One of the World’s Largest Online Travel Companies 2
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Transcript of One of the World’s Largest Online Travel Companies 2
The Client
The client is one of the world’s largest online travel companies and the
parent organization to a global portfolio of leading consumer brands,
including online travel sites and corporate travel management
companies. With revenues of over USD 3 billion, the company employs
over 9,000 employees globally, including over 1,000 employees based
in local markets throughout the world. The company, which reported
close to USD 30 billion in gross bookings in 2011, operates sites
localized for more than 100 points of sale in more than 60 countries
worldwide.
Enhancing Customer Expectations at First Point of Contact
Case Study | Outsourcing | Travel & HospitalityManaging Experience
Business Challenge
Aegis’ partnership with the client began in mid-2000, with the launch of
a 30-member program. Today, this program is one of Aegis’ largest and
longest-running client programs having grown from 30 to over 1,700
contact center professionals and 260 support and management staff,
providing support out of two metropolitan cities in the Philippines. Over
time, the client has enhanced the scope of engagement to include
customer management and support for other brands in their portfolio.
Currently, Aegis manages the following transactions for the client:
�- Car, hotel, and airline reservations / bookings
�- Upselling / cross-selling of packages, attractions, and other travel
products and services
�- Booking changes and cancellations
�- Refunds
�- Dispute / complaint management
�- Policy and procedural information
�- Travel benefits / incentive management
- First Call Resolution (FCR) is an important metric in a services business
and is directly related to the customer experience. An end customer
always expects a brand to address their problems at the first point of
contact. Otherwise, it would impact their expectation leading to
customer dissatisfaction and eventually, attrition. With the growing
emphasis on managing customer expectations at the first point of
contact, organizations are now implementing and monitoring FCR
measures to achieve desired levels of customer satisfaction while
keeping internal costs under control. A healthy FCR metric indicates
proficiency and superior capabilities in resolving customer queries and
disputes, and enhances the overall customer experience.
- One of the client’s principal KPIs is FCR which traditionally measures
the effectiveness and efficiency of its customer contact center. With its
current FCR pegged at 75%, the client was facing a serious challenge
in managing customer expectations at the first point of contact with
their brand. It was increasingly important for the client to match
customer expectations and minimize follow-ups and rework. An
increase in unresolved customer contacts not only affects end
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customer experience, but also directly impacts the profitability of the
program – an increase in the number of follow-up calls results to an
increase in volume which requires additional headcount to take on the
calls. The client wanted to redesign customer metrics to ensure
customer delight, delivering a ‘wow’ experience when compared with
what is available in the industry today.
Services Provided by Aegis
As an outsourcing company focused on delivering superior customer
experience, we view all KPIs through an end user experience lens.
Therefore, there exist obvious correlations between FCR and customer
expectation management particularly at the first point of contact –
enhanced customer experience and improved quality became a natural
by-product of expectation management, and the savings from efficiency
were immediately measurable by the client.
The challenge for many brands is that there is a huge disconnect
between their contact channels and understanding of customer
expectations.This disconnect leads to unnecessary escalations and
time-consuming customer disputes. Aegis developed a quality process
monitoring program to ensure a healthy FCR aligned with customer
expectations which would translate into superior customer experience,
fewer repeat contacts, and maximized value from every customer
interaction.
Aegis implemented both proactive and reactive mechanisms mentioned
below:
- Aegis established an Outlier Management Program as a proactive
measure to deliver effective resolution at the first point of contact. The
objective of this program was to induct and familiarize customer
contact center staff with end user customer expectations. This
program was conducted through dedicated support from quality,
operations, and training. Their supervisors evaluate their performance
on a frequent basis and provide additional coaching if required.
- As a tracking mechanism to deliver effective resolution and consistent
experience, Aegis implemented a customer call back practice. This
enabled them to track disconnected contacts, and proactively call back
a customer to resolve the issue and close the transaction. This
mechanism saw a tremendous decrease in customer dissatisfaction
Assessment Category
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score point. It also realigned the customer expectation with the brand
leading to a delightful customer experience.
- Aegis also initiated a Six Sigma Green Belt project to improve
occupancy and Average Speed of Answer (ASA). The goal was to
reduce occupancy from 95% to 88% as per the COPC standard. The
ASA for the Tier 2 or escalation teams was quite high, resulting in
longer hold time which, in turn, affected customer satisfaction. Analysis
of these results revealed that over-forecasted calls drive higher
occupancy and ASA levels (i.e. Aegis is staffed to handle X number of
calls as per client forecast but actual calls routed to Aegis exceed X).
Aegis identified this bottleneck and got an approval from the client to
add more staff to the Tier 2 / escalations team. Additionally, it rolled out
a new call routing system that intelligently routes calls based on
availability and skills.
Key Results and Benefits
Customer Resolution at the first point of contact with the client brand
increased by 6.19% by aligning customer contact channels with end
customer expectations.
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FCR Target
68.00%
70.00%
72.00%
74.00%
76.00%
78.00%
80.00%
82.00%
Month-on-Month FCR Performance
73.05%
74.02%
76.35%
74.86% 75.02%
79.65%
77.32%
80.32%
79.15%78.91%
79.47%
77.36%
79.24%
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About AegisAegis is a global outsourcing and technology company committed to
impacting clients’ business outcomes by focusing on enhancing
customer experience across all touch points and channels. Aegis was
founded 30 years ago in the US and now has operations in 56 locations
across 13 countries with more than 55,000 employees. Aegis services
over 300 clients from verticals such as Banking and Financial Services,
Insurance, Technology, Telecom, Healthcare, Travel & Hospitality,
Consumer Goods, Retail, and Energy & Utilities. The company is wholly
owned by the Essar Group, a USD 27 billion conglomerate.
For more information write to us at [email protected] or visit
www.aegisglobal.com
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Agent DSAT
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
Agent DSAT
Instances of customer dissatisfaction and repeat follow-ups decreased
by 6.48% through proactive mechanism to aligning customer experience.
28.15% 27.45%27.10%
24.84%
21.32%
22.71%
20.29% 21.29% 23.32%
23.58%
22.99%21.66%25.60%
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