Vodafone amplifies call center innovation, customer service, and employee inclusion with Azure AI

Overview

Vodafone enhanced its TOBi virtual assistant with Azure OpenAI Service and built SuperAgent, a conversational AI search tool on Azure AI Foundry and Azure AI Search, piloted at its Corso, Italy call center; TOBi now handles nearly 45 million customer calls a month and fully resolves 70% of digital-channel inquiries, cutting average call times by at least a minute.

The challenge

Facing rising customer demand for new digital services and rising customer expectations, Vodafone needed to better handle complex customer inquiries efficiently and ensure timely, personalized responses, while also wanting to empower call center agents with tools to broaden their expertise and focus on more varied work.

The solution

Vodafone used Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, Azure AI Foundry, Microsoft Copilot, and Azure AI Search to build two generative AI solutions. TOBi, its existing customer-facing chatbot, was enhanced with Azure OpenAI Service so it can hold context-aware conversations and adapt responses based on ongoing dialogue, handling tasks like bill payments, network issues, and phone orders, and automatically transferring unresolved questions (with a summary) to a live agent. SuperAgent, a new conversational AI search interface that mirrors Microsoft Copilot, helps live agents locate relevant information in Vodafone's knowledge database in seconds instead of scrolling through lengthy PDFs, and includes a quality-assurance element that evaluates call and chat transcripts against compliance checks to assess risk and training needs. Both solutions were piloted at Vodafone's call center in Corso, Italy, before a planned wider rollout, and Azure AI Foundry has also been extended to train senior call center operators at Corso to build their own solutions.

Reported business value

TOBi handles nearly 45 million customer calls a month, fully resolving 70% of customer inquiries coming through Vodafone's digital channels, with the remaining 30% directed to live agents supported by SuperAgent. Average customer call times have been reduced by at least one minute, and customer satisfaction scores are up since TOBi and SuperAgent were introduced, setting the stage for Vodafone to extend the pilot to additional call centers.