Customer Relationship Management (顧客關係管理) in Airlines companies

An airline passenger may check in through one of three contact media –telephone, kiosk, or face-to-face at a check-in desk. Whichever channel isselected, the process will be identical. The passenger will present the necessaryinformation to the agent, kiosk interface or Interactive Voice Response (IVR)system for the booking to be retrieved from the departure control system.

Information from the customer service system and the frequent flyer applicationhas been consolidated into the data warehouse. Business intelligence and datamining tools have categorized the passenger as a “valuable customer” with apredicted high lifetime value. In addition, the customer service system containsa report that the passenger recently travelled on a long-haul sector in a seat witha broken in-flight entertainment system. Extracts from the data warehouse arereplicated in an online customer database designed specifically to support the decision systems in realtime.

At the time of check-in the passenger’s identity is passed to the decisionsystems to identify any “special” action which needs to be taken. Due to thestatus of the passenger and in recognition of the customer services incident,it is decided that the passenger should be upgraded to first class. Thedecision system will automatically implement the upgrade via the departurecontrol system and generate a prompt to explain why.

At the time of check-in the passenger is automatically upgraded to first classand is given the reason, either verbally by the check-in agent, as a prompton the kiosk interface, or as a synthesized message generated by the IVR.To complete the customer service loop, a letter is automatically generatedafterwards to apologize for the incident and reinforce the action taken.

In a similar way, should the passenger use Italian as their first language,the automatic check-in processes can be personalized to communicate inItalian. A customer-centric approach can be built up around all customercontacts and transactions, not just those in service recovery.

The decision systems may analyze contact histories to identifythe most effective channel for targeting certain customers and target customersthrough the channel with the highest proven success rate. The decision systemsmay also analyze travel trends to segment those customers most suited toa specific promotion and use these as the target audience for a campaign.Complaint information may be used to instigate service recovery actions byoffering additional rewards through the loyalty system, or by upgrading atraveller on their next flight or visit.

Customer super processes

Existing customer processes will be modified and enhanced to become“customer-focused” based on the different rules and prompts dynamicallyderived from the decision systems. The processes in themselves are unlikelyto change, but their behavior will alter.

Customer recognition

All of the systems and processes combine to optimize customer recognition.At all contact points, customers should be seen as individuals. They shouldreceive personalized mailings and personalized greetings at check-in and otherassisted contact channels. Their preferences for booking, payment, channel andservice will be honored. Online forms should be pre-filled, and personalizedmessages and offers targeted to specific individuals. Ultimately service recoveryactions will reward customers for their value and their continued loyalty.

Source: A blueprint for customer relationshipmanagement in the travel industry perpared by IBM Travel and Transportation

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