Verizon credited the integration of Google Cloud’s generative AI (genAI) capabilities for improvements in its customer care platform, highlighting a 96 per cent accuracy rate in agent assistance and a reduction in average call times.
The mobile operator announced a raft of human-assisted genAI applications in May 2024, which included its Personal Research Assistant developed alongside Google Cloud.
The conversational agent is now deployed across 28,000 of Verizon’s customer care representatives and retail stores.
Verizon’s customer care software uses Google’s Gemini large language models and its Vertex AI platform for building, deploying and managing AI agents and models.
The Personal Research Assistant tool helps frontline teams review thousands of resources with the aim of providing employees with the information needed to resolve problems quickly and accurately.
The results include a high level of accuracy while ensuring customer inquiries are consistently addressed. Further enhancements, such as automated conversation summarisations and follow-up action reminders, are being rolled out to optimise agent workflows.
Verizon Consumer CEO Sampath Sowmyanarayan stated “the tangible results demonstrate the power of AI to enhance efficiency and empower our customer care teams”.
Last year Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg predicted genAI will help the operator retain 100,000 subscribers this year by proactively identifying why they were calling customer care and then connecting them with the most suitable representative.