Navigating the future of telcos with gen AI

The telecommunications industry is at a crossroads. Generative AI (gen AI) and other groundbreaking technologies are not only changing the game — they're rewriting the rules.

Google Cloud Consulting has been working closely with some of the world’s leading telecommunications providers to navigate these changes, revealing an interplay of forces that have brought the sector to this pivotal moment. Notably, the telecommunications industry faces a few key challenges:

• Customer experience and retention: With growing expectations for personalized, always-on experiences, fierce competition in a saturated market, and low switching costs, continuous innovation is essential to retain and attract customers.
• Network commoditization: Service providers face increasing network complexity and commoditization, requiring advanced tools for performance and optimization.
• Data privacy and security: Ensuring data privacy and security is a growing concern for organizations as service providers collect and process vast amounts of customer data.

But these challenges don’t have to be roadblocks; rather than being stalled by change, telecommunications companies (telcos) can use gen AI to navigate this time of transformative growth.

Gen AI holds immense potential, unlocking capabilities to help companies deliver better customer journeys, differentiated experiences, network performance, and enhanced security. As part of Google Cloud Consulting’s delta team, we’re helping telcos use Google Cloud AI to turn their biggest barriers into opportunities, bring their gen AI use cases to life, and realize tangible returns on their investments.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the four areas we’re seeing gen AI make the biggest impact right now.

1. Transforming the customer experience and journey

In the age of instant access, customers expect seamless experiences across all channels. This might include actions like checking app data usage, using a chatbot for planning, or talking to a customer support agent about a service outage. One of the areas where gen AI stands to make a difference is helping to elevate the customer journey through tailored experiences.

Through partnering with Google Cloud, organizations can use gen AI to create new opportunities for better efficiency and customer experiences. Deploying advanced AI agents, for example, not only enables telcos to provide 24/7 support but helps them understand customers more and resolve issues faster. The result? Higher digital channel adoption rates that lead to call deflection and lower call center costs.

Telco industry leaders are already taking advantage of gen AI to further enhance their customer support. For example, we worked with a major North American telecommunications provider to adopt the Customer Engagement Suite, which combines Google Cloud’s most advanced conversational AI with multimodal and omnichannel capabilities. With the Customer Engagement Suite, this organization has already seen improvements in customer satisfaction, reduced costs, and higher operational efficiency. Additionally, employing conversational AI agents across its multiple brands has enabled this provider to drive over $20 million in savings in its customer operations.

2. Adapting to thrive in a competitive market

In a saturated market, telcos face immense pressure to adapt and stand out. But with gen AI, organizations can create compelling customer experiences that differentiate their brand in a fast-paced industry. Gen AI is accelerating product development and innovation for both engineers and developers alike. Through rapid prototyping, accelerated product development, and coding automation, telcos can use gen AI to launch new services quickly, meet evolving customer needs, and stay competitive in the market.

Telecommunications customers often encounter technical jargon and complexities that lead to low adoption rates and even lower close rates. Many telcos are looking to build universal search experiences that blend search capabilities across a variety of services and products. Solutions like Vertex AI Search for commerce enable telecommunications providers to maximize revenue, helping to optimize product rankings and provide personalized recommendations.

Gen AI is also transforming marketing for the telecommunications industry. It enables customer data analysis for personalized campaigns, reaching the right customers with optimal offers and helping to increase acquisition and retention. Through deployment of gen AI, telcos can use unique data from customer relationships to create tailored experiences, driving loyalty and reducing churn.

3. Enhancing the network

With telecommunication networks becoming more complex, advanced tools are often needed to optimize performance. In recent years, AI-powered predictive maintenance has emerged to help organizations proactively identify and address network issues before they impact customers, minimizing downtime and boosting service reliability.

Gen AI can play a crucial role in network optimization, helping to analyze and interpret performance data to fine-tune configurations, resource allocation, and even energy consumption. For example, gen AI can predict network demands and automatically adjust bandwidth allocation in real time, reducing latency and prioritizing critical traffic to ensure a seamless user experience.

In addition to generative capabilities, we often work with customers to incorporate data analytics and tools that monitor network performance and identify areas for improvement. By applying data-first solutions and introducing gen AI into operational workflows, telcos can optimize their networks, delivering high-quality, always-on services. In turn, this application can also help reduce costs while minimizing network access fees with local exchange carriers and partner network providers.

4. Building trust through safety and compliance

As they collect and process vast amounts of customer data, security, safety, and data privacy are critical issues for telcos. With cyber threats increasing in both sophistication and complexity, telecommunication security leaders are now tasked with ensuring network security while protecting their customers’ most sensitive data.

Google Cloud is invested not only in building transformative AI solutions, but also in providing the tools and technologies needed to discover, manage, and monitor data and AI. For telcos, leveraging gen AI can help automate tasks, enhance threat detection through data analysis, and provide personalized training. AI agents like Gemini in SecOps can also help streamline security operations and enable faster incident response.

Additionally, Google Cloud is committed to responsible AI deployment, offering frameworks like the Secure AI Framework (SAIF). Guided by our AI principles, Google Cloud is helping organizations mitigate risks, ensure trust, and manage data and AI securely.

Embracing the future of telcos with generative AI

The telecommunications industry is on the brink of a new era, one driven by innovation and AI. This transition from rigid, rule-based systems to intelligent, responsive ones is amplified by the latest AI advancements, serving as strategic drivers of real business results.

By prioritizing and continuing to innovate our gen AI capabilities and offerings, we are committed to providing exceptional value. For telcos, working with Google Cloud as a strategic partner can unlock new revenue streams and boost customer loyalty, leading to cost savings, efficiency, and sustainability in this transformative digital age.

Take the next step in transforming your customer experience

Google Cloud Consulting’s innovation experts, known as the delta team, have worked with some of the world’s largest telcos in transforming customer experiences and product development.

Learn more about how our innovation experts can help you embrace the power of AI to deliver unique value to your customers.