Normalized claim
Time: 2-3 minutes decrease
Reduced IT issue resolution time from 15 minutes to 2-3 minutes.
Last evidence check: Jun 1, 2026
Centrica boosts IT service desk productivity with AI-powered virtual assistant
Use case typeIT operationsUpdated Jun 13, 2026
Centrica plc, a leading energy and utilities company, has significantly enhanced the efficiency of its IT service desk by implementing Buddy, an AI-powered virtual assistant developed in partnership with Fujitsu. Built on Microsoft Azure AI technologies, Buddy automates the resolution of common IT issues in under three minutes, compared to the prior average of 15 minutes. This allows contact center and field staff to stay productive and focused on customer service. Over the course of a year, Buddy was used more than 100,000 times and consistently received highly positive user feedback. The solution, integrated with Alluvio Aternity, resolves over 10,000 incidents each month and returns an estimated 200 person-days of productivity to the organization. The automation project has yielded substantial monthly cost savings and improved operational transparency. Centrica continues to explore new use cases for Buddy, including remote device provisioning and streamlined parts requests, while leveraging the strong partnership with Fujitsu to drive further digital transformation.
- Organization
- Centrica
- Industry
- Energy & Utilities
- Location
- United Kingdom
- Published
- November 2022
Reported outcomes
Time: 2–3 minutes
Time & speed
Time: 12–13 minutes
Why do we believe this?Outcome claims, sources, and evidence checks
Normalized claim
Time: 12-13 minutes
Returned 12-13 minutes of productivity per interaction to staff.
Last evidence check: Jun 1, 2026
Normalized claim
Quantified impact: 77%
Achieved 77% positive feedback from end users.
Last evidence check: Jun 1, 2026
Why do we believe this deployment?Customer identity, provider attribution, maturity, and source checks
- Customer
- Centrica
- Provider
- Microsoft
- Maturity
- Production
- Linked source
- Fujitsu
The automation project has yielded substantial monthly cost savings and improved operational transparency
Customer identity supportedSource describes one deploymentMaturity supported
Primary read
Use case focus
Showing 3 of 3
- 1AI-powered virtual assistant for IT service desk automation
- 2Automated incident resolution for employee IT issues
- 3Proactive monitoring and device provisioning using AI
- Implemented AI-powered virtual assistant Buddy on Microsoft Azure AI.
- Integrated automation with Alluvio Aternity for proactive monitoring and incident resolution.
- Handled routine IT issues via natural language interface, enabling self-service for users.
- Extended Buddy’s capabilities to support remote device builds and automated parts requests.
Technologies
- Reduced IT issue resolution time from 15 minutes to 2-3 minutes.
- Returned 12-13 minutes of productivity per interaction to staff.
- Automated over 10,000 incident resolutions per month, totaling 100,000 in a year.
- Saved thousands of pounds in costs monthly and added 200 person-days of productivity.
Implementation partners1
Sources & evidence1
Evidence: High75/100Evidence strength
- Customer explicitly identified
- Deployment status explicitly supported
- Primary source available
- Quantified outcome available
- Technical implementation details available
- Recent evidence check available
- Last evidence check: Jun 1, 2026.
Live sourceStill referenced
The case's original source is still reachable.
- Cited source last checked Jun 1, 2026 — ok (0/1 broken).
Measures whether this deployment's public evidence persists — not whether the system is still in production.
Type: Customer StoryPublished: Nov 18, 2022Publisher: FujitsuEvidence: PrimaryConfidence: High
AI-generated summary. Verify important details with the linked sources before relying on this case.
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