News
Key Takeaways
- Oracle Adds Agent-Supporting AI to Utility Call Centers. New AI features automate call tagging, summarization and personalization.
- Faster Calls, Smarter Service. Oracle's tools aim to reduce handle times, improve issue resolution and increase agent capacity.
- AI Tackles $124B Utility CX Challenge. Oracle estimates its new tools could unlock $37B in potential industry-wide cost savings.
Oracle Injects AI Into Utility Customer Service Operations
Announcement Details
Oracle unveiled new AI capabilities for the Oracle Utilities Customer Platform, designed to ease call center burdens and transform customer service at scale. The features include AI-driven call summarization, customizable tagging and smart filters for noise, personally identifiable information and irrelevant content. These enhancements are expected to empower agents with clearer call insights and streamline documentation, freeing them to focus on high-value interactions.
Context and Background
Utility customer service teams have long struggled with long average handle times (AHT), inconsistent data capture, and reactive workflows. With over $124 billion spent annually on customer operations, the sector is primed for automation. Oracle's updates aim to close the technology gap by embedding AI into daily workflows, helping utilities deliver faster, more personalized support without inflating costs or complexity. The announcement comes amid increasing demand for contact center modernization and agent assist tooling.
Executive Commentary
"Utility call centers are under constant pressure to handle heavy call volume and provide the fast, accurate service and experiences customers expect, but they have lacked the real-time tools required to be successful," said James Steadman, global head of customer product strategy at Oracle Utilities.
"These new AI features are planned to empower agents with essential capabilities and deep insights to understand and proactively address customer issues faster than ever. AI can be a game changer for customer operations. If we can help save 20-30% of spending on customer operations annually, that could result in up to $37 billion in savings across the industry."
AI Capabilities Added to Oracle Utilities Platform
Oracle's latest innovations aim to reduce manual labor, improve accuracy and provide call center agents with intelligent tools to manage and resolve calls efficiently:
| Capability | Description |
|---|---|
| Call Summarization | Automatically generates concise, editable call summaries to reduce agent documentation time. |
| Custom Call Tagging | Uses AI to label calls by issue type (e.g., billing, outages); customizable by utility provider. |
| PII Redaction | Protects customer data by removing personally identifiable information from summaries. |
| Industry Jargon Recognition | Detects and correctly interprets utility-specific terms to enhance summary relevance. |
| Obscenity and Noise Filtering | Removes background noise and irrelevant content for clearer agent records and audits. |
Who Is Oracle?
Oracle is a multinational provider of enterprise software and cloud infrastructure. Oracle Utilities serves the utility sector with cloud and on-premises tools for billing, asset management, customer engagement and now AI-enhanced call center automation.
Target Audience for Oracle's AI Utilities Capabilities
- Utility providers seeking call center modernization
- Customer service leaders focused on agent assist tools
- IT and operations teams evaluating embedded AI functionality
In Other Oracle News
Oracle Introduces AI Agent Studio
In March of this year, Oracle released Oracle AI Agent Studio for Fusion Applications, a paltform for creating, exptending, deploying and managing AI agents and multi-agent teams across enterprises.
Oracle and NVIDIA Release First-of-its-Kind Integration
The two tech companies announced an integration between NVIDIA accelerated computing and inference software and Oracle's AI infrastructure and generative AI services to help companies speed up the creation of agentic AI applications.
Where to Learn More About Oracle
- Visit the Oracle website for more information.
- Explore the Oracle blog for product updates, industry trends and expert commentary.
- Browse technical documentation and user forums on the Oracle Help Center.
