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

Case Study | Outsourcing | Travel & Hospitality

2

Managing Experience

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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Managing Experience

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.

May-1

1

Apr-11

Jun-1

1Ju

l-11

Aug-11

Sep-1

1

Oct-11

Nov-11

Dec-1

1

Jan-1

2

Feb-1

2

Mar-12

Apr-12

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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Managing Experience

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

May-1

1

Apr-11

Jun-1

1Ju

l-11

Aug-11

Sep-1

1

Oct-11

Nov-11

Dec-1

1

Jan-1

2

Feb-1

2

Mar-12

Apr-12

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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Managing Experience