Deutsche Telekom moves customer service and staff workflows to AI agents

In July 2026, Deutsche Telekom detailed how it is restructuring operations around AI agents built on OpenAI models: the agents handle customer inquiries, assist employees with everyday tasks, and support network management and voice services. The company stresses this isn't an isolated experiment but a move toward becoming an 'AI-native telco', where agents are embedded in core business processes rather than layered on top of them. For businesses in Kazakhstan, this is a useful benchmark for the scale of tasks AI agents already handle at large telecom operators: mass customer support, routing internal requests between departments, monitoring operational metrics. Smaller companies don't need to replicate the whole stack at once — a reasonable starting point is one function, such as handling routine customer queries or internal staff requests, then expanding gradually. 1Cifer applies a similar principle: an employee agent connects to a company's own data — 1C, CRM, email — and takes over routine responses and initial processing of requests, leaving complex cases to people.