1.5 million interactions handled by AI agents annually: The telecommunications IVR replacement playbook

About the customer

• Industry: Telecommunications

• Region: Germany

• Company size: >1,000 employees

Results

• Seamless service experiences for customers & employees

• 1.5 million interactions handled by the AI Agent annually

• Multi-channel automated support via phone and WhatsApp/website messaging

A telecommunications company’s IVR system could no longer handle the variety and volume of inquiries it was receiving. Claims could only be pre-screened to a limited extent and messaging channels weren’t integrated, causing calls to be misrouted and employees to be overworked. The long resolution times, inefficient processes, and increasingly dissatisfied customers led the company to seek out an alternative solution to its IVR technology. What they found was agentic AI powered by Parloa.

Phone calls powered by Parloa

By replacing the IVR with a Parloa AI agent, all of the company’s service interactions are now handled in natural language and coordinated across communication channels. The company designed the agent to speak in a tone most appropriate for each channel — informal and avoidant of technical jargon in chat, formal and presenting as an active listener on the phone. It can understand customer intent, access backend systems, and use natural language to handle inquiries autonomously from start to finish. If the request does require human support, the agent transfers the conversation, along with its full context, to the service team. The agent learns from every interaction to continuously improve over time. 

Cultural transformation

The implementation of Parloa at the telecommunications company required more than just technical integration and cross-channel orchestration of service interactions. Parloa also needed to help guide change management amongst the human employees.

“At first, there were many questions – about the technology, data protection, and costs. But with the right mix of courage, trust, and expert guidance for the AI project, we worked together to implement the transformation step by step.”

Julia Barth, Sr. Enterprise Engagement Manager, Parloa

Live use cases 

The company is currently live with many use cases across phone and messaging:

Phone:

• Issue identification, intelligent routing, and  determining transfer destination

• Caller identification and authentication 

• Obtaining consent to record calls

• Checking for email opt-in, including the option to resend the opt-in message

Messaging (WhatsApp & website) :

• Email address and IBAN changes

• Sending contract summaries

• Providing plan options & routing to a human to complete the switch

• Checking the status of number portability, hardware shipping, customer service tickets 

• Reporting technical issues or damage

• Answering FAQs

From IVR to intelligent service

By replacing its IVR system with Parloa’s AI agent, 1.5 million of the company’s annual service interactions are now handled in natural language, across phone, WhatsApp, and web. By providing seamless handoffs to human agents only when necessary, the agent resolves customers’ issues faster and lessens the burden of the service team, improving both customer and employee satisfaction.