The rise of AI, particularly Generative AI (GenAI), is transforming how businesses operate. Elisa, in collaboration with The Cloud People (TCP), is leading this shift, offering clients innovative AI solutions that streamline processes, improve data management, and drive efficiency. In a recent seminar hosted by TCP in Oslo, Elisa shared their journey, achievements, and real-world applications of AI, demonstrating how companies can gain immediate value by integrating AI into their operations.
Elisa's expertise in AI stems from years of innovation. More than three years ago, Elisa partnered with the University of Helsinki to develop their own Large Language Model (LLM). After creating AI agents for Microsoft solutions for 3 years, the effort culminated in being one of only a handful partners showcased during the launch of Microsoft's Copilot in November 2023.
This partnership underscores Elisa's capability to push the boundaries of AI, making the technology practical and accessible to businesses, explained Ville Rautio, CTO, Corporate Customers, at the recent event. After this, ServiceNow contacted Elisa to present real use cases at the Now Forum.
One of the key takeaways from the seminar was that Elisa doesn’t create standalone AI apps. Instead, their solutions integrate into business applications like Microsoft 365, Salesforce, and ServiceNow.
As Mikko Pääkkönen, Country Manager from TCP Finland noted, businesses neither want or need another app – they need AI seamlessly woven into their current systems. – This philosophy is what makes Elisa's AI solutions so effective – they don’t disrupt workflows; they enhance them.
– More and more business applications deliver AI as valuable add-ons. Still, we believe it’s a much wiser model to connect to all the various applications with APIs to extract or add data. For instance, we don’t want or need 15 different systems to AI-translate texts, says Rautio in Elisa. They have chosen to rely on Microsoft’s technology for speech recognition, translation and more.
Elisa's Generative AI solutions are designed to solve specific business problems by improving efficiency and data quality. A highlight from the session was the demo of an AI bot for Microsoft Teams, which retrieves information from various sources like Office 365, Salesforce, and intranet systems. By simply asking the AI, "Who is the specialist on XYZ?" employees can save time and focus on high-value tasks.
Elisa also showcased a multilingual real-time interpretation service that supports Finnish, Swedish, and Croatian. This tool, integrated into a customer service system, allows users to communicate in their native language, with real-time translation happening behind the scenes. This type of AI-driven communication improves the customer experience and boosts operational efficiency.
Additionally, Elisa has developed AI tools that handle routine tasks such as summarizing conversations, conducting sentiment analysis, and categorizing emails. In customer service, for instance, AI can transcribe and summarize a 10-minute conversation, allowing agents to focus on resolving issues rather than documentation. As a result, Elisa has seen a significant reduction in ticket resolution time—from an average of 13-14 minutes to just 7.5 minutes.
AI's power lies in its ability to handle vast amounts of data, and Elisa's solutions ensure that businesses can capitalize on this. By automating data collection and analysis, Elisa's AI tools improve data accuracy and allow businesses to identify and resolve issues faster. For example, the AI categorizes incoming emails, performs knowledge base searches, and even requests additional information when needed.
One of the biggest wins for companies using these tools is the improvement in data quality. Historically, service desk agents had limited time to document problems and resolutions comprehensively. With AI automating these tasks, businesses now have more reliable data, enabling them to learn from past issues and refine their processes.
Integrating AI into existing systems doesn’t have to be complex. Elisa emphasizes focusing on familiar processes and enhancing them with AI rather than introducing entirely new workflows. This approach minimizes disruption and allows businesses to start seeing value almost immediately.
The deployment process itself is straightforward. Whether it’s integrating with Microsoft’s AI capabilities or leveraging ServiceNow’s GenAI features, Elisa ensures that AI tools are built into the platforms businesses already use. This reduces the learning curve and accelerates time to value.
The Cloud People and Elisa's collaboration offers businesses a unique opportunity to harness AI's full potential. By combining TCP’s deep expertise on ServiceNow with Elisa’s proven use cases, companies can streamline operations, improve customer service, and confidently make data-driven decisions.
The Cloud People’s role in this partnership is to ensure seamless integration and support for AI deployments. Whether it's setting up ServiceNow stacks, ensuring proper security or configuring AI tools within Microsoft’s ecosystem, TCP provides the technical backbone needed to implement these cutting-edge solutions.
For businesses looking to explore how AI can drive immediate value, now is the time to act. The Cloud People, in partnership with Elisa, offers the tools and expertise to help you integrate AI into your existing systems without the need for disruptive changes.
Contact us today to learn how you can leverage AI to transform your business operations. Whether it's improving customer service, automating routine tasks, or unlocking the potential of your data, The Cloud People and Elisa can help you achieve immediate results with AI.