NiCE powers Openreach customer experience transformation
April 7, 2026
NiCE has announced that Openreach, a unit of BT, has deployed proactive AI agents from NiCE Cognigy to redesign customer engagement across 15 million customer journeys during one of the UK’s largest digital infrastructure transformation programs. By shifting from reactive management to AI-driven proactive engagement, Openreach is delivering a more seamless broadband upgrade experience at national scale, increasing appointment success, reducing inbound contact volumes, and generating operational and commercial value for Openreach and its clients such as Vodafone and Sky.
Powered by NiCE Cognigy’s agentic AI, Openreach has introduced a proactive, automated engagement model that adapts based on live performance signals. Instead of waiting for customers to initiate contact, AI agents anticipate needs and start real-time conversations by text message, email and voice, providing updates, suggesting options, answering questions and automating actions on customers’ behalf. The approach is designed to make the process more transparent and easier for customers.
“Our proactive AI agents are transforming the broadband experience across the UK and delivering tens of millions in financial benefits for Openreach and our customers,” said Chris Herbert, Openreach’s director of customer service. “By moving to proactive, AI-driven engagement, we’ve improved appointment success, optimized operations, and given customers greater clarity during a complex national upgrade. At this scale, that combination of efficiency and trust makes a meaningful difference.”
“AI is redefining how organizations engage customers, shifting from reactive service to intelligent, proactive orchestration,” said Jeff Comstock, President of CX Product & Technology at NiCE. “This deployment demonstrates how agentic AI can deliver measurable outcomes at scale, enabling organisations to automate complex interactions while maintaining trust, inclusivity and control.”
The impact extends across both customer experience and operations. In addition to reducing missed appointments and contact volumes, Openreach has lowered repeat contacts, allowing service teams to focus on more complex interactions. Openreach said customer satisfaction improved, with its Trustpilot rating rising to 4.7 out of 5 from 2.0, based on hundreds of thousands of reviews after the rollout of proactive AI engagement.