Inside BT and Accenture's Newly-Launched AI-Ops Programme

BT Business has announced a multi-year programme with Accenture to bring cutting edge AI capabilities into the UK. The move is aimed at strengthening its support for the businesses and public sector of the country.

The initiative leverages Accenture’s global experience in service management to strengthen the existing AI capabilities of BT, utilising the latter’s unique network intelligence, customer data and insight platforms. 

The deal also includes building on the extensive partnership BT has with ServiceNow, which serves as its core service management platform.

Damian Stirrett, Group VP and General Manager, UK & 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.”

Driving telco network security

As a part of the collaboration, BT will bring the latest in AI-powered operations (AI-Ops) capability to its UK customers. This includes the use of agents to autonomously analyse and, under strict control, self-heal at machine speed while dynamically learning.

In cyber-security, AI-Ops will enable BT to more rapidly identify and resolve emerging threats and vulnerabilities. This capability is increasingly becoming critical as new frontier AI capabilities transform the security landscape.

New propositions that allow public and private sector customers to take advantage of the latest in AI-driven service operations will also be introduced. This will drive efficiency, security and resilience, as well as unlock new AI-enabled capabilities.

Additionally, the initiative will re-design the end-to-end customer processes of BT Business using the latest in AI-powered journey mapping, significantly streamlining operations across the entire service lifecycle. 

By combining expert-led delivery with the responsible deployment of agentic AI, BT aims to enhance the overall customer experience, ensuring greater efficiency while maintaining strict operational control.

Securing the UK infrastructure

According to Jon James, CEO of BT Business, the company has a unique responsibility in supporting much of the UK’s critical infrastructure. 

He says: “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.” 

Driven by rising customer expectations and increasingly complex technology environments, enterprises are facing intense pressure to deliver always-on, secure services.

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.”

The transition from traditional, reactive network management to autonomous, data-driven AI-Ops shows that the industry is at a critical inflection point. However, research from Accenture reveals that only one in five telecom providers are successfully navigating this transition.

Providers adopting a data-centric approach see clear operational advantages against their industry peers. For example, telecom leaders experience improved customer loyalty, achieving 65% compared to 48% for competitors, as per the Accenture research.

These leading providers also see faster time-to-market, reaching 68% compared to 39% for peers. Additionally, network fault detection and resolution times improve to 57% compared to 39% for the rest of the market.

The data highlights why BT Group is proactively pursuing this technological shift. 

Despite intense broadband competition, the company now seems to be countering market headwinds by deploying high-efficiency agentic AI to accelerate its commercial recovery.