Customer service stories

ICS.AI launches UK public sector AI model promising guaranteed savings, citing Derby City Council’s projected GBP £12 million benefit.

Hubtel IT boosts staff by 25% and targets GBP £2.5m turnover as it ramps up AI and cyber security services for UK small businesses.

ServiceNow expands its OpenAI partnership to make frontier models and voice-first AI core to enterprise workflows and automation at scale.

Spence Software shifts its S2Web SaaS platform to 11:11 Systems’ cloud, slashing IT spending by 50% and boosting performance and control.

Jack Rankin hails ArvatoConnect’s AI push in Datchet as a way to reshape customer service while keeping skilled jobs rooted in the UK.

flydubai partners with Amperity to unify passenger data and accelerate a shift to modern, Offer-Order-based airline retailing.

eDesk names Gareth Cummings as CEO, tasking the AI veteran with leading an ‘AI-first’ expansion drive across EMEA and North America.

Kick ICT has appointed Steven Brown as chief executive, succeeding retiring founder Tom O’Hara as the group targets its next growth phase.

European banks expect AI to shrink staff only slightly, with most projected job losses coming through routine attrition, not mass cuts.

Elyos AI raises USD $13m to grow its AI agents that answer calls, book jobs and automate admin for trades and field service firms.

New Zealand launches an AI advisory pilot, offering up to NZD $15,000 co-funding to help small firms plan and safely adopt AI tools.

Hayo upgrades its National Mobile Registry with real-time tools to detect SIM swap fraud, stolen phones and illegal devices on networks.

Rimini Street secures multiple awards for agentic AI, customer service and leadership, as Hitachi Vantara client also earns industry honour.

Australian online florist LVLY is shortlisted in three customer service and online retail categories at the 2026 Inside Retail awards.

Newo.ai and IONOS have launched a plug-and-play AI receptionist, promising SMEs 24/7 call handling, missed lead recovery and quick setup.

Sage has embedded its Copilot generative AI into Sage Operations to surface supply chain risks earlier and cut manual fulfilment checks.

Manhattan rolls out embedded AI agents across its Active suite, promising real-time automation and custom agent creation for retailers.

Shadow AI and shaky data foundations are undermining UK corporate AI rollouts, with leaders warning of weak controls and executive blind spots.

FourKites has created a manufacturing advisory board of senior supply chain leaders to steer its product roadmap and AI-driven logistics tools.

Five9 and Google Cloud unveil a joint AI-powered CX platform, unifying contact centre workflows and customer data across all channels.