Latest news with #Veri
Forbes
09-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How Verizon Is Transforming The Customer Service Experience
A view of a Verizon store in Levittown, New York. (Photo by) It is one of the most frustrating parts of the customer experience: You have an issue with a company, explain it to an agent, and just when you think it may get resolved, the agent transfers you to someone else. And you have to explain the problem again – and again, and again. Now, Verizon is trying to alleviate this persistent pain point by giving consumers a single point of contact, reducing the exasperating transfer process that plagues call centers In an innovative idea that not many companies have implemented, Verizon recently created the role of dedicated Customer Champion, agents who will handle customer inquiries from start to finish. Under the plan, every customer service call will be assigned a champion, who will work on resolving the issue and updating the customer as the sole Verizon contact. 'The goal: customers only need to call once, and we take it from there,' Verizon said in announcing the initiative. The concept is creative, potentially very useful for customers and service teams alike, as are the specifics: the Verizon champions will update customers on progress through the channel of the customer's choosing. Research shows that U.S. consumers want to choose their own channels (and that they still favor phone calls, emails, or speaking to agents in person, even with the rise of AI-powered chatbots). The customer champions are part of a broader series of steps Verizon is taking in what the company calls its 'most significant customer experience transformation.' They include new 24/7 live support via phone and chat, along with a redesigned, AI-powered My Verizon app. 'We are setting a new standard for customer innovation by focusing on both people and technology, using the most advanced AI to make the customer experience simpler, faster, and more rewarding,' said Hans Vestberg, Verizon's Chairman and CEO. Why Traditional Customer Service Experience Fails Customers Verizon's overall focus on customer experience is laudable, yet the customer champions initiative stands out most of all. Research shows that being transferred from agent to agent is a particular source of customer frustration. People who get in touch often have a complaint from the start, and having to get new agents up to speed slows resolution times and can impact customer satisfaction scores. 'The only thing customers hate more than slow response times is having to repeat their query over and over again to different agents and teams,' wrote one online customer support platform. The consequences for companies can be stark, since more American consumers, driven by cultural shifts that were heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, are switching brands than ever. With many customers now willing to leave a brand after just two or three bad experiences, transferring someone to several agents could potentially cause that brand-switching by itself. In announcing the customer champions team and other recent steps, Verizon acknowledged that customer experience in its industry has fallen short. An email to customers from Verizon's consumer CEO, Sowmyanarayan Sampath, noted: 'Across the industry, customer service hasn't evolved the way it should. That's why at Verizon, we've taken a different path — one built entirely around you.' How Customer Champions Improve the Customer Service Experience Some issues are indeed persistent. And Verizon is onto something that should help. The benefits of the customer champions for actual customers are clear. By eliminating transfers, the initiative will reduce customer frustration and increase satisfaction, while improving customer trust that the brand has their back. Dealing with a single agent may even trigger an emotional connection between customer and company, potentially leading to more memorable customer experience moments. But it is not only customers who will benefit. Verizon is empowering agents to provide continuity and take personal ownership of issues, which could promote accountability and pride within service teams. The result? Higher employee satisfaction and a better employee experience. It will also give agents more productive things to do. With fewer phone calls to answer, company representatives can spend more time tracking the results of their interactions with individual customers, learning from how the issues were resolved, and perhaps even preventing future occurrences of the same problem. Key Questions About Verizon's Customer Service Experience Strategy Amid all of the positives, broader questions remain about the customer champions that will help determine ultimate success. Among them: What's Next For Verizon Perhaps the single most important question of all: How is Verizon equipping agents to not just solve problems, but create memorable experiences? Because that's ultimately the point of this and all such initiatives: Building a remarkable customer experience, something memorable and positive, that creates brand loyalty and leaves customers coming back for more. Verizon is saying the right things, and now needs to deliver. 'You're not a customer number or a case file,' the consumer CEO's email concludes. 'You're the reason we're here. And we're building an experience that will earn your trust, every single day. If we ever fall short – I want to hear about it, so we can get better.' And he provided his email address. Full text of the consumer CEO's email: A screenshot of the full email from Verizon's consumer CEO to customers.
CNBC
10-06-2025
- Health
- CNBC
23. ŌURA
Founders: Petteri Lahtela, Kari Kivelä, Markku KoskelaCEO: Tom HaleLaunched: 2013Headquarters: Oulu, FinlandFunding: $200 millionValuation: $5.2 billionKey Technologies: N/A Industry: Consumer technology, health carePrevious appearances on Disruptor 50 list: 2 (No. 33 in 2023) Oura has pioneered the smart ring market since the San Francisco-based company launched its eponymous connected device in 2015. But over the last twelve months, Oura has hastened its disruption of the broader wearables market, showing its evolution well beyond the original roots in sleep tracking. The company released the latest version of its flagship product, the Oura Ring 4, in October, which it says is its most accurate iteration yet thanks to additional signal pathways in the ring's sensors, allowing for better tracking of things like blood oxygen levels and heart rate. It also helps dial in a wide range of metrics, features and health indicators that Oura provides wearers via its app, everything from daily readiness and sleep scores in the morning to stress and activity tracking during the day and into the evening. Oura is also further leaning into the proactive side of wellness insights that its ring can provide. In March, the company launched an AI-powered health coach that uses algorithms and LLMs to analyze data and biometrics to offer personalized guidance around long-term trends in sleep or how meal timing might be impacting metabolic health. The AI health coach is also able to create plans around goals like improving sleep or improving stress resilience. The company has also made major strides in women's health, adding features around menstrual, period and pregnancy cycles, both tracking and insights. All of that is part of Oura's move into becoming an all-encompassing health and wellness tracker, with the goal of, as the company puts it, helping wearers "live healthier, longer." In December 2024, Oura raised a $200 million Series D that it said would help "fuel" healthcare innovation. Participating in that round was Dexcom, the global leader in glucose biosensing, which also partnered with Oura to allow users of its glucose monitor to share data between the two products. Oura CEO Tom Hale told CNBC in November that the company is testing out nutrition, allowing users to take pictures of their meal and load it into the Oura app. In September, Oura acquired Veri, a metabolic health startup that uses data from continuous glucose monitors to give users insight into their blood sugar levels. "Metabolic health is the natural next dimension of the Oura Ring holistic health experience, and one that our customers have told us they want," Hale said in a release announcing the Veri acquisition. Oura started with sleep, migrated to cardiovascular health, stress & resilience, and women's health, and is always looking for the "next pillar," according to Hale. "Metabolic health is an important next horizon and the team at Veri brings deep experience in that space," Hale said.
