Ask any manager of a large-scale project what job satisfaction feels like and they’ll tell you it’s about creating a lasting impression. So when Alex Holcroft was asked to run the Etihad Airways contact centre transformation programme he didn’t think twice. Here was a genuine opportunity to drive the airline’s future success.

Alex’s task was virtualising three contact centres – two in the UAE (Abu Dhabi and Al Ain) and one in Manchester in the UK – on a BT Cloud Contact Cisco platform. Now those far-flung locations act in perfect harmony. The airline’s guests are offered a first-class experience in 16 languages across 40 countries. A lasting impression, indeed.

Virtual contact centre drives airline’s future success.

Case study - Etihad Airways.

I think we’ve made a significant difference to the business. We’ve given them a huge amount of tangible benefit.

Alex HolcroftProject ManagerEtihad Airways

BT Cisco virtualisation ensures customers are treated as esteemed guests wherever their calls land.

Case Study - Etihad Airways.

Calling for a transformation.The air travel industry continues to consolidate. Global standards ensure control systems talk to each other. That trend is starting to appear in airlines’ internal systems too; nowhere more so than in contact centres.

Look at Etihad Airways, for example, it’s made itself one of the world’s leading airlines; taking minority stakes in seven international airlines. Robert Webb, Chief Information and Technology Officer at Etihad Airways, says: “We’ve grown from serving 50 destinations to 116 destinations and we do that across multiple languages around the world.”

Etihad Airways has three contact centres - in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain in the UAE, and Manchester in the UK. Alex Holcroft, Project Manager, takes up the story: “The challenge was that those legacy contact centres were run as individual sites. There was no sense of a single contact centre servicing the entire Etihad Airways business.”

A transformation was required to establish uniformly high service standards. It also had to ensure easy contact centre integration for new acquisitions.

Consuming a virtual contact centre as a service.Etihad Airways contact centres are the airline’s most important opportunity to create a lasting first impression. “As the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates we want passengers to feel like our guests from the very first call, wherever they are,” says Ruth Birkin, Head of Global Contact Centres at Etihad Airways.

The airline could see enormous business benefits from transforming its three contact centres into one virtual entity. It chose a BT Cloud Contact Cisco platform delivered from the cloud on pay-as-you-go terms. “With BT and Cisco cloud-based technologies we’re consuming the contact centre as a service,” says Robert.

Integrating inbound calls into a single queue, the BT platform makes a single virtual entity of the three Etihad contact centres. Ruth says: “We’re able to use our 450 multi-lingual agents around our centres much more effectively. We’ve already started to see a 10 per cent increase in their efficiency.”

A BT IP Connect Global network carries voice and data between the three contact centres and interconnects them with BT Cloud Compute hosting sites in Amsterdam and Manchester. “We have an overall managed service. We’re confident BT assures end-to-end support,” says Alex.

Precision queuing places guests with the right people.The BT Cloud Contact Cisco platform comes with a complete set of advanced features including IVR, call recording, multichannel call handling and workforce optimisation. Robert says: “This is really a set of next generation capabilities that’s critical to the success of interactions with our guests around the world.”

BT Inbound Contact Global means callers from 40 countries can be directed into one of 16 language teams across the three contact centres. Precision queuing uses logic to go beyond skills-based routing. Ruth explains: “When the call comes in precision queuing routes that guest to exactly the right agent. They may be in Manchester or they may be here in the UAE.”

Newfound agility is making contact centre management simpler when Etihad starts new routes like Abu Dhabi to Madrid, which opened in 2015. With BT Cloud Contact Cisco, complex issues like setting up Spanish menus on global IVR systems are child’s play. Ordering and testing new numbers is also involved.

“When we make such requests to BT it all happens quickly and smoothly,” says Ruth. “We really look to BT to be able to support us in all the markets we operate in.”

Etihad Airways is re-imagining the digital guest experience. In a fantastic partnership with BT and Cisco, we’re leveraging technology innovation and each other’s strengths and guest orientation.

Robert WebbChief Information and Technology OfficerEtihad Airways

With the intelligence that’s been delivered through this technology, we’ve been able to increase productivity to 75 per cent.

Alistair BurrowsHead of Contact CentresEtihad Cargo

Case Study - Etihad Airways.

Dealing professionally with demanding cargo customers. Etihad Cargo accounts for some 20 per cent of the airline’s income. Alistair Burrows, Head of Contact Centres at Etihad Cargo, says: “Any contact with our cargo customers is of immense importance to us. It doesn’t just represent one airline ticket it can represent millions and millions of dollars of annual revenue.”

The workforce optimisation aspect of the BT Cloud Contact Cisco platform gave the cargo team the opportunity to raise its customer responses to a new level of professionalism. “The transformation has enabled us to automate tasks that were previously manual, like rostering and call volume forecasting,” says Alistair.

Customers in the cargo environment tend to have an average call abandonment time of 10 seconds. So if a call’s not answered swiftly the company will probably lose the business; that’s why forecasting and rostering have to be precise.

Says Alistair: “The transformation represents a fantastic opportunity to better meet the needs of our customers. We can be there when they call and answer much more quickly than previously.”

Quantified business results right across the piece.BT Optimise Contact provides essential insight and management information across the three contact centres. This helps Etihad Airways maximise performance while reducing operating costs through agent resource optimisation. “The tools and technology that agents have on their desktops really put them in control of their work,” says Ruth.

If the cargo team has a tough day the answers are immediately available from the system. Alistair says: “With the intelligence that’s been delivered through this technology, we’ve been able to increase productivity to 75 per cent.”

During the transformation, BT Advise Contact professional services consultants helped Etihad Airways analyse the desired customer experience to develop new call flow roadmaps and provided project management. “Our speed of answer has improved by 30 per cent since we virtualised,” says Ruth.

Etihad Airways guest numbers saw double-digit annual percentage increases between 2012 and 2015, reaching a record of 15 million. Robert Webb concludes: “Etihad Airways is re-imagining the digital guest experience. In a fantastic partnership with BT and Cisco, we’re leveraging technology innovation and each other’s strengths and guest orientation.”

Offices worldwideThe telecommunications services described in this publication are subject to availability and may be modified from time to time. Services and equipment are provided subject to British Telecommunications plc’s respective standard conditions of contract. Nothing in this publication forms any part of any contract. © British Telecommunications plc 2015. Registered office: 81 Newgate Street, London EC1A 7AJ. Registered in England No: 1800000

Core services.• BT Cloud Contact Cisco

• BT Inbound Contact Global

• BT Optimise Contact

• BT Advise Contact

• BT IP Connect Global

• BT Cloud Compute

December 2015

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