M&S has replaced over 100 of its call centre staff with AI bots The company will be able to “analyse customer intent in real time”

Marks and Spencer has replaced all its switchboard staff with an artificial intelligence system, affecting over 100 jobs. Phone calls to all 640 M&S stores and customer service centres are now handled by the new cloud-based system.

The “intelligent” system, provided by Twilio, a communications firm, routes calls to the relevant department, store or contact centre agent.

Analysing customer intent

Announcing the change Twilio said M&S would be able to resolve inquiries more effectively, allowing more than 100 switchboard employees to move to customer-facing roles in store.

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Automating the department store’s switchboard operation will enable M&S to “analyse customer intent in real time for more than 12 million customer interactions annually”, Twilio revealed.

M&S said the AI system has given the company “an improved ability to have more direct and meaningful conversations with our customers”.

Staff moved elsewhere

“The transition of our store switchboards to a new technology system is part of our five-year transformation programme to create an agile, digital-first M&S that offers the best value and service for our customers,” the company said in a statement.

A spokesman for M&S said all its switchboard staff had been offered different roles elsewhere in the business.

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