Italiaonline, the leading Italian internet company, announces the launch of MARiO, the artificial intelligence-based virtual assistant designed to revolutionize the operations of small and medium-sized businesses. MARiO is not just a software, but a real multilingual “digital collaborator” capable of answering calls, acquiring leads and managing appointments 24 hours a day, in total autonomy. The service is available from today for the over 200,000 Italiaonline client companies on the peninsula.
In a market where more than 30% of customers change supplier if they do not receive an immediate response, and 22% of consumers now start searching for local businesses through AI tools, the time window for building a relationship of trust has never been closer. This has a tangible impact on the economic performance of Italian SMEs. MARiO solves.
Based on Vendasta technology and approved and adopted in line with privacy legislation and best practices for AI solutions, the service intervenes to eliminate the loss of potential contacts and transforms every potential customer into a concrete opportunity. Unlike traditional, fragmented systems, MARiO leverages Vendasta’s “AI Employee” infrastructure to proactively manage the customer journey by combining a company’s unique, proprietary data with intelligent automation to eliminate the complexity of manual marketing and operational tasks.
This approach is part of Italiaonline’s broader strategy aimed at equipping SMEs with advanced artificial intelligence tools, capable of growing and adapting together with each customer’s business: a platform destined to be progressively enriched with new features to accompany companies throughout the life cycle of the relationship with their customers.
MARiO replaces the rigid menus of telephone answering machines with an intelligent assistant capable of managing multiple calls simultaneously, in a fluid and intelligent interaction.
Key features include:
- 24/7 lead capture: Respond instantly via phone and web chat, in 57 languages, engaging every potential customer in real time.
- Front office automation: pre-qualify leads, manage appointment requests and organize follow-up directly in the CRM.
- Data availability: all interactions are recorded in a secure and searchable customer database, to better manage each contact.
MARiO on TV and in cities: the “MARiO transforms every call into an opportunity” campaign launches
The debut of MARiO is accompanied by a massive multi-channel communication campaign, which started on April 12th, entirely created by the Communication & Media team of Italiaonline with the help of the same generative AI. The multi-subject campaign – divided into the subjects “Chef” and “Plumber” – intuitively tells how MARiO simplifies the life of Italian SMEs.
The planning, active until June 20th, is distributed on the following channels:
- TV: 30″ and 15″ spots on the Warner Bros Discovery Italia circuit (Real Time, DMax, Giallo, Motor Trend, HGTV, Food Network and NOVE).
- DOOH (Digital Out Of Home): presence in the metro stations of Milan, Brescia, Genoa and Rome and in 12 national airports via Class’s UP TV circuit.
- Digital: Widespread presence on the Ciaopeople network (with pre-roll videos and displays) and on the sector publications Engage and DailyNet.
“The launch of MARiO demonstrates that AI is no longer a tool reserved for large companies with large budgets. With this service we demonstrate that an AI-based workforce is a concrete and scalable resource, capable of supporting every professional reality: from the plumber to the restaurateur, from the lawyer to the local retailer.
Italiaonline is setting a global standard that other service providers will inevitably follow. We’re helping SMBs stop managing software complexities and focus on business outcomes. We are particularly proud of both this project and its communication campaign which reflects not only the value of MARiO, but also our commitment to testing new languages to better explain what we do, integrating AI 100% into our creative processes”
says Umberto Poschi Chief Web & Media Services Officer of Italiaonline.
“With MARiO we transform artificial intelligence into a real collaborator accessible to every professional and small business. Italiaonline is charting a course of excellence that will become the new international benchmark. We are helping companies to overcome technological complexity to aim straight for growth and results”
says Brendan King, CEO of Vendasta.
