Verizon has teamed up with Google to give 28,000 customer support reps a “personal research assistant”.
The assistant provides Verizon’s frontline workers with real-time, “context-aware”, and personalized answers to customer inquiries.
As such, live agents don’t need to manually search through extensive knowledge bases to solve many customer queries.
Yet, while there are many solutions that now offer such capabilities, the “personal research assistant” goes further.
Indeed, it also surfaces other relevant questions customers may have based on their original query. The agent can then ensure the customer has all the information they need and prevent a repeat contact.
Alongside providing oven-ready answers, the agent can probe the research assistant further, ask their own questions, and receive “immediate” answers
The conversational AI agent is powered by Google Cloud’s Vertex AI, Gemini models, and Agent Assist Panel.
It will support 28,000 of Verizon’s customer care reps and retail stores, anticipating customer needs and offering tailored solutions.
Speaking on the announcement, Sampath Sowmyanarayan, CEO of Verizon Consumer, said: “Our collaboration with Google Cloud and the integration of Gemini into our customer care platforms mark a significant advancement in our commitment to providing exceptional customer experiences.
The tangible results demonstrate the power of AI to enhance efficiency and empower our customer care teams.
In addition to the “personal research assistant”, Verizon and Google have built a “problem solver agent”.
The problem solver agent supports reps as they deal with more complex queries, not just giving them answers but guiding them through advanced troubleshooting steps.
Verizon developed the agent by integrating its knowledge base with “Google Cloud’s Customer Engagement Suite and Agent Assist Panel”.
With the “problem solver agent”, Verizon aspires to support all reps, but especially newbies, providing that support mechanism, building their confidence, and accelerating time to proficiency.
Delighted to deliver these capabilities to Verizon, Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, stated:
The impact of Gemini on Verizon’s customer service operations is a testament to our deep partnership and Verizon’s commitment to continued innovation.
Kurian first announced the Google Cloud Customer Engagement Suite in 2024, and last month the vendor added a console for brands like Verizon to build conversational agents.
As part of the release, Google also announced an AI Trainer and Coach to further nurture the performance of live agents with original innovation.
The Verizon & Google Partnership Goes Deeper
Verizon has introduced multiple generative AI-driven customer-facing virtual agents designed to provide “personalized, seamless, and conversational support.”
Powered by Google’s Gemini models, these solutions are available to customers through platforms like the My Verizon app via phone or chat.
Like the live agent assistants, the virtual agents feed from Verizon knowledge sources and follow its business practices to interact with customers autonomously.
According to Verizon, the strategic partnership has led to a “95 percent comprehensive answerability for customer inquiries”, resulting in “demonstrably more efficient and effective customer care interactions.”
How Verizon is Using Agentic AI More Widely
In a recent interview with CX Today, Brian Higgins, the Chief Customer Experience Officer at Verizon, explored the ways in which Verizon is implementing agentic AI and why.
In doing so, he stressed that Verizon aims to design AI agents to complement human teams rather than replace them, particularly by handling straightforward tasks where quickness and efficiency are essential.
Here, he introduced another AI agent Verizon had implemented in the contact center.
This agent analyzes the caller’s history and relevant product information. It then provides reps with immediate insights to anticipate customer needs.
According to Higgins, this is one deployment of many aiming to reduce cognitive load for employees.
Yet, AI agents span far beyond the contact center. For instance, Verizon has also released a Personal Shopper agent that uses customer insights to recommend products and services.
Now, the CX team is looking for new opportunities and is investing in specialized language models (SLMs).
These offer the same accuracy and capabilities as large language models (LLMs) but require fewer resources.
No doubt, Google will prove a trusty partner here to help Verizon in its endeavors.
