‘Customers prefer AI chatbots,’ says British Gas owner as 1,300 call centre jobs axed

2026-07-23 · Source: AI (artificial intelligence) | The Guardian · Field: Business & Management — Operations & Process Management, Corporate Strategy & Leadership, Human Resources & Workforce Development · Depth: Fundamental Awareness, quick

Summary

Centrica, the FTSE 100 owner of British Gas, is cutting 1,300 call centre jobs, comprising 800 new reductions and 500 confirmed last month. These cuts, impacting customer service teams in six UK cities by 14% over two years, are attributed to a "targeted deployment of AI tools" and evolving customer behavior. CEO Chris O’Shea stated that over 90% of customers now use digital channels first, resulting in a 20% decrease in customer calls. This announcement coincides with Centrica reporting a rise in retail profits to £346m in the first half of the year, up from £338m, despite a slight decline in British Gas domestic customers to 7.45 million. The company's strategy focuses on higher profit margins from fixed-price tariffs.

Key takeaway

For operations professionals managing customer service and workforce planning, this shift highlights the imperative to align staffing with evolving customer channel preferences. You should proactively invest in AI-driven digital interfaces and re-skill your teams for digital support roles, rather than solely focusing on traditional call center capacity. This strategy allows you to optimize operational costs and maintain profitability, even as customer interaction patterns change.

Key insights

Customer preference for digital channels is driving significant call center job reductions and a shift in operational focus.

Principles

• Digital channel adoption directly correlates with reduced call center demand.
• Strategic margin focus can offset customer attrition in retail operations.
• Workforce planning must adapt to evolving customer interaction patterns.

In practice

• Implement AI tools to manage increasing digital customer interactions.
• Reallocate resources to digital interface development and support roles.
• Prioritize profitable customer segments over volume growth.

Topics

• AI Chatbots
• Workforce Reduction
• Customer Service
• Digital Transformation
• Centrica
• Retail Profitability

Best for: CTO, Investor, VP of Engineering/Data, Executive, Director of AI/ML, Operations Professional

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by AI (artificial intelligence) | The Guardian.