Verizon Business Assistant is a GenAI-powered tool helping small businesses automate 24/7 customer interactions via text messaging.
Quiver AI Summary
Verizon has introduced the Business Assistant, a generative AI-powered text messaging solution designed specifically for small businesses to enhance customer interactions and automate responses. This tool allows businesses to respond instantly to common customer inquiries 24/7, significantly freeing up time for employees to tackle more complex tasks. The Business Assistant learns over time, improving its accuracy and efficiency while connecting users to live team members for more detailed queries when necessary. According to Verizon's fifth Annual State of Small Business Report, small business owners are eager to leverage technology for greater efficiency and customer engagement. The product encompasses features like automated responses, continuous learning, and an insights dashboard to help owners understand customer preferences, all while being easy to set up and customize.
Potential Positives
- Introduction of Verizon Business Assistant provides small businesses with an accessible AI-powered solution to enhance customer interactions and automate common inquiries.
- The tool frees up time for small business owners and employees, allowing them to focus on higher-value tasks while improving overall efficiency.
- Business Assistant's continuous learning feature enables it to improve its accuracy over time, making it an evolving asset for small businesses.
- The solution addresses the growing demand from customers, particularly younger generations, for convenient digital communication options, thereby enhancing customer engagement.
Potential Negatives
- There is a potential risk of negatively impacting employment, as the solution reduces the need for human intervention in customer service roles, which may raise concerns about job security for employees.
- The press release does not provide detailed information on pricing or potential costs for small businesses, which might deter interested clients seeking clarity on economic feasibility.
- The emphasis on Generative AI raises concerns about data privacy and security, as small businesses may be apprehensive about how customer interactions are managed and stored by the AI system.
FAQ
What is Verizon Business Assistant?
Verizon Business Assistant is a GenAI-powered text messaging solution designed to automate customer interactions for small businesses.
How can small businesses use Verizon Business Assistant?
Small businesses can deploy it to provide automated responses to customer inquiries, enhancing efficiency and engagement.
What are the key features of Verizon Business Assistant?
Key features include automated responses, live team member handoff, continuous learning, SMS/MMS communication, and an insights dashboard.
How does Verizon Business Assistant improve customer service?
It reduces response times and allows employees to focus on higher-value tasks while ensuring accurate answers for customers.
Is the setup process complicated for Verizon Business Assistant?
No, the setup is straightforward and integrates easily with existing Verizon devices without needing new hardware or software.
Disclaimer: This is an AI-generated summary of a press release distributed by GlobeNewswire. The model used to summarize this release may make mistakes. See the full release here.
$VZ Congressional Stock Trading
Members of Congress have traded $VZ stock 4 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 4 have been sales.
Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $VZ stock by members of Congress over the last 6 months:
- REPRESENTATIVE JULIE JOHNSON sold up to $15,000 on 01/15.
- REPRESENTATIVE EMILY RANDALL sold up to $15,000 on 01/06.
- SENATOR SHELDON WHITEHOUSE has traded it 2 times. They made 0 purchases and 2 sales worth up to $30,000 on 10/29.
To track congressional stock trading, check out Quiver Quantitative's congressional trading dashboard.
$VZ Insider Trading Activity
$VZ insiders have traded $VZ stock on the open market 7 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 7 have been sales.
Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $VZ stock by insiders over the last 6 months:
- KYLE MALADY (EVP and Group CEO-VZ Business) has made 0 purchases and 5 sales selling 65,675 shares for an estimated $2,654,457.
- VANDANA VENKATESH (EVP-PubPol&ChiefLegalOfficer) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 10,000 shares for an estimated $437,938.
To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard.
$VZ Hedge Fund Activity
We have seen 1,243 institutional investors add shares of $VZ stock to their portfolio, and 1,633 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.
Here are some of the largest recent moves:
- GQG PARTNERS LLC removed 12,391,586 shares (-50.1%) from their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $495,539,524
- MORGAN STANLEY removed 10,038,212 shares (-12.9%) from their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $401,428,097
- ARROWSTREET CAPITAL, LIMITED PARTNERSHIP removed 9,485,571 shares (-45.7%) from their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $379,327,984
- LEGAL & GENERAL GROUP PLC removed 9,454,780 shares (-25.7%) from their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $378,096,652
- ALYESKA INVESTMENT GROUP, L.P. added 8,695,736 shares (+3601.6%) to their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $347,742,482
- CHARLES SCHWAB INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC added 7,421,148 shares (+7.3%) to their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $296,771,708
- CAPITAL RESEARCH GLOBAL INVESTORS added 6,846,514 shares (+52.7%) to their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $273,792,094
To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard.
$VZ Analyst Ratings
Wall Street analysts have issued reports on $VZ in the last several months. We have seen 3 firms issue buy ratings on the stock, and 3 firms issue sell ratings.
Here are some recent analyst ratings:
- Tigress Financial issued a "Underperform" rating on 10/23/2024
- Cowen & Co. issued a "Buy" rating on 10/23/2024
- Goldman Sachs issued a "Buy" rating on 10/22/2024
- Scotiabank issued a "Underperform" rating on 10/18/2024
- Citigroup issued a "Underperform" rating on 10/14/2024
- Raymond James issued a "Outperform" rating on 09/24/2024
To track analyst ratings and price targets for $VZ, check out Quiver Quantitative's $VZ forecast page.
$VZ Price Targets
Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $VZ recently. We have seen 6 analysts offer price targets for $VZ in the last 6 months, with a median target of $47.5.
Here are some recent targets:
- John Hodulik from UBS set a target price of $44.0 on 10/23/2024
- Gregory Williams from Williams Trading set a target price of $51.0 on 10/23/2024
- Maher Yaghi from Scotiabank set a target price of $47.0 on 10/23/2024
- James Schneider from Goldman Sachs set a target price of $52.0 on 10/22/2024
- Frank Louthan from Raymond James set a target price of $48.0 on 09/24/2024
- Jonathan Atkin from RBC Capital set a target price of $46.0 on 09/23/2024
Full Release
What you need to know:
Verizon Business Assistant is an easy-to-deploy solution that small businesses can start using immediately to free up time and answer customer questions via text 24/7.
Small businesses now have the same opportunity to leverage AI as global enterprises to automate and enhance their customer interactions with a generative AI assistant
Small business owners want to make their businesses more efficient through technology, and better connect with new and existing customers, according to Verizon Business’ fifth
Annual State of Small Business Report
NEW YORK, March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Small businesses can now harness the power of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) to supercharge their operations. The newest product built directly for small businesses, Verizon Business Assistant is a GenAI-powered text messaging solution designed to help small businesses automate customer interactions and enhance engagement. Business Assistant provides instant text responses to commonly asked questions, learns and improves over time, and enables businesses to offer faster and more efficient customer service.
How it works:
If a customer texts a bakery to ask about gluten-free options, Business Assistant can instantly respond using GenAI. If it doesn’t yet have the answer, it will then connect to a live employee for assistance. The best part is that it learns from interactions, building a knowledge base that improves over time. Ultimately, Business Assistant reduces the need for human intervention, allowing employees to focus on higher-value tasks while ensuring customers get fast, accurate responses.
“Small business owners are constantly juggling multiple responsibilities, and want to use technology to improve operations and better connect with their customers,” said Iris Meijer, Chief Product & Marketing Officer, Verizon Business. “Yet access to that technology and AI tools that work for small businesses can be a challenge, which is where we want to help champion them. Verizon Business Assistant is one example of a solution we’re rolling out to support small business owners. It also addresses an increasing customer demand - particularly from younger generations - for easy digital tools to communicate with businesses on simple matters. This allows small business owners to focus on growing their business while ensuring their customers feel valued and connected to the business.”
Business Assistant is ideal for small business owners looking to:
Save time
by automating responses to common questions, freeing up time for other tasks.
Serve more customers
efficiently with the ability to automatically respond to inquiries via text message 24/7.
Enhance customer engagement
by providing a fast, convenient, and preferred communication channel.
Gain insights
into customer needs and preferences through interaction data.
Key features include:
Automated Responses
: Provides immediate answers to common customer inquiries, freeing up valuable time for business owners and employees.
Live Team Member Handoff
: Transitions complex inquiries to a live team member for a personalized experience.
Continuous Learning
: Expands its knowledge base over time, improving accuracy with more interactions.
Text Messaging (SMS/MMS)
: Uses a familiar and convenient channel for easy communication between businesses and customers.
Insights Dashboard:
Gives business owners valuable data on customer trends and engagement patterns.
Easy to set up:
The setup is straightforward, easily integrates with existing Verizon mobile devices, and requires no new hardware or software.
Customizable
: Gives business owners the power to choose how it is trained and what answers are desired for any potential question.
For more ways Verizon Business supports small businesses, visit
Small Business Solutions
.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) powers and empowers how its millions of customers live, work and play, delivering on their demand for mobility, reliable network connectivity and security. Headquartered in New York City, serving countries worldwide and nearly all of the Fortune 500, Verizon generated revenues of $134.8 billion in 2024. Verizon’s world-class team never stops innovating to meet customers where they are today and equip them for the needs of tomorrow. For more, visit
verizon.com
or find a retail location at
verizon.com/stores.
VERIZON’S ONLINE MEDIA CENTER: News releases, stories, media contacts and other resources are available at
verizon.com/news
. News releases are also available through an RSS feed. To subscribe, visit
www.verizon.com/about/rss-feeds/
.
Media contact:
Tessa Giammona
tessa.giammona@verizon.com
Carly Sylvester
carly.sylvester@verizon.com
This article was originally published on Quiver News, read the full story.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
