Telecom companies are increasingly using artificial intelligence and machine learning in many aspects of their business. They use these technologies to improve customer service through virtual assistants and chatbots, enable predictive maintenance to prevent network outages, and perform fraud detection and predictive analytics on large amounts of customer data to make better business decisions. Telecoms are among the industries that have most embraced and benefited from artificial intelligence and machine learning.

1. The Amazing Ways That
Telecom Companies
Use AI And
Machine Learning

2. © 2019 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Title
Text
IntroductionIntroduction
As artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning become ubiquitous, we will soon be
hard-pressed to find any industry not capitalizing on the benefits they can provide.
Telecommunications is one of the fastest-growing industries as well as one that uses
artificial intelligence and machine learning in many aspects of their business from
enhancing the customer experience to predictive maintenance to improving network
reliability. The largest telecoms in the world rely on artificial intelligence and machine
learning in a number of ways. Here are the most common applications.
The Amazing Ways Telecom Companies Use
Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning

3. © 2019 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Customer Service and Satisfaction
Nearly every telecom uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve its
customer service primarily by using virtual assistants and chatbots. Telecoms get a massive
number of support requests for set up, installation, troubleshooting, and maintenance.
Virtual assistants automate and scale responses to these support requests, which
dramatically cuts business expenses and improves customer satisfaction. In one example,
Vodafone saw a 68 percent improvement in customer satisfaction after introducing its
chatbot TOBi.
As a gatekeeper, chatbots analyse the requests, learn to route and escalate customer
queries if necessary, identify sales opportunities and alert the customer to other products
and services that might be of interest to them, and handle the bulk of them without
human involvement. AT&T, Verizon, Comcast as well as just about every other large-scale
telco uses AI for enhanced customer service.

4. © 2019 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Customer Service and Satisfaction
The ability to offer speech and voice services such as chatbots is available thanks to
artificial intelligence and machine learning. Not only is this used in chatbots, but it
expands the service offerings such as Comcast’s XI Talking Guide that “speaks” network
names/time slots, show titles and helps customers navigate through their television
options. The company’s voice remote is useful for individuals with disabilities and anyone
who wants to “search” through their voice rather than hitting buttons on the remote.
AI can help telecoms identify and react to problems as well as propose the right service at
the moment based on analysing customer data. This intel, knowledge of historical info,
and personalized service can also help companies develop better products and services
and ways to market them to give customers what they want when they want it.

5. © 2019 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Predictive Maintenance and
Improve Network Optimisation
One of the most important ways to give customers what they want is for telecoms to
prevent outages. Predictive maintenance enabled by AI is an essential albeit more behind-
the-scenes use of AI and machine learning that also improves customer satisfaction. Data-
driven insights help companies monitor equipment, learn from historical information,
anticipate equipment failure, and proactively fix it.
Another important facet AI assists with is network optimization. A Self Organizing Network
(SON) fuelled by artificial intelligence can help networks continually adapt and reconfigure
based on current needs. It is also beneficial when designing new networks. Since AI-
enabled networks can self-analyse and self-optimize, they are more efficient at providing
consistent service.

6. © 2019 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Considering the volume of customers, any individual telecom company deals with daily,
every step of every interaction opens the door to human error. By automating business
processes through robotic process automation, not only are repetitive and rules-based
operations done more efficiently; they are more accurate. In a survey conducted by
Deloitte, telecom, tech and media executives confirmed significant investment in cognitive
technologies while 40 percent said they experienced “substantial” benefits and three-
quarters of them expect cognitive computing to “substantially transform” their companies.

7. © 2019 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Fraud Detection
Machine learning algorithms are instrumental in detecting fraudulent activity such as theft
or fake profiles, illegal access, and more. These algorithms learn what "normal" activity
looks like so can spot anomalies from enormous data sets much quicker than human
analysts can to provide nearly a real-time response to activity that needs to be
investigated.

8. © 2019 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Data-Driven Business Decisions:
Predictive Analytics
Telecoms possess enormous amounts of data from customers. With the use of AI and
machine learning, telecoms can extract meaningful business insights from this data so
they can make faster and better business decisions. This crunching of the data by AI helps
with customer segmentation, customer churn prevention, to predict the lifetime value of
the customer, product development, improving margins, price optimization, and more.
Ultimately, artificial intelligence and machine learning have enabled the
telecommunications industry to extract insights from their vast data sets, made it easier to
resolve issues, manage daily business more efficiently and provide improved customer
service and satisfaction. The industry provides us with a great example of how adopting AI
and machine learning wasn't just beneficial to business; it was essential for each
company's survival and ability to compete with competitors.

9. © 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website
© 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2019 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website

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