Camunda, a US open source provider, has announced it is "powering" customer service at Telekom Deutschland, the domestic operation of Bonn-based carrier behemoth Deutsche Telekom (DT).

In what it claimed was one of the largest robotic process automation (RPA) implementations in Europe, Camunda said it was enabling the orchestration of more than 2,500 individual software robots, or RPA bots, to "automatically handle and improve manual processes" in relation to customer inquiries and all-round customer care.

The upshot for Telekom Deutschland, asserted Camunda, was annual savings to the tune of around €100 million (US$108.8 million).

The Camunda feelgood narrative doesn't end there. The supplier laid out the next "transformative" step for DT's home turf operation, which is a shift from "front-end automation" technology – expensive to operate and maintain, says Camunda – to backend automation.

Tighter integration with core IT systems can presumably lead to even more annual savings, although Camunda didn't commit on either their extent or the transformation timeframe.

Not the only automation game in town
Other vendors plying their automation wares at Telekom Deutschland include NEC-owned Netcracker Technology and US-based Kyron Systems.

The former is involved in the automation of network functions and service automation, while Kyron flagged – through recent LinkedIn posts from senior executives – that it was chosen by Telekom Deutschland to "ramp up" its personal interactive assistant (PIA).

In what was billed by Kyron as a "successful and well resonated pilot" in 2019, Telekom Deutschland is now embarking on implementation of the Kryon Robotics Platform, which apparently enables PIA "digital helpers" to swing into action.

The endgame, says Kyron, is to make the lives of Telekom Deutschland call center agents much easier.

— Ken Wieland, contributing editor, special to Light Reading