data mesh architecture enabling complex domains to be broken into manageable sub-domains called data products that integrate massive datasets from different sources and vendors. This new capability, data product factory, enables operators, network equipment providers, and solution integrators to develop unique data products that can be published to Azure Marketplace or for individual customer use. We are excited to be working with Accenture and Amdocs as our initial collaborators with the Azure Operator Insights data product factory.

“3UK is using Azure Operator Insights to leverage the latest AI advancements through the Copilot in Azure Operator Insights product. This is an exciting development that brings together the latest in generative AI and supports our commitment to better connectivity, every day, for every customer.”—Iain Milligan, Chief Network Officer, 3UK.

Visit our tech community blog for more use cases.

Modern mobile packet core

Azure Operator 5G Core, now in public preview, is designed to meet the evolving needs of mobile network operators, offering a fully containerized carrier-grade, any-G, hybrid mobile packet core with fully integrated network functions that run on-premises or in-cloud. It is a modern architecture proven in the field at scale based on acquired packet core technology from our Affirmed Networks acquisition.

Key features since private preview include:

• Inline user plane services provide operators with efficient network resource utilization in a reduced footprint while improving overall user experience.
• APIs for repeatable and consistent automation for rapid, error-free service rollouts.
• Micro service architecture supports 2G to 5G in single deployment.
• Containerization drives high performance and efficiency.
• Integrated with cloud-based services for zero trust security, AI based automation, and advanced analytics.
• Rapid time to market with DevSecOps-based approach.

For more information about these enhancements for Azure Operator 5G Core, visit our tech community blog.

Security and compliance for telecom workloads

We are committed to supporting our customers’ security and compliance obligations. In deepening our commitment, we have joined the GSMA Network Equipment Security Assurance Scheme (NESAS) to help ensure the security and compliance of our products. Specific to the United Kingdom (UK), we support the UK Telecoms Security Assurance (TSA) code of practice.

“We are delighted to welcome Microsoft Azure for Operators to the Network Equipment Security Assurance Scheme (NESAS). By joining NESAS, Microsoft demonstrates its leadership to providing secure and trustworthy solutions for the telecom industry. NESAS provides a common security framework that enhances transparency and confidence in the network equipment supply chain. We look forward to working with Microsoft and other members of the scheme to advance the security and reliability of telecom networks around the world.”—Samantha Kight, Head of Industry Security, GSMA.

Monetize 5G investments and enhance customer experiences with modern connected applications

For operators, the ability to monetize a differentiated network experience requires exposing key capabilities to developers and ISVs, whose efforts accelerate the development of modern connected applications, speeding adoption, and value creation. The announcements in this section make it possible for operators to monetize AI, programmable network, and edge compute.

Announcing Azure Operator Call Protection in public preview

We are announcing a new service that uses AI to protect consumers from telephone scam calls. Azure Operator Call Protection uses real-time analysis of voice content, alerting consumers when there is suspicious in-call activity. Operator Call Protection works on any endpoint (mobile or landline) and is entirely network-derived (no app download required) making for simple monetization of the service as either a premium feature or part of a service bundle. It is built on Azure Communications Gateway, which enables connectivity between an operator voice network and Microsoft Teams and other cloud communication services. Operators participating in preview include British Telecom Group and Far EasTone.

“We’ve already implemented various measures to protect our customer base from many millions of scam calls and texts, but with fraud a growing problem in the UK, we are always looking at how we can take consumer protection to the next level. That’s why we are collaborating with Microsoft to pilot Azure Operator Call Protection and analyze how, by using advanced (AI) capabilities, we can further enhance our defenses against fraudulent activity.”—Reza Rahnama, MBE, MD Mobile Networks, BT Group.

Visit our tech community blog for more information about Azure Operator Call Protection.

Azure Programmable Connectivity (APC) is now available in public preview as an Azure service. Now fully integrated into the Azure Marketplace, APC empowers operators to commercialize their network APIs and simplifies their access for developers. APC provides seamless access to Open Gateway for developers to create cloud and edge-native applications that interact with the intelligence of the network. By providing a unified, standard interface across operator networks, developers can create cloud and edge-native applications that interact with the intelligence of networks.

We are actively collaborating with global operators integrating their network APIs to develop a strong partner ecosystem (such as AT&T, BT, Claro, Deutsche Telekom, MEO, Orange, Rogers, Singtel, Telefonica, T-Mobile, TIM Brasil, Verizon, and Vivo). We also continue working with network technology partners and API platform providers such as Ericsson to enrich our growing ecosystem.

“Verizon’s network APIs enable developers to create new experiences, ease pain points in customer interactions, and improve customer security by enabling access to Verizon network APIs through Azure’s APC, developers across the globe can benefit from Verizon’s deep knowledge of the data environment and expansive network resource.”—Srini Kalapala, Senior Vice President of Technology and Product Development, Verizon.

Learn how APC is revolutionizing the way developers interact with network API services and learn how enterprises are taking advantage of network-aware applications.

Azure private MEC enables operators to support modern connected applications with high-performance, ultra-low-latency edge solutions. Here are a few examples of how enterprises are transforming operations with 5G:

• Noble Corporation, one of the largest offshore drilling contractors in the world, is deploying Azure private MEC to provide mobility solutions for the crew while increasing efficiency. “With Tampnet’s Private Offshore Network and Azure private MEC, onsite connectivity is no longer a challenge for Noble. Connected workers, and safe and secure networks are accelerating implementation of digital initiatives for improved offshore operations.”—Juan Vesga, OTG Project Manager, Noble Corporation.
• Trinity Broadcast Networks (TBN), has installed a private 5G network deployment from our partner, Trilogy NextGen Networks, in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. “As the new home for many of TBN’s most popular news and entertainment programs, as well as ‘Dr. Phil Primetime,’ it was essential to create a facility that delivers the ultimate state-of-the-art experience. Our partnership with Trilogy NextGen helps us invigorate the world of broadcasting, as we push the boundaries of content creation to inspire, inform, and uplift audiences around the world.”—Russell Hall, Senior Vice President of Production, TBN.
• 5G PORTAL–the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, together with Microsoft and a wider consortium of partners, have created an offshore 5G equipped testbed, covering the Port of Grimsby and the  operational Lynn and Inner Dowsing Wind Farm. 

Expanding partner ecosystem for modern connected applications

Our partners are actively developing modern connected applications that run on Azure private MEC. We have onboarded more than 20 ISVs and dozens of SI and operator partners. Learn more below about some of the new partner solutions available on Azure Marketplace.

• Glartek’s Augmented & Connected Worker platform uses AR to support enterprise operations.
• Scenera’s MAIstro software as a service (SaaS) offers a comprehensive solution for orchestrating AI analytics seamlessly from edge to cloud.
• Tampnet’s offshore private networks provide secure connectivity for offshore operators and vessels.
• Taqtile Manifest® Mixed Reality Work Instruction Solution leverages mixed reality to improve operational workflows.
• T-Mobile’s 5G Advanced Network Solutions provides “right-sized” solutions for enterprises.
• Zebra Technologies Corporation’s Workcloud Communication platform enables secure and reliable communication for front-line workers.

See how ISV partners are powering AI-enabled applications.

Get started today

Microsoft and our ecosystem partners are building a truly “better together” architecture that holistically addresses the needs of network operators as they transform their networks. Looking ahead, we remain committed to being the most trusted co-innovation partner through every stage of the digital evolution, working with operators and enterprises to future-proof networks and unlock new revenue streams in a cloud- and AI-native future.

Invitation to operators, system integrators, and network managers

• Sign up now to get access to exclusive insights on how to accelerate transformation in the era of AI. 
• For CSPs interested in modernizing and monetizing their network investments, contact us today.

Invitation to enterprises, developers, and ISVs

• Whether you’re an enterprise looking to leverage our solutions, a developer eager to create network-aware applications, or an application ISV seeking to collaborate with Microsoft on MEC solutions, we invite you to take the next step. Sign up now to join us in building the future of telecommunications with Azure for Operators. 
• To learn how Microsoft is helping organizations embrace 5G with modern connected applications, sign up for news and updates delivered to your inbox.

The post Modernizing and monetizing telecom networks with AI-powered Azure for Operators appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs.

I am excited to return to Mobile World Congress (MWC), February 26 to February 29, 2024, in Barcelona. AI has become a strategic imperative for telecom companies to gain a competitive edge and thrive in the market. AI has been proven to accelerate transformation by enabling telcos to provide better customer service and experience, optimize network performance and reliability, enhance security, and innovate new products and services. We are specifically seeing how generative AI is providing a big boost to the telecommunications industry. Microsoft has a long history of partnering with telecommunications companies, and the era of AI has provided tremendous opportunities for joint innovation and collaboration.

This year, we look to inspire and enable telco transformation at the world’s largest and most influential connectivity event. Keep an eye out for compelling updates from Microsoft Azure for Operators and industry-making news from partners. We look forward to discussions around the latest use cases in the industry. 

MWC Barcelona 2024

The world's largest and most influential connectivity event

Register now

Powerful Microsoft and partner demos in the booth 

Microsoft empowers telecommunications organizations to achieve more through a trusted and secure platform supported by a comprehensive partner ecosystem. Our booth (3H30 in Hall 3) will showcase several scenarios that are critical to enabling the transformation process.

• Elevate customer experiences
  Empower service teams with data-driven insights to increase productivity and enhance care. Come see how many customers are using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to enable self-service, expedite issue resolution, and deliver frictionless customer experiences at scale. Learn about end-to-end customer care powered by AI and see various industry use cases from customers: Telkomsel, Vodafone, MTN, and NTT (other solutions to be announced).
  
  Amdocs, in partnership with Microsoft, launched a unified Customer Engagement Platform leveraging the power of generative AI. Integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365, it is an all-encompassing, AI-powered marketing, sales, commerce, and customer service platform serving consumer and enterprise customers on a single, open, telco, and cloud-native platform.
• Streamline business operations
  Use cloud-native apps, smart processes, and automation to streamline workflows, improve operations, and connect your business. Work and collaborate securely with anyone, anywhere, anytime, using intelligent tools. Witness Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 in action along with exciting new demos from Microsoft Mesh and Teams Phone Mobile. Visit TM Forum in our booth and learn how AI has boosted developer productivity. Experience how GitHub Copilot simplifies the creation and consumption of TM Forum Open APIs by generating the required code that complies to the API guidelines in the development language of your choice.
• Modernize the network
  Run modern networks and carrier-grade workloads on a trusted, hybrid cloud platform purpose-built for operators to optimize existing investments and improve network efficiency, scalability, and reliability. Transform your service management experience into a modern cloud service and remove data silos and deliver business insights from your massive datasets. Witness our end-to-end security solutions leveraging Microsoft Security Copilot and Nokia’s NetGuard Cybersecurity Dome.
• Monetize 5G and beyond
  Drive today’s new revenue streams and tomorrow’s growth by exposing operators’ innovation to consumers, enterprises, and developers in the Microsoft Cloud, spanning 5G to space and beyond.
  
  See new Azure for Operators demonstrations of solutions for the enterprise edge along with Etisalat and Pegatron 5G. 

Microsoft and industry experience in the sessions 

Take advantage of the opportunity to hear from Microsoft executives and industry experts on stage in the following sessions:  

• Keynote 1: Open Gateway—The Art of What’s Possible: Monday, February 26, 2024, from 09:30 AM CET to 10:45 AM CET in Hall 4, MWC Main Stage. Featuring: Jason Zander, Executive Vice President of Strategic Missions and Technologies, Microsoft.
• Azure for Operators portfolio announcements: Monday, February 26, 2024, from 11:00 AM CET to 11:45 AM CET in Hall 6, Stage A. Featuring: Yousef Khalidi, Corporate Vice President, Azure for Operators, Microsoft, Customers and Partners.  Register today, seats are limited.  
• Women in Telecommunications and Technology Networking Event: Monday, February 26, 2024, from 12:30 PM CET to 2:30 PM CET in Hall 6, Networking Hub.
• Humanising AI: Monday, February 26, 2024 at 2:00 PM CET in Hall 5, Stand 5F81 (Tecnotree).
• Manufacturing DX Theme Opening Session: Monday, February 26, 2024, from 4:30 PM CET to 5:25 PM CET in Hall 6, MWC Stage A. Featuring: Kathleen Mitford, Corporate Vice President, Global Industry Marketing, Microsoft. 
• Keynote 5: New Strategies for a New Era: Monday, February 26, 2024, from 5:30 PM CET to 6:15 PM CET in Hall 4, MWC Main Stage. Featuring: Brad Smith, Vice Chairman and President, Microsoft.  
• Go Cloud or Go Home!: Tuesday, February 27, 2024, from 11:00 AM CET to 11:45 AM CET in Hall 6, MWC Stage B. Featuring Shawn Hakl, Vice President of 5G Strategy, Microsoft.
• Beyond 5G Connected Everything: February 27, 2024 at 12:00 PM CET in Hall 5, Stand 5F81 (Tecnotree).
• 5G Futures Summit—The Evolution of the 5G Era: February 28, 2024, from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM CET in Hall 6, Stage C.
• Can AI Take Off Without 6G?: Thursday, February 29, 2024, from 11:00 AM CET to 11:30 AM CET in Hall 6, MWC Debate Stage. Featuring Jason Hogg, General Manager, Azure for Operators, Microsoft.  

Check back for more sessions to be announced.

Our commitment to industry 

Microsoft empowers telecommunications organizations to achieve more through a trusted and secure platform built to elevate customer experiences, streamline business operations, accelerate network transformation, reinvent product innovation and monetization, and build a secure data-driven business. Stay tuned for exciting announcements at MWC Barcelona 2024.

Our commitment to the telecommunications industry extends beyond MWC Barcelona 2024. More information can be found on the Microsoft for telecommunications website.  

The post MWC Barcelona 2024: Accelerating telco transformation in the era of AI appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs.

Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service

Transform your organization with AI-driven solutions

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The big impact of generative AI

Discussions about the potential of generative AI on the telco industry are everywhere. “IDC is projecting that generative AI will add nearly USD10 trillion to global GDP over the next 10 years.”¹ Other analysts are projecting telco productivity increases in the billions for customer service, marketing, sales, app development, network insights, and operations. At Microsoft, we’ve already seen the benefits of generative AI across the company. The Microsoft global customer support team streamlined operational efficiency while delivering exceptional customer satisfaction with Copilot in Dynamics 365 Customer Service. There was a 31% increase in first call resolution and a 12% increase in customer satisfaction. Learn more about modernizing your customer service experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service. The Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions organization used Microsoft Copilot for Sales to simplify workflows and help its sellers more efficiently build relationships with clients.

What does generative AI do for telco?

Generative AI empowers telco to work with vast amounts of data, identify patterns, and generate novel solutions, promising to transform traditional practices and foster industry-wide innovations. By embracing generative AI, telco companies can overcome challenges, unlock new revenue streams, improve operational efficiency, and deliver exceptional customer experiences. It’s a key ingredient in accelerating the transformation from telco to techco. And with so many potential applications for generative AI, it’s important to identify what has worked so far. To provide some inspiration, here are a few success stories that show us generative AI’s potential to transform the industry and drive substantial value.

Elevating customer experiences

Indonesian telco company Telkomsel introduced Veronika—a virtual assistant that integrates Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service. Veronika is rooted in natural language processing and machine learning, and according to Vice President of Customer Journey and Digital Experience at Telkomsel, Danang Andrainto, “Veronika continues to innovate by integrating the best AI technology to infuse intelligence into its functions, resulting in the delivery of solutions that are progressively more accurate.” Veronika recommends telco packages based on customers’ needs, and it can quickly and accurately address customer concerns. Here’s more of the story of Veronika and how generative AI is making it better.

And Veronika isn’t the only one. Bots are becoming more popular and effective in providing a digital-first customer experience. They can handle complex queries, improve customer engagement, and reduce operational costs. They can reduce the average handling time and save millions of dollars per month. These bots can help customers with various tasks, such as checking balances, paying bills, troubleshooting issues, and finding the best deals. They can build personalized scripts for next-best offers based on real-time data and insights. They can enhance end-to-end call center engagements from customer inquiry summarization, providing real-time information to resolve questions for sales agents, to analyze live sentiment, and to suggest personalized scripts for next-best offers; and they can create post-call analyses on agent performances. They can also create customer-sentiment analysis to help monitor and improve customer experiences across multiple touchpoints. Bots are transforming customer care strategies for many businesses around the world.

Bots are helping employees too. South African telco group MTN launched SiYa—an employee bot that can assist workers with inquiries, information on company policies, and employee-to-company interactions. And ultimately, MTN hopes SiYa can help customers with purchases, advice, and service. “By harnessing the power of AI and APIs, we are not only future-proofing our operations but ensuring that our customers, both internal and external, can look forward to a more streamlined, efficient, and data-driven experience,” MTN South Africa CEO Charles Molapisi says.

Aimee is BT Group’s new digital assistant. Kevin Lee, Chief Digital Officer for Consumer Division of BT Group, says, “Our pilots with generative AI with Microsoft are designed to see if we can more rapidly make Aimee the most personal, customer-focused, intelligent digital assistant delivering value through every interaction.” But Lee says he doesn’t want Aimee to replace human-to-human interactions; he wants Aimee to help customers meet their needs more efficiently and accurately. Aimee is meant to be a support, and her role is unlimited.

Accelerate network operation

If we look to the technical side of things, generative AI can improve network operations for operators too. Three UK leveraged Azure Operator Insights by creating and optimizing network configurations, policies, and parameters based on the data collected from the network performance, traffic, and user behavior. Generative AI can learn from the existing network settings and generate new ones that can enhance the network’s efficiency, reliability, and security. For example, generative AI could help design and deploy optimal network slices for different use cases and customers or adjust the network parameters to cope with changing demand and conditions. Generative AI can also help to automate network management tasks like fault detection, diagnosis, and resolution by generating and executing appropriate actions based on the network state and the desired outcomes. It can use natural language processing and generation to enable more human-like interactions between network operators and the network systems, using voice commands to control the network functions or receiving natural language explanations of the network status and its issues. Generative AI applications for network operation include:

• Generative AI can be used to optimize Radio Access Network Configuration Optimization parameters based on the network performance data and the operators.
• Generative AI can generate and execute network policies, configurations, and actions based on the network data and the operator’s goals.

Organizations can be more efficient

Generative AI can help make knowledge management more efficient with the ability to increase the productivity of HR, finance, legal, and customer service departments. By using bots, organizations can provide faster and more accurate answers to their employees and customers. For example, Finland’s largest telco and tech company, Elisa, has used Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365, which helps knowledge workers with various tasks, such as finding documents, scheduling meetings, and creating reports. Katja Bäckström, Elisa’s Senior Vice President, Customer Service and Customer Service with Copilot, says, “With Copilot, traditional data entry is eliminated, and customer data can be accessed directly from customer discussions. Copilot can easily be asked about the latest actions with the customer and a proposal for creating the next agenda. In the end, Copilot improves both the employee experience and the customer experience.”

Multinational tech and telco company Lumen uses Copilot. Lumen’s customer service teams surface relevant policies with Copilot, they summarize tickets, and they easily find repair instructions from manuals. They can quickly create presentations, new business proposals, and statements of work. “Our people are seeing immediate productivity improvements with Copilot, allowing them to focus on more value-added activities each day,” Kate Johnson, president and CEO of Lumen Technologies, Inc. says.

Marketing and sales benefit from generative AI

But can generative AI help your marketing and sales departments?

Generative AI can help create appealing and customized content for different audiences and channels, such as blog posts, social media posts, landing pages, email campaigns, and more. For example, a telco operator could use generative AI to create titles, summaries, keywords, or captions for their online content based on the target audience’s interests and actions. 

Generative AI can also help classify and segment customers based on their attributes, desires, preferences, and actions, using data from various sources, like web analytics, customer relationship management platforms, or social media. A telco operator could use generative AI to group their customers into different profiles, for example, such as the innovators, the loyalists, and the value seekers. They could then adjust their messages and offers accordingly. 

Generative AI can help recommend appropriate and personalized products or services to customers based on factors such as their previous purchases, web history, and feedback. For example, a telco operator could use generative AI to suggest the best bundle, plan, or add-on for each customer, based on their budget, needs, and usage patterns. 

Generative AI can help create interested and qualified leads for the sales team by finding and contacting potential customers who match the ideal customer profile, using data from various sources like third-party databases, social media, or web analytics. For example, a telco operator could use generative AI to create leads for their business solutions by identifying and reaching out to prospects who are searching for similar services, have high intent, and meet the criteria of decision makers.

Amdocs, in partnership with Microsoft, launched a unified Customer Engagement Platform, leveraging the power of generative AI. Integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365, it is an all-encompassing AI-powered marketing, sales, commerce, and customer service platform serving consumer and enterprise customers on a single, open, telco, and cloud-native platform.

Developer productivity

With GitHub Copilot for Business, 46% of new code is now written by AI, and developer productivity has increased by over 55%. AT&T uses Azure OpenAI Service in a few ways. It moves legacy code into modern code using generative AI, which helps the developers focus on creating modern tools and experiences for workers and customers. AT&T employees can ask generative AI questions about their insurance plans or getting hardware for a new employee. And AI helps with storage problems or computer issues company wide. Read more about AT&T’s developers and generative AI.

GitHub Copilot simplifies the creation and consumption of TM Forum Open APIs by generating the required code that complies to the API guidelines in the development language of your choice.

Accelerate your own generative AI journey with Microsoft

Partner with Azure OpenAI Service to transform your telco organization with AI-driven solutions for enhanced operations, innovative services, and exceptional customer experiences. The service offers many opportunities to explore AI-driven solutions for your organization. We hope to see you at Mobile World Congress 2024 as well. We’ll be there talking about how AI is accelerating the telco industry’s transformation.

About the study
The IDC study, commissioned by Microsoft, is based on results from 2,109 enterprise organizations totaling more than 13 million employees worldwide across 16 countries globally. Through the questionnaire, respondents were identified as the decision maker for AI within their organization.   

¹Official Microsoft Blog, New study validates the business value and opportunity of AI, November 2023. 

The post Generative AI provides a big boost to the telecommunications industry appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs.

The Microsoft Industry Clouds deliver the most comprehensive development platform, tools, and solutions to enable our customers and partners to take advantage of AI, driving high-value scenarios for their businesses. Over the last six months, we have delivered Microsoft Copilot across GitHub, Azure Security, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Power Platform, and Microsoft 365 for each business role in an organization that people can use today. At Microsoft Ignite 2023, from November 15 to 16, 2023, you’ll hear from many of our partners who are building copilots and other solutions on Azure AI to drive innovation across industries and help our customers achieve more.

Our global partner ecosystem plays an invaluable role in bringing this AI potential to life for our customers. Independent software vendors and system integrator partners bring deep domain expertise to build unique, industry-specific AI solutions on the Microsoft Cloud that add tremendous value to customers, while meeting the security, compliance, and regulatory needs of each industry.

Here is a small sample of the hundreds of partners accelerating innovation with AI in financial services, healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, retail, sustainability, public sector, education, telecommunications (telco), nonprofit, energy, and line of business partners.

Financial services

LSEG’s (London Stock Exchange Group) leading financial markets data intelligence and analytics ecosystem is being integrated with Microsoft Fabric, enabling customers to discover and analyze trusted data faster than ever before to create differentiated insights. This ecosystem will offer a joined-up data experience for customers through seamless interoperability with LSEG Workspace, simplifying and automating workflows enabled by Copilot and Python-based analytics within Microsoft Teams and Excel.

At Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft is showcasing Meeting Prep for financial services, an example of the kind of work we are doing with partners such as LSEG to create value from their data using large language models and generative AI. This solution will automatically generate meeting preparation summaries combining insights from LSEG’s financial data with news, documents, emails, chats, and other relevant content from Microsoft Graph in Microsoft 365. 

Video 1. Meeting Prep for financial services: Application Concept for Microsoft Teams.

Healthcare

Teladoc Health is offering improved care management leveraging the Azure data platform and building a copilot on Microsoft Teams with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service. Teladoc is using Azure OpenAI to personalize the “recommended for you” section of its Chronic Care Management weekly newsletter for three specific segments based on acuity and activity. This is to increase the engagement of the program and improve member health outcomes. They are exploring the option of a co-pilot for member engagement through counselors.

Epic and Microsoft have an ongoing strategic collaboration to develop and integrate generative AI into healthcare that can enhance patient care, increase clinician efficiency, and improve the financial integrity of health systems globally. DAX Copilot and Azure OpenAI integrations address many current issues affecting clinicians, including drafting message responses automatically, enabling natural language queries and interactive data analysis, producing clinical summarization, and providing ambient clinical documentation.   

Embedding DAX Copilot directly into existing Epic workflows can reduce the cognitive burden on clinicians, helping them focus on the patient as summarization notes are drafted for them through ambient listening. There are more than 50 Epic customers and thousands of clinicians signed up to use DAX Copilot in their workflows, and this integration will be widely available for increased adoption early next year. 

By using Azure OpenAI, Epic can also deliver generative AI exploration for users through Epic SlicerDicer to fill gaps in clinical evidence using real-world data and to study rare disease and more. Revenue cycle management is another area where generative AI will drive meaningful improved efficiency, providing coding staff with suggestions based on clinical documentation in Epic’s electronic health record (EHR) software. Additionally, Epic is working to aid campaign generation by incorporating generative AI into the Epic Cheers application. This will assist organizations on producing outreach programs to create a personalized experience for patients, nurture current relationships, and reach a wider patient population in a more efficient manner.  

Agriculture

Bayer’s vision, “Health for All, Hunger for None,” drives its commitment to using cutting-edge technologies that can bring new value to customers. In its early stages, Bayer is presenting an agriculture copilot and testing multiple scenarios with internal teams to discover where large language model capabilities can add value through the ability to interact with agronomic data using natural language. These capabilities are powered by Microsoft’s generative AI and Microsoft Azure Data Manager for Agriculture.

Video 2. Bayer leverages Azure Data Manager for Agriculture large language model APIs to bring actionable insights to farm data.

Learn about the latest updates to Azure Data Manager for Agriculture and how Microsoft is expanding support for Bayer’s Climate FieldView as a built-in data source, providing users with tools to leverage autosync planting, application, and harvest activity files from FieldView accounts.

Manufacturing

Siemens introduced Industrial Copilot, an AI-powered assistant that will enable users to rapidly generate, optimize, and debug complex automation code, and significantly shorten simulation times. Siemens is putting the power of product lifecycle management software into the palm of every employee’s hand with the release later this year of the Teamcenter application for Microsoft Teams. With this application, problem reports can be created in Teamcenter using a smartphone to take pictures and interpret spoken descriptions. That helps to close feedback loops and solve problems faster, all without sacrificing quality or reliability.

Sight Machine has introduced Factory CoPilot, that integrates Sight Machine’s Manufacturing Data Platform with Azure OpenAI. Using a natural language user interface similar to ChatGPT, Factory CoPilot offers an intuitive, “ask the expert” experience for all manufacturing stakeholders, regardless of data proficiency. In response to a single question, Factory CoPilot can automatically summarize all relevant data and information about production in real-time (such as for daily meetings) and generate user-friendly reports, emails, charts, and other content (in any language) about the performance of any machine, line, or plant across the manufacturing enterprise, based on contextualized data in the Sight Machine platform.

Retail

Sitecore OrderCloud powers custom ecommerce experiences and order management for some of the world’s most well-known brands. Sitecore OrderCloud is redefining the data hosting and online shopping experience by structuring their solution on the Microsoft platform. The Sitecore solution enables faster time to market with enhanced solutions layers providing ready-to-access capabilities utilizing Azure OpenAI.

AiFi, the largest provider of autonomous shopping solutions, is built on Microsoft Cloud technologies and works seamlessly with Microsoft Cloud for Retail. Their solution is enabling retailers like Żabka Group and Choice Market, among others, to offer consumers an autonomous shopping experience with frictionless check-out. The companion Microsoft smart store analytics app is helping retailers gain detailed insights into customer behavior and patterns, allowing them to be more informed and data-driven about store operations and merchandizing decisions. Together, AiFi and Microsoft, through AI technology deployed at the edge and cloud respectively, are helping retailers bridge the gap with ecommerce when it comes to a frictionless shopping experience and optimizing it using actionable analytics.

Video 3. Choice Market illustrates the next wave of convenience using smart store analytics.

Sustainability

Ekimetrics has developed a solution based on Azure OpenAI to automate the data collection process and enhance supplier experience. Typically, enterprises are requiring their supplier to complete lengthy questionnaires to capture environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data. Due to the high administrative efforts, they are struggling to get these completed and thus the ability to reduce ESG impact. The solution from Ekimetrics automates the creation of a supplier-relevant questionnaire and the extraction of the relevant answers from common documents. The output is a summary of suppliers’ response and prefill of a regulatory report, including comparisons with previous years.

Video 4. Ekimetrics’ future solution for accurate sustainability data collection is more efficient for companies.

Public sector

Axon is a technology leader in global public safety with a mission to protect life, preserve the truth, and accelerate justice. Since 2017, Axon has been pioneering the design and development of generative AI technology into their products built on top of Microsoft Cloud infrastructure. A few of Axon’s AI innovations include Redaction Assistant, which automates the process of sharing video footage while safeguarding privacy, and Auto-Transcribe, which extracts the audio from body camera to accelerate the process of report writing and evidence search. Axon has also introduced Automated License Plate Recognition in their Fleet3 in-car camera systems, ensuring swift and accurate detection. These initiatives are geared towards streamlining and enhancing the efficiency of public safety operations, allowing responders to focus on the primary task at hand. They persist in advancing their innovation pipeline by developing new AI-enabled applications that not only save time for their customers but also uphold the principles of ethics and fairness.

Education

PowerSchool is using Azure OpenAI to inform and deliver personalized learning pathways for individual students based on their learning goals within a secure platform. Educators are able to quickly create assessment items and formative assessments aligned to a desired grade level, subject, and learning objective or standard. They can then use intuitive reporting to track student progress thanks to the results of these standards-aligned assessment items created by generative AI.

Anthology is empowering instructors to spend more time with students and less time managing content with the AI Design Assistant in their flagship learning management system, Blackboard Learn. They’ve leveraged Azure OpenAI to streamline the course building process and give instructors a head start on creating engaging courses with recommended titles and descriptions, rubrics, questions, and images.

Telecommunications

Amdocs has launched its amAIz Platform to enable communication service providers to accelerate their journey into the generative AI era. Using amAIz, cloud solution providers can benefit from a growing set of out-of-the-box generative AI use cases integrated across different Amdocs applications such as Billing, Catalog, and CPQ (configure, price, quote) to save costs and streamline operations, as well as develop their own use cases on top of the platform. Aligned with the Amdocs and Microsoft collaboration, amAIz provides telco verticalization of the Microsoft capabilities in the Customer Engagement Platform, advancing generative AI use cases across the industry.

Nokia is transforming network security operations by leveraging AI to analyze large volumes of data in real-time to recognize subtle patterns and anomalies that are often missed, improving accuracy, and speeding up detection. Nokia’s flexible software as a service-based, telco-centric extended detection and response solution, NetGuard Cybersecurity Dome, uses AI and machine learning algorithms to analyze and identify potential security threats, enabling real-time detection and response.

Nonprofit

threshold.world has created b.world, the world’s first AI-powered impact measurement and storytelling app for nonprofit and social impact program teams. By unifying program design, impact measurement, project management, and digital storytelling in a single, easy-to-use app, b.world increases capacity to engage communities and drive stakeholders to action. It is based on industry best practice program design and impact measurement, and provides a common data model for nonprofit program operations at scale. See it in action by signing up for a free trial at b.world.

Submittable, powered by Microsoft Azure and Azure OpenAI, will release a new-to-market set of tools to further the mission of AI for good and improve the application process for grant givers and seekers. These tools include: an AI-powered service that will autofill grant applications based on an applicant’s own prior answers, saving valuable time to focus on critical work; an AI bot that can both create grant application forms and translate them into multiple languages, ensuring best practice adherence for funders while also extending opportunities across language barriers; and an AI-supported tool that extracts information from official documents into Submittable, creating a simpler experience for applicants and reviewers as well as reducing the potential for human error and fraud.

Energy

KADME has enabled a turnkey large language model workflow for ingesting and extracting insights from domain-specific energy documents. With Fabriq, the large language model orchestration platform, domain experts in upstream energy operations can ask domain-specific questions and retrieve multilingual tailored responses powered by these insights. Links to trusted source documents are provided with each response, with support for private repositories such as SharePoint or Microsoft Azure Data Manager for Energy.  

Line of business partners

In addition to industry solutions, our partners are also building line of business solutions leveraging AI to transform horizontal business processes to further support vertical solutions.

Seismic is the launch partner with Microsoft Sales Copilot and provides content recommendations, collaboration, task automation, and engagement intelligence for Microsoft Sales Copilot users across the meeting experience to help drive deals and relationships forward and making sellers more productive. As the first step in this journey, Seismic for Microsoft Sales Copilot will add AI-powered recommendations and summaries for virtual meetings, the key vehicle for modern sales teams to engage with prospects and customers.

Icertis is leveraging advanced Azure capabilities, including Azure OpenAI, to transform contracts into structured data that companies can analyze and leverage at scale. For example, the newly released Icertis Contract Intelligence Copilots allow companies to harness the power of generative AI to conversationally query contract language about risks and opportunities hidden in commercial agreements. The copilots offer users pre-defined prompts, which can be tailored to a company and its industry, to quickly surface insights relevant to their vertical.

ServiceNow recently introduced the Generative AI Controller that allows organizations to easily connect ServiceNow to Azure OpenAI. It includes built‑in actions so customers can quickly and easily integrate popular generative AI capabilities—like answering questions, summarizing content, and content generation—into custom apps and workflows. 

Typeface.ai has launched a new Typeface app for Microsoft Teams that uses the powerful combination of Microsoft Azure Machine Learning, Azure OpenAI, and Typeface’s brand-personalized AI to create content significantly faster than ever before. This enables companies to scale marketing efforts and produce a range of assets such as creative briefs, email campaigns, multimedia online ads, and more.

The investment continues at Microsoft Ignite

These examples highlight how partners are building copilots and developing custom solutions with Azure AI for every industry.

These solutions also showcase how the key AI patterns like natural language Q&A, summarization, and search are driving this unique moment of transformation for our customers, enabling them to improve employee productivity, enhance customer experience, and increase operational efficiency. You can learn more about these partner solutions and others at Azure Marketplace and Microsoft AppSource.

We’re excited to have you join us at Microsoft Ignite 2023 from November 15 to 16, 2023. Here are some key sessions that will give you an even deeper view into the innovations we are delivering with our partners and the latest updates to our Industry Cloud solutions.

Breakout sessions

• The AI-era of Industrial Transformation, Wednesday, November 15, 2023, 2:45 PM—3:30 PM PT

Learn how organizations are investing to optimize operations by extracting insights from information technology, operational technology, and engineering technology data with cloud-to-edge technologies, democratizing data access for better decision-making with copilots, and empowering frontline workers with enhanced mixed reality applications.

• Get ready for ESG Regulation with Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, Wednesday, November 15, 2023, 5:15 PM—6:00 PM PT

Learn how expanded functionality in Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, including AI, water, and waste data capabilities, can help address new and emerging reporting regulations like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive—enabling organizations to provide transparency into their ESG sustainability progress.

• Enabling Sovereignty with Microsoft Azure, Friday, November 17, 2023, 9:00 AM—9:45 AM PT

Learn how Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty can help customers meet their digital sovereignty and compliance requirements and still gain the benefits of the public cloud.

On demand sessions

• The future of financial services in the era of AI
• Empowering retail in the era of AI
• The future of data and AI across the entire healthcare journey
• Empowering impact with Cloud for Nonprofit and AI

There’s a lot to take in at Microsoft Ignite 2023! Be sure to also check out the on-demand discussion sessions or go to Microsoft Industry Clouds to learn more.

The post How AI helps Microsoft partners innovate across industries appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs.

Microsoft Azure for operators is enabling the modernization and monetization of network infrastructure with hybrid cloud solutions that support a new era of modern connection applications through programmable, open networks and apply AI and machine learning to automate operations, increase business efficiencies, and elevate customer experiences.

Three transformative technologies

We are now standing at the intersection of three transformative technologies, each bearing the potential to reshape our professional and personal landscapes: AI, the intersection of cloud and the network, and modern connected applications. When combined, they present unparalleled opportunities for progress—for operators and enterprises alike. 

With a combination of in-house expertise, extensive industry partnerships, and a commitment to collaboration—not competition—Microsoft is recognized as a company that can help telecom operators navigate these new opportunities.  

Generative AI is poised to dramatically reduce costs and power innovation. From simplifying the interface to rules-based configuration and analysis tools, while providing complete closed-loop orchestration and automation through a natural language interface, all with the appropriate guardrails in place. Microsoft’s powerful generative AI models are already being safely and securely employed across all industries—including network operators who are improving both the quality of their networks (QoS) and their customers’ experience (QoE). Our Microsoft Azure Operator Insights and Microsoft Azure Operator Service Manager solutions are driving this next wave of AI-enabled operations. These hybrid services are AI-enabling existing operator networks as well as the Microsoft services purpose-built for operators, such as Microsoft Azure Operator Nexus, Microsoft Azure Voice Communications Gateway, and Microsoft Azure Operator 5G Core. Learn how Three UK is unlocking actionable intelligence with Azure Operator Insights.

By bringing together the power of the cloud with software-defined networking, operators have the opportunity to create differentiated network offerings and build new services more rapidly at attractive price points. Azure Operator Nexus is a carrier-grade, hybrid cloud, deployed at the operator’s edge, regional or centralized locations, running network workloads and leveraging Microsoft’s unparalleled experience in architecting and operating secure and scalable compute environments. Azure Operator Nexus delivers a hybrid cloud solution that not only simplifies the edge-to-core deployment of modern communications services but can accelerate monetization opportunities for operators through innovative applications. Together with Microsoft’s innovations in Programmable RAN, Azure Operator Nexus, Azure Operator 5G Core, and partner network functions provide the foundation for economical, scalable, and agile 5G deployments. These offerings provide a platform from which low-power Internet of Things (IoT), fixed wireless access, mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), mobile virtual network enablers (MVNEs), and augmented satellite access services can all be realized. Furthermore, our commitment to the Linux Foundation’s CAMARA and GSMA’s Open Gateway projects, are demonstrated through the Microsoft Azure Programmable Connectivity initiative, bringing developers and operators together to create new revenue opportunities from modern network infrastructure.

Combining the power of a highly distributed computing fabric with an AI-powered network creates the foundation for modern connected applications. For enterprise customers, our Microsoft Azure Private 5G Core and Microsoft Azure private multi-access edge compute (MEC) solutions deliver 4G, LTE, 5G, and Wi-Fi-enabled private wireless network solutions and a broad range of modern connected applications that can bring the power of ubiquitous computing, AI, and machine learning in the real world and next generation communications experiences to target specific use cases across industries.

Learn from Microsoft and industry experts at MWC Las Vegas 2023

The Microsoft Azure for operators team will be presenting in multiple conference sessions at this year’s event. Our subject matter experts will be sharing thought leadership and real-world experiences in the 5G Acceleration and Age of AI tracks, Private Wireless and 5G Futures summits, and the Open Gateway DevCon event. Join us to learn how modern communication networks and technologies are redefining how the world connects, the ways in which AI will power the next wave of innovation, enterprises will transform operations through modern connection applications, and APIs coupled with a highly programmable network will help create new operator value through the broader developer community. 

Please join our Microsoft speakers at the following sessions (including keynotes and panels):

• How Will AI Power the Next Wave of 5G Innovation? Age of AI Track: Tuesday, September 26, 2023, 1:30 to 2:30 PM PDT. Featuring Jason Hogg, General Manager, Microsoft Azure for Operators (AI Ops).

• 5G: Adding Value Beyond Connectivity with Open Gateway. 5G Futures Summit: Tuesday, September 26, 2023, 2:40 to 3:20 PM PDT. Featuring Ross Ortega, Vice President, Microsoft Azure for Operators (Hybrid Cloud).

• 5G: Redefining How the World Connects. 5G Acceleration Track: Tuesday, September 26, 2023, 3:00 to 4:00 PM PDT. Featuring Shawn Hakl, Vice President, 5G Strategy, and Deepak Garg, General Manager (Mobile Core), Microsoft Azure for Operators.

• Early Enterprise Adopters (for private wireless). Private Wireless Summit: Wednesday, September 27, 2023, 10:00 to 10:30 AM PDT. Featuring Doug Benson, Principal Program Manager, Microsoft Azure for Operators (Azure private MEC).

• The Business Value of Automation, Robotics and Connected Objects in Motion. Private Wireless Summit: Wednesday, September 27, 2023, 11:00 to 11:30 AM PDT. Featuring Doug Benson, Principal Program Manager, (Microsoft Azure Private MEC).

• Harnessing the potential of network APIs for transformation and growth. Harnessing the potential of network APIs for transformation and growth: Wednesday, September 27, 2023, 11:40 AM to 12:30 PM PDT. Featuring Ricardo Villarreal, Principal Product Manager, Microsoft Azure for Operators (Azure Programmable Connectivity).

• Telco solutions that help developers create new services. Telco solutions that help developers create new services: Wednesday, September 27, 2023, 11:20 AM to 11:40 AM PDT. Featuring Ross Ortega, Vice President, Microsoft Azure for Operators (Hybrid Cloud).

• “How to” Workshop – Azure Programmable Connectivity Early Access Program. Open Gateway DevCon: Wednesday, September 27, 2023, 1:45 to 2:45 PM PDT. Featuring Ricardo Villarreal, Principal Product Manager, Microsoft Azure for Operators (Azure Programmable Connectivity).

Meet with us at MWC 2023

We look forward to joining you at MWC Las Vegas 2023, and on the transformative journeys that lie ahead.

• If you are an operator looking to modernize or monetize your network infrastructure or an enterprise interested in enabling modern connected applications, we’d like to meet with you. Please complete this form and we’ll respond with our availability.
• Learn more about Azure for operators—Telecom Solutions.
• Lower TCO and increase operational efficiency with Azure Operator Nexus.

MWC Las Vegas 2023

Taking place from September 26 to 28, 2023.

Register now

The post Microsoft at MWC Las Vegas 2023: Empowering telecom operators and enterprises with the power of AI appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs.

Microsoft empowers telecommunications organizations to achieve more through a trusted and secure platform supported by a comprehensive partner ecosystem. At this event, we will look to demonstrate how Microsoft is the partner to help telcos leverage the power of AI and untap business-to-business (B2B) opportunities.

I am excited to attend TM Forum’s Digital Transformation World (DTW23) in Copenhagen from September 19 to 21, 2023, which is a global event for telecommunication leaders looking to define the building blocks of new operating models. Microsoft joined TM Forum over two decades ago, committed to innovation in the industry. Microsoft and our expansive partner ecosystem enable telecommunication organizations to transform into the techco of the future.

Unlock the potential of AI in telco

The time has come for telcos to seize this unique opportunity and harness the power of generative AI (GenAI) to remain competitive and stay ahead of the game. AI can be the game-changer for the telecom industry, and there are many ways to harness its power and potential. These past few months have put a spotlight on advancements in generative AI, and the possibilities of its application to deliver pragmatic business outcomes. This presents an incredible opportunity to enhance products and services while unlocking innovation and business value to help shape the future of the industry. The pace and scale of technological innovation happening today is unprecedented and breathes optimism into a demanding economy.

AI helps telcos to transform their customer service, using chatbots and voice assistants that can provide instant, personalized, and engaging support. AI assists telcos in refining their networks by leveraging predictive analytics and automation, which boosts performance, minimizes interruptions, and conserves energy. AI aids telcos in tailoring their marketing strategies through data-informed suggestions, fostering greater customer loyalty and retention. These are just some of the examples of how AI can help telcos to thrive in the digital era.

Telcos have a unique opportunity to leverage AI to stay ahead of the curve and gain a competitive edge. By investing in AI and adopting best practices, telcos can future-proof their operations and remain relevant in the years to come. As AI continues to evolve and advance, we can expect to see more amazing and disruptive developments in the telecom industry.

Learn from Microsoft and industry experts

We will be participating in several sessions where we will be discussing key industry trend—including GenAI—and how we have helped communications service providers (CSPs) on their digital transformation journey. We are excited to also share the stage with Amdocs on how we are reimagining customer engagement. Amdocs is empowering service providers to improve end-user experiences across all channels and applications with its Customer Engagement Platform that combines best-in-class cloud, AI, and telco technologies.

• Becoming a techco: are we there yet? From Telco to Techco: Transforming the Buzzwords into a Reality. Tuesday, September 19, 2023, from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM CEST. Featuring Jon James, Chief Executive Officer Nuuday, and Francesco Venturini, Corporate Vice President WW Telecommunication and Media, Microsoft.
• Becoming cloud native for growth and flexibility. Tuesday, September 19, 2023, from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM CST. Featuring Luna Cassani, Technology Strategist and Account Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft.
• Catalyst Session: Connecting with confidence: Embracing the potential of next-gen connectivity. Tuesday, September 19, 2023, from 2:00 PM to 3:57 PM CST. Featuring Sanjay Prasad, Global Telco Technical Consulting Leader, Microsoft.
• The Rise of AI: What it means for today and tomorrow. Tuesday, September 19, 2023, from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM CEST. Featuring Rick Lievano, Chief Information Officer WW Telecommunications, Microsoft.
• Opening Headliners. Wednesday, September 20, 2023, from 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM CEST. Featuring Silvia Candiani, Vice President WW Telecommunications, Microsoft, and Assif Sarat, General Manager, Amdocs.
• Global Architecture Forum. Wednesday, September 20, 2023 from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM CEST. Panel participation by Microsoft discussing “Conformance validation of ODA components and canvas.”
• Open Digital Architecture (ODA) on Microsoft Azure. Tuesday, September 20, 2023, from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM CEST. Featuring Jayant Mishra, Senior Industry Digital Strategist, Microsoft.
• AI in Action. AI Driven Telco: Unleashing Generative AI Across Your Business. Wednesday, September 20, 2023, from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM CEST. Featuring Lester Thomas, Head of New Technologies and Innovation, Vodafone, and Iain Thornhill, Telco Industry Advisor, Microsoft.
• Enabling the AI powered telco: Simplifying network operations to deliver world-class customer experiences with Azure and AI. Wednesday, September 20, 2023, from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM CEST. Featuring Iain Mulligan, Chief Network Officer, 3UK, and Paul Brittain, Principal PDM Manager, Microsoft.
• Xchange roundtable: Telco to TechCo evolving models: Maturing through transformational changes, which TechCo model are you? Wednesday, September 20, 2023, from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM CST. Featuring Silvia Candiani, Vice President, Telecommunications, Microsoft.
• Explore the Power of Generative AI in Telecom. Wednesday, September 20, 2023, from 3:30 PM to 3:50 PM CEST. Featuring Rick Lievano, Chief Technology Officer, WW Telecommunications, Microsoft, and Paul Brittain, Principal PDM Manager, Microsoft.
• Bring the power of AI to your customer. Wednesday, September 20, 2023, from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM CEST. Featuring Luca Cassani, Telecommunications Account Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft.

And more sessions to be announced.

Microsoft will be exhibiting generative AI innovations in the TM Forum zone in Hall C3.

Check out our TM Forum Catalyst projects

TM Forum Catalysts are rapid-fire proof-of-concept projects developed collaboratively by TM Forum members to solve common industry challenges, validated by communications service providers and industry stakeholders. They are member-driven and both inform and leverage TM Forum best practices and standards, connecting service providers, technology suppliers, and global enterprises to create innovative solutions to common industry challenges. Microsoft is participating in two Catalysts, which will be showcased in the Innovation Labs area of the event.

1. Simple hyperscaler integrated network experience (SHINE)
   Championed by AT&T, Telefonica, and Orange
   Participants include Microsoft, Amdocs, Infosys, ServiceNow, Prodapt
   Establishing an industry standard mechanism for making digitized network services available as native services in hyperscale portals.

2. Supercharge any activity in any metaverse
   Championed by T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom
   Participants include Microsoft, Amdocs, D-ID
   This Metaverse challenge Moonshot Catalyst showcases highly tailored on-demand connectivity with a relevant non-fungible token (NFT) to demonstrate immersive AI-driven customer service experience in any metaverse.

Visit the Innovation Labs at the event to learn more about each Catalyst and wish every participating team good luck on the competition for the best!

Come play with Microsoft and Nokia

We are excited to partner with Nokia to sponsor some fun at the event. Please join our teams for some friendly shuffleboard games in the lounge area. Security operations teams are struggling to keep up and the area where they need the most help is the intersection of security and AI. Combining the flexibility of SaaS with AI in security operations creates new capabilities to reduce the frequency and cost of cybersecurity breaches.

Want to meet with a Microsoft expert while at DTW23? Reach out to telcoindustry@microsoft.com to learn more and schedule a meeting.

Learn more

No matter where you are on your transformation journey, Microsoft can serve as a trusted partner at a pace that makes sense for your business. Should you want a deeper conversation with a Microsoft employee about AI, chances are you will find us in the shuffleboard area. For additional information visit our website.

Intelligent telecommunications

Empowering your future of insights, experiences, and growth.

Discover resources

The post Microsoft at TM Forum DTW23 Ignite: Transform from telco to techco leveraging AI appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs.

With the global AI in telecom market projected to reach $38.8 billion by 2031¹, the significance of AI in the industry is hard to ignore. The rise of AI-enabled smartphones, the availability of on-demand hyper-scale computing and storage, and the development of large language models such as GPT-3 are leading the charge for this transformation. The time has come for telcos to seize this unique opportunity and harness the power of AI to remain competitive and stay ahead of the game.

In this blog, we delve into the role of AI in the telecom industry, examining its practical applications, and exploring the ways in which telcos can adopt and utilize AI to drive their businesses forward.

AI has the potential to improve various aspects of the telecommunication industry

The use of AI in customer service within the telecommunication industry can greatly improve the customer experience by automating routine tasks and freeing up human representatives to handle more complex inquiries. Call centers in the telecom industry are often overwhelmed by repetitive requests—leading to long wait times and ineffective customer service. In an industry where customer satisfaction is critical and the cost of customer acquisition is high, improving the customer experience is crucial.

AI-powered chatbots can provide instant, everyday support to customers—reducing wait times and improving overall satisfaction. A recent study by TIDIO² suggests that AI-powered chatbots are gaining huge popularity and are set for big adoption in 2023 and beyond. The study found that about 88 percent of customers had at least one conversation with a chatbot within the past year and 62 percent of consumers would prefer to use a customer service bot rather than wait for human agents to answer their requests. Further, in 2022, the total cost savings from deploying chatbots reached around $11 billion, thus prompting a faster adoption of this technology by businesses of all sizes.

Conversational AI, in the form of chatbots, and voice AI powered by large language models, is quick, efficient, accurate, and real-time with its responses. Large language models like GPT-3 and its ChatGPT prompt-based interface can further improve the customer experience by providing human-like responses to customer inquiries. ChatGPT, for example, can understand the context of a customer’s query and provide accurate, relevant responses in real time. It has the ability to document, summarize, and index calls—enabling quick and easy access to customer information. This can significantly improve the efficiency of customer service and provide customers with a more personalized experience.

Copilot in Dynamics 365 Customer Service, is another example of how AI empowers Telco customer service agents to deliver exceptional customer care. Dynamics 365 Copilot drafts contextual answers to queries in both chat and email, in addition to providing an interactive chat experience over knowledge bases and case history so this AI-powered expertise is always available to answer questions.

From faster customer query resolution to driving self-service payments to automated field visit bookings, the potential for AI-powered chatbots to enhance customer service in the telecommunication industry is huge.

One good example is Vodafone, which leveraged the power of Microsoft Azure AI services to create a conversational digital assistant named TOBi. This bot was specifically designed to cater to the needs of Vodafone customers and was rolled out to 16 markets in 15 different languages. With the help of Microsoft, Vodafone was able to provide fast, relevant, and engaging customer support, which has increased customer satisfaction and reduced operational costs. Currently, TOBi handles 25 to 30 million customer conversations each month and is expected to reach 500 million conversations in the coming years.

Network optimization and maintenance

The complexity of networks is projected to skyrocket in the next five years as the deployment of 5G technology gains momentum. According to Nokia, Network growth is expected to increase by a staggering 73 percent, outpacing the growth rate of the previous five years by a factor of five. Ericsson has reported that the implementation of AI-powered solutions in networks can lead to a 35 percent decrease in critical incidents and a 60 percent decrease in network performance problems. Additionally, energy costs can be reduced by 15 percent through the automation, making the network more environmentally sustainable.

AI can help telcos optimize their networks by automatically adjusting network settings and configurations to improve performance and reduce costs. AI algorithms can further be used to analyze vast amounts of data generated by telecommunication networks, providing valuable insights into network performance, and helping to identify and resolve issues in real-time. This can significantly improve network reliability and reduce downtime, ultimately leading to enhanced customer satisfaction.

Telcos like Ooredoo are already deploying Ericsson’s new optimization solution on Azure. This solution uses digital twin technology and advanced AI techniques, like deep reinforcement learning, to analyze the radio access network (RAN) to proactively provide mobile network optimization recommendations and resolve specific network performance issues—enabling a superior subscriber experience while reducing operating costs.

Fraud detection and prevention

The telecommunication industry is grappling with declining sales and rampant fraud, compounded by intense competition. Telecommunications fraud poses a significant risk to operators, businesses, and consumers alike. It has become a major pain point for the industry, leading to an astonishing USD39.9 billion in global telecom revenue loss in 2021, equating to 2.22 percent of the total revenue according to Communications Fraud Control Association (CFCA). Despite the growing threat of fraud, the adoption of AI, machine learning, and decision engine technology in fraud management in the sector is still limited. The reliance on manual processes remains a critical issue—especially in the wake of the shift to remote work and digital environments—making it a vulnerable point in fraud management departments.

To address these challenges, AI algorithms can play a crucial role by analyzing massive amounts of data to detect and prevent various forms of fraudulent activities in real time, such as SIM-swapping, unauthorized network access, fake profiles, and bill fraud. Some of the practical examples of where AI can help are:

• AI algorithms can detect and prevent SIM-swapping fraud by analyzing patterns in the usage of SIM cards, such as sudden changes in location, device type, and calling behavior.
• AI models can detect and prevent unauthorized network access by monitoring network activity and identifying unusual patterns of usage that may indicate fraud.
• AI can detect and prevent bill fraud by analyzing customer billing data, detecting unusual patterns and anomalies, and flagging any suspicious activity.

By incorporating these AI-powered solutions, telcos can enhance their fraud management capabilities, reduce fraud-related losses, and improve the overall customer experience.

AI can be enhanced further with biometric security solutions like Nuance Gatekeeper, which authenticates legitimate persons via their unique voice print and detects fraudsters wherever and however they engage. Telefónica leveraged Gatekeeper to ensure its most vulnerable customers could access the support they needed and fast‑track them to priority assistance.

Some of the other compelling AI use cases are:

• Predictive maintenance: AI can analyze data from telecom equipment to predict when it will require maintenance—reducing downtime and costs associated with maintenance.
• Personalized marketing: AI can analyze customer data to create targeted marketing campaigns—improving customer engagement and reducing the costs associated with marketing efforts. Using machine learning models to recommend products or services to customers based on their usage patterns and preferences.
• Automated decision making: Using deep learning models to automate decisions such as network routing, dynamic pricing, and more.

The potential for AI to revolutionize the telecommunications industry is immense. However, despite the numerous opportunities to leverage AI across the telco value chain, the adoption of AI by telecom companies has been slow and fragmented.

Challenges to AI adoption in the telecom industry

Telecom operators generate mass amounts of data and are in persistent need to reduce costs, this is where AI can help, yet, telcos are facing a number of challenges in scaling AI initiatives and realizing their full potential. Some of these challenges include a lack of the right skills and resources, unclear objectives for implementing AI, lack of data analysis, concerns about security, difficulty in integrating AI with existing systems, and a culture that is not conducive to innovation.

To overcome these challenges, telecom companies can take several steps to facilitate a successful AI adoption:

• Setting clear goals and objectives for implementing AI.
• Investing in training and hiring data science and AI experts.
• Forming strategic partnerships with AI vendors and hyperscalers.
• Taking the time now to invest in data infrastructure, as AI relies on good data to do its job.
• Making AI a central component of product development and processes.
• Establishing robust data privacy and security protocols.
• Conducting pilot projects—with lower barriers first—to test the feasibility and benefits of AI and having a clear, scale-up plan in place.
• Investing in change management strategies to help employees adapt to new technologies and processes and foster a culture of experimentation and learning. By involving employees in the implementation process and communicating the benefits of AI, companies can create a more open and accepting environment for new technologies.

The telecommunications industry is facing new challenges and increased pressure to maintain margins in the face of rising costs and economic uncertainty. However, adopting AI technology offers a solution to these challenges by providing a way to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance the customer experience. AI has the potential to revolutionize the telecom industry, and there are numerous compelling use cases that can be leveraged to drive the adoption of AI in the industry.

Telcos have a unique opportunity to leverage AI to stay competitive in an increasingly challenging market. By investing in AI and adopting best practices, telcos can future-proof their operations and remain competitive in the years to come. As the field of AI continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more exciting and transformative developments in the telecommunications industry.

How can Microsoft help organizations navigate AI revolution?

Microsoft is committed to making the promise of AI real with advancements grounded in its mission to help every person on the planet to achieve more. Microsoft is focused on creating AI systems that help people solve real-world challenges.

Microsoft Azure AI is a collection of AI services offered by Microsoft as part of its Azure cloud platform. These services are designed to make it easy for developers and organizations to add AI capabilities to their applications, without requiring extensive expertise in AI. Microsoft Azure AI includes pre-built application programming interfaces (APIs) for natural language understanding, computer vision, and speech recognition, including models from partner OpenAI, as well as a cloud-based platform for building and deploying machine learning models.

These services are integrated with the Microsoft Azure platform, which provides capabilities such as scalability, security, and compliance, as well as a number of other tools and services that can be used to build and deploy AI-enabled applications. Microsoft Azure is currently the only global public cloud that offers AI supercomputers with massive scale-up and scale-out capabilities. With a unique architectural design that combines leading graphics processing unit (GPU) and networking solutions, Microsoft Azure delivers best-in-class performance and scale for the most compute-intensive AI training and inference workloads.

Microsoft Azure AI integration in AI Builder within the Microsoft Power Platform allows businesses and developers to quickly and easily build and deploy custom AI models, and to integrate them with Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power Virtual Agents, in order to add advanced capabilities and improve data management and security. It also allows us to easily scale up and improve the performance of the models, as well as easily integrate with other Microsoft Azure services.

Microsoft has adopted Azure AI across a wide range of its products and services, in order to improve functionality, performance, and user experience.

With Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service now generally available, businesses can access some of the most advanced AI models in the world, including GPT-3.5, Codex, and DALL-E 2, backed by the enterprise-grade capabilities and AI-optimized infrastructure of Microsoft Azure. The Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service will also provide access to ChatGPT, a fine-tuned version of GPT-3.5 that has been trained and runs inference on Microsoft Azure AI infrastructure soon.

GPT-4 is also available in preview in Azure OpenAI Service. While the recently announced new Bing and Microsoft 365 Copilot products are already powered by GPT-4, Azure OpenAI Service allows businesses to take advantage of the same underlying advanced models to build their own applications.

Microsoft recognizes the importance of responsible innovation in AI, especially with powerful new technologies like generative models. As such, Microsoft has taken an iterative approach to large models, working closely with OpenAI and customers to carefully assess use cases, learn, and address potential risks.

Intelligent telecommunications

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¹Ai in Telecommunication Market Research, 2031, Allied Market Research.

²The Future of Chatbots: 80+ Chatbot Statistics for 2023, TIDO.

The post Unlock the potential of AI in the telecommunications industry appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs.

Microsoft is excited to return to Mobile World Congress (MWC), February 27 to March 2, 2023, in Barcelona. With an approach rooted in partnership, we look to inspire and enable this telco transformation at the world’s largest and most influential connectivity event. Keep an eye out for compelling updates from Microsoft Azure for Operators and industry-making news from partners. We look forward to discussions around Microsoft’s extended partnership with OpenAI. Feel free to get a head start and experience the new OpenAI-powered Bing Chat for transportation tips and restaurant recommendations in Barcelona.

Powerful Microsoft and partner demos in the booth

Part of becoming a techco means an organization can future-proof its networks, drive down costs, and create new revenue streams. Our booth (3H30 in Hall 3) will showcase several scenarios that are critical to enabling the transformation process.

Elevate the customer experience

Learn to revolutionize the way you engage with today’s tech-savvy customers. Speed, security, and availability are essential to providing the highest-quality customer service. With the power of data-driven insights and conversational AI, your customer service teams can deliver frictionless engagement at scale. Eliminate long wait times and slow issue resolution. Come see it all in action with conversational AI-powered solutions for customer engagement by Nuance.

Empower your workforce by streamlining enterprise operations and business support system (BSS)

Transform your business with the future of productivity and collaboration. Eliminate inefficient workflows and introduce a hyper-connected business with the power of cloud-native applications, intelligent processes, and automation. With the help of our trusted partners, Amdocs, and Tech Mahindra, you can experience seamless and secure teamwork between employees, suppliers, and partners. Experience anywhere, anytime productivity with demos featuring the latest from Microsoft Teams Phone, Microsoft HoloLens, and industry association TM Forum.

Accelerate network transformation

Leverage the power of a carrier grade, hybrid cloud to improve network efficiency, scale more easily, operate autonomously, reduce costs, and grow revenue. Don’t miss our featured partners BT, Nokia, and Deutsche Telekom as well as seeing what is new from Microsoft Azure for Operators with announcements that further modernize network infrastructures and enable a new breed of modern connected applications.

Monetize cross industry 5G and edge opportunities

Optimize 5G investments and create new revenue streams with a platform for the rapid development, deployment, and monetization of innovative cross-industry edge and the Internet of Things (IoT) services.

Featured partners include MediaKind, Matrixx, Nvidia, and Blue Planet–Ciena. See new Azure for Operators demonstrations of solutions for the enterprise edge, along with featured Microsoft security presentations.

Microsoft and industry experience in the sessions

Take advantage of the opportunity to hear from Microsoft industry experts on stage, discussing a range of topics from 5G acceleration to AI to the metaverse. Check out the following sessions:

• Pushing the Boundaries: Modern networks on the path to a future cloud (invitation only). On Tuesday, February 28, 2023, from 09:00 CET–12:45 CET–Theatre 1, Hall 6. Featuring: Jason Zander, EVP of Strategic Missions and Technologies, Yousef Khalidi, CVP Azure for Operators, Martin Lund, CVP of Azure for Operators, and Victor Bahl, Technical Fellow and CTO, Azure for Operators, Microsoft.
• From Metaverse to Matterverse, how to do it right? On Monday, February 27, 2023, from 13:15 CET–14:15 CET–MWC Stage C, Hall 6. Featuring: Pete Daderko, Director Product Marketing, Teams.
• Network Trust: How to securely connect cyber world to physical world? On Wednesday, March 1, 2023, from 09:30 CET–11:00 CET–Theatre 6, Hall 7. Featuring: Victor Bahl, Technical Fellow and CTO of Azure for Operators, Microsoft.
• eSIM Summit: eSIM to power connected devices. On Wednesday, March 1, 2023, from 09:30 CET–11:30 CET–Theatre 6, Hall 7. Featuring: Pramod Nair, Lead Security Architect, Microsoft.
• Humanizing Digital Experience with Artificial Intelligence. On Wednesday, March 1, 2023, from 14:30 CET–15:30 CET–Theatre 3, Hall 7. Featuring: Rick Lievano, CTO, WW Telecommunication Industry, Microsoft.
• Is there anything that can’t be connected? On Wednesday, March 1, 2023, from 14:45 CET–15:45 CET–MWC Stage C, Hall 6. Featuring: Katharine Shaw-Paffett, Partner Strategy Lead for Data and AI for DE, Microsoft.
• 5G revenue monetization business models and platforms for non-linear growth. On Wednesday, March 1, 2023, from 15:30 CET–16:30 CET–Theatre 3, Hall 7. Featuring: Onur Ozdemir, Technology Strategist, Microsoft Media and Telecommunications, Rick Lievano, CTO, WW Telecommunication Industry, Microsoft.
• Natural intelligence: can AI really think for itself? On Tuesday, February 28, 2023, from 14:45 CET–15:45 CET–MWC Stage C, Hall 6. Featuring: Nukhet Kayahan, Senior Cloud Solutions Architect, Microsoft.

Our commitment to industry

Microsoft empowers telecommunications organizations to achieve more through a trusted and secure platform built to elevate customer experiences, streamline enterprise operations and BSS, accelerate network transformation, reinvent product innovation and monetization, and build a secure data-driven business.

Stay tuned for exciting announcements at MWC 2023. Our commitment to the telecommunications industry extends beyond MWC 2023 and more information can be found on our website.

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Empowering your future of insights, experience, and growth.

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The post MWC 2023: Transforming telco to techco with the Microsoft Cloud appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs.