MEO enables real-time operational intelligence with Microsoft Foundry

MEO, Portugal’s leading telecommunications provider, faced the critical challenge of maintaining its market leadership amidst escalating competition and evolving customer expectations. Known for dominating segments across consumer, business, wholesale, fixed, mobile, and TV, MEO sought innovative ways to ensure superior customer satisfaction, streamline operations, and reduce operational costs simultaneously. The answer came from leveraging Microsoft Foundry and AI solutions.

Improving customer experience through AI

Carlos Bouça, Network Engineering and Operations Director at MEO, recognized early that the telecom industry’s competitive edge would increasingly depend on leveraging advanced AI as a concrete step in the operator´s autonomous network journey. "We've been working in different automations for more than a decade, and AI in the recent years," he comments, "but the emergence of generative AI opened entirely new possibilities. We began experimenting and developing use cases two years ago to enhance efficiency and customer satisfaction. ChatGOC shows how real-time network data can turn into operational intelligence, moving from reactive operations toward intent-driven, closed-loop automation across our networks"

MEO knew that they needed a robust, scalable solution capable of handling complex operational tasks, such as troubleshooting for field force technicians and managing real-time data from multiple internal systems. Their Global Operations Center (GOC), responsible for managing troubleshooting tickets, alarm systems, network inventory, and number portability processes, faced significant hurdles. Field technicians required rapid, reliable information without waiting for human interventions, during day-to-day incident management and during critical outages caused by floods, fires, or power disruptions—common scenarios in the Iberian Peninsula.

Turning to Microsoft Azure, MEO partnered with Microsoft and NTT Data to design a modular, data-driven AI architecture. "We envisioned it as an AI factory," Carlos notes, "with a flexible platform capable of rapidly developing and deploying use cases across various operational domains."

The solution implemented involved a sophisticated conversational assistant designed to deliver real-time, actionable insights directly to field technicians. Rather than relying on manual lookups or phone calls to the GOC, technicians could instantly access details about current trouble tickets, SLA priorities, network alarms, and inventory statuses through an intuitive, AI-powered interface.

"The secret sauce," Carlos elaborates, "is how we preprocess and manage data before feeding it into our AI systems. Data governance and integration are critical—we ensure all relevant data, from trouble tickets to network alarms, is processed through a unified platform. This means technicians get immediate access to the most accurate, up-to-date information."

From productivity to transformation

With real-time querying capabilities, MEO expects to reduce the time technicians spend accessing critical information, enhancing operational efficiency, and significantly cutting costs. Moreover, integrating AI-driven queries into everyday workflows has noticeably increased technician productivity and overall customer satisfaction, as outages and service interruptions are now addressed more swiftly and effectively.

These results are transformative, but MEO's journey does not end there. "We're already seeing the benefits of deploying new use cases more rapidly than expected to other operational components like, for instance, planned interventions and disaster recovery impacts," Carlos explains, underscoring the agility offered by architecture they developed.

By aligning closely with Microsoft’s innovative AI solutions and Azure platform capabilities, MEO has improved a more efficient way of dealing with operational needs. It is a redefinition of operational excellence, and a sign of how AI tools can augment very real, very human interactions better to decrease the time for the resolution of field force incidents. This collaborative partnership continues to drive forward-thinking initiatives, ensuring MEO remains a beacon of innovation in a fiercely competitive landscape.

For MEO, the future is not merely about leading; it's about continuously reshaping the operational landscape and setting ever-higher standards for customer service and field efficiency.