Salesforce launched a new tool within its Communication Cloud for telecom network operators and communications service providers (CSPs) at Mobile World Congress Barcelona. Billing Inquiry Manager uses generative artificial intelligence (AI) to help customer service agents improve the client experience.

The competitive nature of the telecommunications industry underscores the importance of  great customer experiences. Billing, payment and pricing issues are major issues for CSPs, often leading to low customer satisfaction and high churn.

Salesforce’s Billing Inquiry Manager leverages generative AI (genAI) to build a holistic view of each customer’s data – including payment history and billing information. The genAI tool also provides service agents with insights that can meaningfully resolve client issues and improve the overall customer experience.

“GenAI literally changes everything, and the world will never be the same,” David Schmaier, Salesforce president and chief product officer, said. Salesforce’s iteration of the technology is “a game changer” that will “allow unprecedented levels of productivity and customer loyalty,” he claimed.

“AI innovations like Billing Inquiry Manager make it possible for service agents to do their jobs better and faster,” said David Fan, Salesforce VP and GM of communications. “By enhancing agent productivity and providing better customer experiences with AI, CSPs can gain an edge in the market.”

Specifically, CSP service agents access the genAI tool through the Salesforce Communications Cloud Service Console, where they can assess anomalies on a customer’s account like new charges, declined payments or abnormal changes in network usage.

The genAI functionality also creates billing summaries and an analysis of trends so service agents can more easily resolve customer issues and reduce future bills.

Salesforce’s new billing tool is built on its Einstein 1 AI platform, which the vendor claims is founded on trust – one of the main principles that Salesforce customers are evaluating, according to Schmaier.

“We have designed into Einstein a human in the loop, which means that an employee – whether that’s a seller, a marketing manager, or a customer service agent – they have final say, and you can have them make any edits on what generative AI creates as a draft before hitting send or submit,” Salesforce Service Cloud CEO Clara Shih said.

To that point, the vendor remains focused on “arming CSPs with AI innovations that will provide tangible, immediate benefits in high-priority areas like increasing efficiency, improving customer satisfaction and reducing time to serve,” Fan said. “And trust is really what makes AI deployable and scalable, making Salesforce uniquely positioned to help CSPs revolutionize their businesses.”

Billing Inquiry Manager is currently in its pilot phase, and it will be generally available this summer.