ABOUT THE VENDOR
Echopass Corporation remotely hosts an integrated platform of voice and e-media communication
services for high-volume enterprise-class contact centers. Phone, e-mail, chat, fax, and voice-mail
are blended into one channel and delivered to the client through a secure, redundant managed
network in two Echocenters. Echopass provides the tools to: capture real-time customer intelligence
from every customer interaction; consolidate all internally and externally acquired
customer-related information; analyze real-time contact center information, operationally and
financially; distribute the results to various customer touchpoints; dynamically adjust the
enterprise based on the analysis and customer activity; and use the information when dealing with
customers (via any touchpoint).
ABOUT THE CLIENT
Tenzing Communications, Inc. is a provider of connectivity solutions for the frequent business
traveler. Services include in-flight email, terrestrial global roaming capabilities, Web content, a
business-focused Web portal, targeted e-commerce services, and frequent content updates throughout
the traveler's experience. Tenzing allows travelers to use their laptops and existing email
addresses for a continual connection to the outside world. The Tenzing system is compatible with
PCs and will be available to Mac and Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) users later in 2001. Tenzing
is negotiating with several U.S. and
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Hannah Smalltree, Editorial Director
international carriers regarding implementation of the Tenzing
Global system, and will begin full deployment of the Tenzing System on Cathay Pacific Airways in
Q301.SearchCRM spoke with Julie Cope, Tenzing's Director of Customer Care, about the project.
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searchCRM: What is the basis of the Echopass project?
Cope: We're using Echopass as our telephony provider using the ACD (Automatic Call Distributor) and IVR (Interactive Voice Response) strategies and some of their multimedia technology. We're allowing all of our customers to route through them for a good quality telephone system without our having to actually purchase a system. Echopass was a complete solution--they gave us the e-mail capabilities, fax capabilities, and voice-to-voice connection. They do have live Web chat, but we don't have the technology on our side to talk to our customers via that method yet. That's a future feature we'd like to utilize.
searchCRM: How did you choose a CRM vendor?
Cope: We are in a start-up mode with our business. When we looked at purchasing a telephony system, some of the big ones out there were in a high price range. Because of the number of transactions we're encountering, it made more sense for us to use an ASP provider instead of purchasing a complete system. Plus, Echopass had the skill set to implement the system for us, train us, and allow up a quicker ramp-up time to serve our customers more quickly.
searchCRM: How many transactions do you handle per day?
Cope: We're receiving somewhere in the order of 50 to 75 calls per day. For e-mail, we're in the range of several hundred per day. But we're in the start-up mode, so we're starting to ramp up.
searchCRM: What system were you using before this project?
Cope: It was very crude. We had a simplified PDX (Phone Data Exchange) system that rolled over to various phones. It didn't queue up or give us the historical view that the reporting capabilities with Echopass provides us. Nor did it give the customer experience a clean look and feel.
searchCRM: How does the Echopass system help you improve customer service?
Cope: The experience for the customer is much cleaner. We're able to queue them up so that if we get multiple calls in at one time, they're all having a pleasant experience. On the management side, we have the capability of identifying whether someone is calling from the air or the ground; we expedite the air-to-ground calls. I think the overall experience is important for both the agent and the customer -- to be able to come together, serve the customer's needs, and have the customer hang up happy.
searchCRM: What was the training like?
Cope: A trainer came on site and did some high-level classroom type training and then did one-on-one training with each agent until they were comfortable with the project. Echopass also provided some supplemental documentation so we could train new agents. Refresher training is also available if we need that.
searchCRM: What advice would you give to other companies thinking of a project like yours?
Cope: You have to have a clear definition of what products you want and understand the implications of rolling them out. We had a very clear understanding of what products we wanted, and that enabled a smooth rollout. A strong project plan is also extremely important.
Linda Formichelli's writing has appeared this year in Woman's Day, Wired, Writer's Digest, Family Circle and Psychology Today. Contact her at linda-eric@lserv.com
This was first published in April 2001
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