BT Business: Boosting AI Deployment with Accenture

BT Business has entered a multi-year agreement with Accenture to deploy AI capabilities for UK businesses and public sector organisations.

The programme is set to combine Accenture's service management experience with BT's network intelligence and customer data platforms, and will build on the latter's existing relationship with ServiceNow, which operates as its core service management platform.

ServiceNow will provide what it describes as an AI control tower for the initiative.

Damian Stirrett, Group Vice President and General Manager for UK and Ireland at ServiceNow, says: "By combining BT's unrivalled network insight, Accenture's expertise in scaling AI across complex environments and ServiceNow's AI control tower for business reinvention, we're making agentic AI a reality for BT's customers.

"The difference will be tangible, with fewer disruptions, faster resolution and more resilient services. Together, we're setting a new standard for enterprise managed services, and redefining the telco marketplace."

AI operations for UK customers

As part of the programme, BT intends to deploy AI-powered operations capability to UK customers. The system will use agents to analyse and self-heal at machine speed under controlled conditions.

The AI operations capability will allow BT to identify and resolve cyber security threats and vulnerabilities more quickly, potentially becoming more integral as AI changes the the security environment.

BT Business will introduce propositions that allow public and private sector customers to use AI service operations. The company expects this to improve efficiency, security and resilience while enabling new capabilities.

The programme will redesign BT Business customer processes using AI-powered journey mapping, streamlining operations across the service lifecycle.

Infrastructure and operational control

Jon James, CEO of BT Business, highlights that the company supports much of the UK's critical infrastructure.

He adds: "Working with Accenture, we are investing to bring our customers the latest in AI ops capability, combined with our unique data and networks, to enhance the UK's resilience as well as accelerating the responsible deployment of efficient and autonomous systems."

BT aims to improve customer experience by combining expert delivery with controlled deployment of agentic AI. The approach prioritises operational control alongside efficiency gains.

As enterprises face pressure to deliver secure services in complex technology environments, customer expectations continue to rise.

Andrew McCaffer, Managing Director and Client Account Lead for BT at Accenture, adds: "Accenture is supporting BT by applying AI responsibly at scale across its managed services business, drawing on deep industry expertise to strengthen resilience, speed up resolution and enhance the customer experience."

Market transition to AI operations

The telecommunications industry is moving from reactive network management to autonomous AI operations. According to research from Accenture, only one in five telecom providers are successfully making the transition.

Providers that adopt a data-centric approach see operational advantages over their peers, with research from Accenture showing telco leaders achieve customer loyalty rates of 65% compared to 48% for competitors.

These providers also reach time-to-market speeds of 68% compared to 39% for peers. Network fault detection and resolution times improve to 57% compared to 39% for the rest of the market, according to the data.