CASE STUDY TELSTRA
Telstra connects faster to what’s next
Australia's leading telecommunications company is harnessing data, AI and human expertise to build the foundations for continuous reinvention
5-MINUTE READ
Rethinking how value is created
For decades, Telstra has been at the center of how Australians connect, communicate and do business. With AI now capable of reshaping everything from customer expectations and service offerings to how networks are managed and optimized, possibilities that once took years to develop can now emerge and scale in a matter of months.
In this environment, success depends on more than defining the right strategy or adopting the right technologies. For a business of Telstra's scale, it requires an organization that can execute, adapt and innovate at the pace the market now demands.
In response, Telstra launched an ambitious enterprise-wide transformation, positioning AI at the center of how it operates. Working with Accenture, Telstra is embedding data, AI and human expertise throughout the business, enabling faster decisions, greater agility and new ways of creating value.
OUTCOMES
2 years
to deliver a 5-year data and AI roadmap
100+
live AI use cases built on shared data, controls and reusable capabilities
3x
increase in customers resolving inquiries using AI
70%
reduction in data onboarding effort
15,000+
employees completed at least one Data & AI Academy course in the last financial year
Designed to move differently
A different way of operating calls for a different partnership model.
Telstra and Accenture established a Data & AI partnership that brings together data and AI specialists from both companies into one integrated team, with shared accountability and shared outcomes.
Together, we are modernizing Telstra’s data and AI platforms, such as innovations like the AI control plane, strengthening responsible governance and applying capabilities such as agentic AI to business processes. To help people work smarter and faster, we are also developing specialized tools and future-critical skills.
This integrated model is accelerating Telstra’s data and AI roadmap, reducing delivery from five years to two while creating the conditions for lasting impact.
Value on repeat
Building new capabilities is only the beginning. To ensure they translate into measurable business value, Telstra is putting them to work through key cross-organizational AI efforts.
Today, eight transformation initiatives spanning customer care, B2B sales, fraud detection and network operations sit alongside more than 100 live AI use cases.
Performance measures are tied directly to the impact AI delivers, reinforcing that success is not defined through adoption alone, but by the tangible outcomes achieved.
The result is a growing portfolio of solutions that improve customer experiences, help people work more effectively, improve the network and strengthen business performance.
Generative search on Telstra.com and in the My Telstra App helps customers find answers faster through contextualized responses. The capability was used more than 2 million times on Telstra.com in the first four months after launch.
AskTelstra gives retail and contact center employees access to more than 2,000 trusted knowledge sources. Initially launched to more than 8,000 employees, it has since become the foundation for additional knowledge-search tools across the business.
Store Performance Manager reduces start-of-day preparation time in Telstra's retail stores, giving managers more time to coach teams and support customers.
Intelligent Proposal-to-Contract uses AI-assisted proposal generation and customer engagement to support sales productivity.
As Telstra scaled these AI-powered capabilities across the business, it needed a way to manage its rapidly growing ecosystem. The team built the AI Control Plane to provide a single view of AI applications, models and infrastructure. The platform delivers visibility into performance, risk and cost, giving Telstra the control and governance needed to scale AI with confidence.
Reinvention that endures
The next era of connectivity will bring new technologies, new expectations and new opportunities.
By embedding data, AI and human expertise throughout the business, Telstra is building an organization that can identify emerging opportunities sooner, act on them faster and continuously evolve as the market changes.
The result is a way of operating designed not just for today's priorities, but for whatever comes next.