Telecoms highlight Microsoft 365 Copilot advantages, across legal, sales and finance
Today’s most innovative telecom companies embrace AI not just to modernize their networks, but also to position themselves as an AI-powered enterprise of tomorrow. Along the way, they are embracing new business models as they revolutionize operations, customer interactions and product offerings.
Telecom firms can unlock value in the new era of generative AI (GenAI)-powered work. GenAI tools like Microsoft Copilot serve as the ultimate AI assistant, helping drive telecom companies forward faster operations. Copilot has proven particularly effective with telecom organizations that are navigating a trio of challenges: stiff competition, stagnant growth and high costs for infrastructure development.
Approximately 300 Vodafone employees initially reported productivity improvements equating to an average of three hours per individual per week. Legal staffers saw even greater efficiencies: using Copilot to speed up review of contracts freed up four hours per person per week. Now Vodafone is extending the trial to 68,000 employees as part of a 10-year partnership. The agreement calls for Vodafone to integrate Microsoft 365 Copilot across customer service, product development, network management and sales and marketing.
According to Vodafone, AI improves the efficiency of the entire business – from its mobile and fixed broadband network and digital platforms to retail stores, online services and customer care centers.
Microsoft 365 Copilot drives operational efficiency and enhanced customer experience for Vodafone. At the same time, it unlocks growth opportunities through new products and services.
Like Vodafone, Lumen Technologies turned to Microsoft 365 Copilot to help it shift from its role as a traditional telecom service provider to becoming a technology-driven enterprise. An early Copilot user since spring 2023, Lumen has since rolled out the AI tool across departments and business functions, from engineering to sales.
By automating repetitive tasks and streamlining workflows, Microsoft 365 Copilot has supercharged Lumen’s employees to be more productive without adding to their workload, leading to time savings, lower costs and a better corporate experience.
Copilot for Sales has transformed the sales team at Lumen from focusing on transaction selling to focusing on understanding customer needs holistically, resulting in them becoming “customer obsessed.”
Lumen’s sellers use Microsoft 365 Copilot throughout the sales process, from learning about customers and their challenges to summarizing meetings and crafting follow-up messages. With Microsoft 365 Copilot, they can sync Outlook emails with clients into CRM software — a task that previously had to be done manually — which saves time and provides visibility into customer touchpoints and potential opportunities.
The GenAI tool is driving better understanding and experience for Lumen, which in turn unlocks innovation and growth.
Microsoft’s newest agent, Copilot for Finance, allows telecom finance analysts, managers, CFOs and treasurers to easily connect their existing financial data with generative AI to surface insights and support strategic decision-making.
The solution unlocks AI-assisted competencies for financial professionals, right from within common productivity applications, including Dynamics 365 and SAP. Copilot provides role-specific workflow automation, guided actions and recommendations in Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Teams and other Microsoft 365 applications.
The latest Copilot experience can free up time for financial teams to generate real-time insights on their business and drive growth initiatives, rather than being bogged down by time-intensive tasks, such as credit, collections and compliance. According to Microsoft’s 2023 Future of Finance Trends Report, 80% of finance leaders and teams say they don’t have time to focus on strategic work beyond the operational aspects of their role.
As Vodafone and Lumen attest, future-focused telecom companies are embracing tools like Copilot for Sales to meet today’s business needs while positioning them to gain a competitive advantage tomorrow. Whether driving growth through more impactful financial insights or maximizing sales productivity with personalized customer interactions and seamless information sharing, Microsoft 365 Copilot is a compelling option for telcos that recognize the transformative power of AI.
In conclusion, Vodafone and Lumen are not alone in embracing GenAI to redefine how they deliver market differentiation. Telstra, Orange and other telecom early AI adopters continue to reshape the industry, driving new innovation and better service, while allowing their teams to work smarter.
For telcos, the fear of AI replacing human ingenuity has not materialized: rather than making people obsolete, it’s reinvented creativity and invited wider collaboration. While the telecom industry is only just now seeing the potential for generative AI, it already is transforming how telcos work and ultimately, thrive in an era of AI transformation.