NHS Shared Business Services and Salesforce have launched a new AI-powered digital platform designed to modernise finance and procurement support services across the NHS.
The organisations said the new platform, known as SBS One, will provide NHS staff and suppliers with a single digital help centre capable of handling invoice and procurement queries through a mix of automation, self-service tools and AI agents.
NHS SBS, which processes £395 billion of NHS funding each year, said the platform forms part of a wider multi-million pound investment into a new unified finance and procurement service. The organisation said the aim is to simplify processes, reduce administrative overheads and free up staff to focus on higher-value work.
Built on Salesforce’s Agentforce 360 for Public Sector platform, SBS One combines AI, workflow automation and customer support tools into a single environment. NHS staff and suppliers can raise, track and resolve queries in real time, with the system designed to route more complex issues to specialist teams automatically.
A central feature of the platform is “Agent Murphy”, an AI assistant capable of responding to natural language queries and handling routine requests without human intervention. NHS SBS said the system can provide immediate responses for straightforward enquiries while escalating more complicated cases with the relevant context attached.
According to the organisations, 84 percent of queries from NHS staff are now initiated through the platform, reducing reliance on telephone-based support. Average handling times have fallen by 20 percent, while the average time needed to raise a query has dropped from 12 minutes to three minutes. Most cases are now resolved within 24 hours, the companies said.
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NHS SBS added that only six percent of invoices processed by the organisation result in a query, with the new platform intended to make those interactions quicker and more transparent for both suppliers and NHS teams.
AI deployment at scale in critical public services
John Murphy, head of customer excellence at NHS SBS, said the project demonstrated how AI-enabled service operations could improve experiences for both staff and suppliers.
“We’ve shown something unexpected: that a contact centre can be a harmonised service that suits everyone whilst driving AI transformation across an entire organisation. With most cases now resolved within 24 hours, we are vastly exceeding our service level agreements,” he said.
Zahra Bahrololoumi, CEO of Salesforce UKI, said the project reflected a broader shift from AI experimentation towards operational deployment at scale in critical public services.
“By bringing together data, automation, and AI agents on a unified platform, NHS SBS is not just optimising workflows – they are unlocking fiscal capacity, strengthening supply chain resilience, and proving that trusted AI can deliver profound economic value back to frontline public services,” she said.
NHS SBS said it plans to expand the use of AI across additional service areas, including supplier query management, email handling and case management workflows. The organisation expects AI agents to eventually handle up to 50 percent of service demand.
