Case Study: Revolutionizing NBA with AI for a Large US Telco
Successfully led a transformative Next Best Action (NBA) capability reinvention for a major US telecommunications company, responding to their CEO's mandate to embed AI throughout the business. As the strategic architect and integrator, Blend360 delivered a 120% improvement in NBA performance while increasing content variants by 5x with generative AI integration for content. This case study examines how our cross-domain expertise in AI, data science, and operational NBA delivery enabled omnichannel orchestration, generative AI integration, and agentic delivery—producing measurable business outcomes where previous consulting efforts had failed.
Situational Brief: Architecting for an AI-First Mandate
Executive Vision
The transformation was launched in response to a bold directive from the CEO of the client's wireless business unit: embed artificial intelligence throughout the business to fundamentally transform scale, efficiency, and customer engagement.
Key Stakeholders
Project involved the Director of NBA for consumer organization (executive sponsor), NBA technology teams, configuration product owners, generative AI product team, and Adobe Experience Manager activation group.
Blend360's Selection
Chosen as the strategic architect and integrator after previous attempts by large consulting firms had failed to deliver momentum. Our strength: cross-domain fluency in AI, data science, and operational NBA delivery.
At the center of this transformation was the reinvention of the telco's Next Best Action capability. Where other firms had stalled in theory, Blend360's approach focused on practical design and implementation with right-sized teams staffed by senior experts across functions. Our engagement began 18 months ago, setting the foundation for what would become a comprehensive transformation of the client's customer engagement systems.
The Challenge: 10x Performance with Half the Resources
The core challenge presented to Blend360 was deceptively straightforward yet immensely complex: build an omnichannel, AI-infused NBA ecosystem capable of exponential scaling while simultaneously reducing operational overhead by more than half.
Critical Constraints
The existing configuration tool was not designed to support omnichannel logic, AI-authored content, or multi-system orchestration, creating significant technical barriers to achieving the transformation goals.
Key Transformation Goals
  • Embedding generative AI to accelerate content production and compliance approval
  • Reducing campaign operations headcount by over 50%
  • Improving NBA commercial outcomes across channels and lines of business
  • Expanding NBA orchestration from two channels to ten, concurrently
Blend's mission extended beyond simple implementation to co-designing the configuration roadmap in close partnership with internal product owners, aligning legacy tooling with next-generation NBA ecosystem requirements.
Our Approach: Strategic Design, Coordinated Execution
Value Realization Office Establishment
Blend360 created a VRO with three major workstreams: Performance Management, Optimization, and Execution, operating as both solution architect and delivery orchestrator.
Cross-Functional Alignment
Planning summits and steering councils aligned 70 stakeholders across marketing, product, CX, AI, and technology teams to define capability gaps and synchronize delivery strategy.
Design Thinking & Planning
Facilitated workshops defined requirements and framed architectural options, while epic-level documentation spanned five product organizations, ensuring backlog integrity.
Governance & Documentation
Created detailed architecture diagrams and led the NBA Value Realization Office, tracking KPIs and ensuring alignment between delivery teams and executive intent.
Our mandate spanned the complete integration of generative AI workflows, omnichannel configuration patterns, agentic orchestration logic, and product integration across configuration, activation, and service tools. This comprehensive approach ensured cohesive execution across all dimensions of the transformation.
Human Impact & Team Transformation
Performance Management
Blend devised a phased rollout strategy using a "Pioneer Group" approach:
1
1.5% Base Testing
Initial deployment to a "Pioneer Group" to test new strategies and measure impact
2
15% Expansion
With proven uplift, rollout to 15% of customer base
3
50% Adoption
Continued demonstration of value enabled expansion to half the customer base
4
98.5% Full Deployment
Near-complete rollout, preserving 1.5% for next "challenger" strategy testing
Optimization & Execution
Blend launched three business simulation methodologies to enable:
  • Customer value tracking and simulation across segments, interactions and proposition mixes
  • Simulation of experiences for under-served segments with modeled business outcomes
  • Simulation of changes to customer engagement strategies with anticipated results
The execution phase is driving organizational change through structured adoption plans and feedback loops to improve user experience and align with hyper-personalization value opportunities.
This methodical approach ensured sustainable transformation with measurable outcomes, supported by value-tracker and omni-channel measurement methodologies that enabled business value tracking and detailed analysis of customer experiences.
Measurable Outcomes & Client Testimonials
5x
Content Generation Scale
Increased content production through AI-authored variants
8
Omnichannel Deployment
Channels deployed simultaneously (from initial 2)
120%
Performance Increase
NBA response performance improvement
50%
Resource Reduction
Decrease in required operational headcount
"Prior to Blend's involvement, the generative AI initiative had started and failed at least three times. They're the first team that successfully integrated it."
— Senior Product Owner
"Multiple SIs and consulting teams tried to re-architect our ecosystem. Blend built a plan we could finally follow, deploy, and measure real change."
— Group Head, NBA
Before Blend360's involvement, generative AI had failed to integrate into the NBA workflow on three separate occasions. Configuration teams previously launched NBA experiences one channel at a time, but now deploy omnichannel NBA executions across 8 channels in a single sprint cycle, using the same resource pool, with two additional channels in planning.
AI Tooling & Expanded Partnership
Expanded Agentic AI Transformation
Following our successful NBA transformation, Blend has become the preferred partner for the telco's broader agentic AI transformation effort, now supporting:
  • Backlog development for agent use cases
  • Agent design frameworks and orchestration logic
  • System architecture for agent-to-tool coordination
Configuration Ingredients Influenced
Testing & Simulation
Rule testing and simulation layers for validating strategies
Persona Logic
Persona-based configuration logic for targeted experiences
AI Integration
Variant generation workflows and explainability components
Deployment Safety
Deployment rollback mechanics for risk mitigation
The transformation of configuration tooling has been particularly significant—evolving from single-channel configuration with no AI support to fully integrated generative variants and channel-agnostic logic that supports complex orchestration across multiple channels.
The Blend360 Difference: Overcoming Friction Through Execution
Why Blend Was Chosen
Blend360's differentiation is simple: agility, expertise, and execution. We deploy cross-functional teams who work shoulder-to-shoulder with internal product teams to deliver working software, real architectures, and immediately actionable epics. Our ability to bridge AI, configuration, and orchestration at speed moved the needle where others had failed.
Managing Tensions: Leading Through Friction
Early in the program, we encountered roadmap misalignment across product groups causing delivery bottlenecks. Despite broad agreement on the "AI-first" vision, there was limited alignment on sequencing, architectural dependencies, or delivery ownership.

Keys to Success
Our strategy was persistence through process. We applied structure through:
  • Design thinking workshops
  • Backlog stewardship
  • System architecture documentation
  • Weekly alignment cadences
"Once we saw it work, everyone wanted to get on board."
— Client Stakeholder
The program earned trust through delivery. When our first GenAI pilot delivered a 150% performance improvement, resistance turned into alignment. This case demonstrates Blend360's ability to not just envision transformation, but to execute it in complex enterprise environments where others have struggled—delivering measurable business impact through practical, expert-led implementation.