SASKATOON (SK) / MILAN (IT), April 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Italiaonline, Italy's largest internet company, and Vendasta, the AI workforce platform for local business, today announced a landmark strategic partnership to deploy AI at national scale. The collaboration launches MARiO — Italy's first AI employee purpose-built for small and medium-sized businesses. MARiO answers calls, captures leads, and books appointments around the clock and in every language. It is live today for 100,000+ businesses across Italy.

Solving the leaky bucket: from answering service to revenue engine

The cost of a missed call is higher than most business owners realize. Research shows that 30% of customers switch providers when they don't receive an immediate response, and in a market where 22% of consumers now begin their search for local businesses using AI tools, the window to make a first impression has never been narrower.* For Italy's small business owners, that is not a customer experience problem, it is a revenue problem. MARiO closes it.

Unlike traditional, fragmented systems, MARiO leverages Vendasta's AI Employee infrastructure to proactively manage the customer journey. By combining a business's unique, proprietary data with intelligent automation, MARiO eliminates the complexity of manual marketing and operations. Built on Vendasta's Conversations AI and CRM infrastructure, MARiO replaces legacy phone trees with an intelligent AI employee that handles multiple callers simultaneously and routes calls to the right person when needed. For the restaurateur managing a Saturday rush, the lawyer in a client meeting, the clinic managing a full waiting room, MARiO delivers capabilities that were previously out of reach:

24/7 lead capture: Answers inbound calls and web inquiries instantly via phone, WhatsApp, and web chat, ensuring every prospect is engaged in real time, around the clock. Front office automation: Books tables and appointments, prequalifies leads, and organizes follow-up directly into the CRM, removing the administrative burden from the business owner entirely. Total data ownership: Every interaction is automatically logged into a searchable customer database the business owns permanently, ensuring continuity even as staff change and the business grows.

MARiO integrates natively into the Italiaonline ecosystem of solutions, offering businesses a seamless and connected experience throughout the entire customer journey. Contacts acquired via MARiO are automatically fed into the InRete address book, Italiaonline's main platform for managing digital presence, where they can be organised and activated through marketing automation campaigns to foster ongoing customer relationships. Integration with the websites and advertising solutions offered by Italiaonline completes the picture: from generating qualified traffic to call management and follow-up, every stage of the funnel is managed within a single ecosystem.

MARiO already has 25 businesses actively onboarded through pre-orders ahead of today's full launch. In the months following, Italiaonline will expand MARiO's capabilities to include automated WhatsApp and email follow-up campaigns, multilingual support, and in-store redemption tools, enabling businesses to serve more customers, in more languages, without adding headcount.

A rigorous standard for SME success

Italiaonline serves 100,000+ SMBs and 700 large enterprises through a network of approximately 700 consultants across Italy. The choice of technology partner was a critical strategic decision. After a rigorous evaluation of the global technology landscape, they selected Vendasta — a platform that provisions full AI employees within minutes, including local Italian phone numbers and GDPR-compliant communication packages, with consumption-based AI credits their consultant network can package and resell.

The need is clear: in Vendasta's proprietary research across the SMB economy, 74.5% of small businesses say online reputation and customer responsiveness are critically important to their success today — yet most still struggle to manage customer engagement consistently at scale.** MARiO was built to close that gap.

"We conducted a deep-dive search for a partner who could match our scale with industrial-grade reliability," said Umberto Poschi, Chief Web & Media Services Officer at Italiaonline. "Vendasta stood alone in its ability to address a comprehensive set of small business needs. By combining Vendasta's horizontal AI platform with our own vertical expertise in the Italian market, we have built a true AI workforce for Italian SMEs. One that does the work, not just assists with it. MARiO gives entrepreneurs back the freedom to stop managing tools and start focusing on results."

Democratizing AI for local business

The launch of MARiO proves that AI is no longer a tool reserved for large enterprises. Today, 52% of large firms use AI compared to just 17.4% of small businesses***, a gap driven by complexity and cost, not relevance. Among SMBs that have made the leap, 91% report a direct boost in revenue.**** Vendasta's platform was built specifically to close that gap, putting sophisticated AI capability to work at the neighborhood level.

"By powering MARiO, we are proving that an AI workforce is a scalable reality for every local plumber, lawyer, and retailer," said Brendan King, CEO of Vendasta. "Italiaonline is setting a global standard that other service providers will inevitably follow. We are helping SMBs stop managing software and start achieving outcomes."

MARiO's launch is the foundation of a multi-phase collaboration. Italiaonline and Vendasta will continue expanding the platform's capabilities through 2026, with additional AI and digital products planned for Italy's local business community.

For more information about MARiO, visit italiaonline.it. To learn more about Vendasta's AI workforce, visit vendasta.com.

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About Italiaonline

Italiaonline is Italy's largest internet company and the country's leading digital partner for small and medium-sized businesses. Through its network of approximately 700 consultants across Italy, Italiaonline supports 100,000+ SMBs and 700 large enterprises with a comprehensive portfolio of digital services spanning web marketing, digital advertising, web design, ecommerce, social media management, and cloud solutions. Its digital properties — including Libero, Virgilio, PagineGialle, PagineBianche, DiLei, QuiFinanza, and TuttoCittà — reach over 24 million unique users monthly and generate more than 4 billion impressions. With nearly 10 million active email accounts, Italiaonline operates Italy's most-used email service and the country's most visited national network of web portals. Learn more at italiaonline.it.

About Vendasta

Vendasta is the AI workforce platform for small and medium-sized businesses. Vendasta provides AI Employees that execute the work of marketing, sales, and operations automatically — helping local businesses reclaim time and scale without the overhead of traditional hiring. Founded in Saskatoon, Vendasta has a global network of 60,000+ partners to help SMBs stop managing software and start achieving outcomes. Learn how to hire your first AI employee at Vendasta.com.

* Local Buying Behavior 2026: Search & AI — How AI is reshaping discovery, trust, and local decision-making — Vendasta Research

** 2026 State of Reputation Management — Why trust now depends on AI-driven execution in the SMB economy — Vendasta Research

*** OECD, AI Adoption by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, December 2025

**** Salesforce, Small & Medium Business Trends Report, 2025

Attachments

Italiaonline Selects Vendasta’s AI Workforce Platform to Power 100,000+ Italian SMBs

MARiO, Italy's first AI employee

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Vendasta

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Source: Vendasta