AI That Pays Off: £230K Saved and a Year Gained

AI That Pays Off: £230K Saved and a Year Gained

Empowering a UK government-backed organisation to modernise national asset management through intelligent innovation saving £230,000 per tender

Government | Data & AI

About the customer

Championing sustainable stewardship across land, property and marine assets

A large UK government organisation that sits between the public and private sectors, managing land and marine assets across communities, countryside, coast and seabed for the benefit of the nation and future generations.

Their portfolio includes urban centres, rural estates, and the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland. With a remit to create lasting and shared prosperity, they operate commercially while delivering public value, supporting sustainable development, and enabling innovation across sectors such as energy, property, and conservation

The challenge

Reducing manual effort and risk in large-scale procurement

Procurement at the organisation involves managing large-scale tenders for services such as facilities management, cleaning, and maintenance across its property portfolio. These tenders often attract dozens of supplier responses, each requiring detailed review, evaluation, and formal communication. The process was highly manual with teams being required to read through supplier feedback, summarise key points, and draft tailored letters to each supplier. This not only consumed significant time and effort but also introduced risk through inconsistencies and delays.

Ahead of one of its largest-ever tenders, the organisation faced a critical decision. The estimated time to complete the process manually was over a year, and outsourcing the work to third-party administrators would have cost approximately £230,000. The organisation needed a solution that could dramatically reduce turnaround time, maintain quality, and demonstrate the value of AI in solving real operational challenges.

The Solution

Deploying scalable AI to automate supplier response workflows

Leveraging the AI platform and accelerators previously deployed by Telefónica Tech, we worked with the organisation to scale a small proof of concept into a fully operational AI-powered procurement automation solution.

The solution was designed to be intuitive and efficient. Procurement teams could upload a spreadsheet containing supplier comments, and the AI would automatically analyse the content, extract key insights, and generate personalised response letters. The process was fully integrated into their existing workflows, enabling staff to complete in minutes what previously took weeks.

This solution was powered by Telefónica Tech’s Machine Learning Accelerator, which provided the underlying models and automation logic, and was deployed within the secure, scalable AI platform that had already been established. The result was a seamless, end-to-end process that significantly reduced manual effort while maintaining high standards of accuracy and professionalism.

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The Outcomes

Delivering measurable impact and building confidence in AI

The impact was immediate and measurable. The organisation successfully processed its largest tender without the need for external support, avoiding an estimated £230,000 in administrative costs. What would have taken over a year to complete manually was delivered in a matter of days.

Beyond the cost savings, the solution demonstrated the power of AI to transform core business processes. It improved consistency, reduced turnaround times, and freed up internal resources to focus on higher-value work. The success of this use case also helped build internal confidence in AI, accelerating adoption across other areas of the business.

Technologies Used

Open AI

OpenAI provides advanced language models that enable natural, human-like interaction with data, documents, and systems. These models can understand context, generate responses, and assist with complex tasks such as content summarisation, document analysis, and decision support. Telefónica Tech uses OpenAI’s capabilities to co-create secure, responsible AI solutions that drive efficiency and unlock expert knowledge across the enterprise.

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Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Azure is a trusted cloud platform offering secure, scalable infrastructure for building, deploying, and managing enterprise applications. With robust compliance, identity management, and integration tools, Azure supports rapid innovation in regulated environments. Telefónica Tech, as a Microsoft Solutions Partner, delivers end-to-end Azure-based solutions ensuring resilience, governance, and performance across every stage of the digital transformation journey.

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Telefónica Tech’s Gen AI Accelerator

The Gen AI Accelerator is Telefónica Tech’s proprietary framework for deploying generative AI solutions at speed and scale. It includes pre-built components, governance models, and integration patterns designed to surface strategic documentation, enable intelligent chatbots, and drive internal engagement. Built with enterprise-grade security and flexibility, it empowers organisations to make AI accessible and actionable across teams.

Telefónica Tech’s Machine Learning Accelerator

This accelerator provides a repeatable foundation for traditional data science use cases, including sustainability tracking, feedback classification, and operational automation. It combines best-practice pipelines, model templates, and deployment tooling to reduce time-to-value and ensure scalable, production-ready ML solutions. Telefónica Tech’s approach embeds transparency, performance, and governance from experimentation to execution.