A telecommunications company operating in the U.S. market has cut annual expenses by $10.5 million through AI automation of its contact center operations. The firm switched from traditional IVR technology to Verint’s AI-powered Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA), handling 7 million customer calls annually across billing, payments, appointments, technical support, and service disruptions.
The raw numbers tell a precise story: the AI system now processes 50% of all incoming calls without human intervention, rising to 80% for billing inquiries. This translates to 3.5 million calls managed entirely by AI, eliminating the need for live agent transfers.
Heather Richards, Verint’s vice president of Go-to-Market Strategy, explained the technical foundation: “Verint IVA is built on industry-leading conversational AI that trains on an organization’s unique engagement data. This means the Verint AI-powered bots continuously improve and provide consumers with relevant, accurate responses, even within environments of higher conversational complexity or specificity to the business.”
Recent industry data from McKinsey indicates AI-enabled customer service could add $1 trillion in annual value across sectors. Current market analysis shows that the majority of companies using AI virtual assistants will maintain or increase their AI investments through 2025, according to Verint’s research data.
The technology learns from each interaction, adapting to organization-specific terminology and customer communication patterns. For the telecommunications company, this meant teaching the AI system industry-specific terms, billing procedures, and technical support protocols.
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Verint (NASDAQ: VRNT) currently provides this automation technology to 80 Fortune 100 companies. The system analyzes customer speech patterns, processes natural language, and delivers responses based on company-specific training data.
The cost reduction stems from decreased call transfer rates and improved first-contact resolution. When customers call about billing issues, the AI handles 80% of inquiries independently, using real-time data access and natural language processing to understand and resolve customer needs.
Looking at broader industry shifts, AI virtual assistants now manage complex customer interactions that previously required human intervention. The telecommunications company’s experience provides measurable data: 3.5 million calls diverted from live agents while maintaining service standards.
These systems represent a shift in customer service automation, moving beyond basic menu trees to a contextual understanding of customer needs. Verint’s IVA processes natural language learns from interactions, and adapts responses based on previous customer communications.The financial impact – $10.5 million in annual savings – comes from reduced staffing needs and improved operational efficiency. For perspective, this equals the cost of staffing multiple traditional call center shifts throughout the year.
