United Taps IBM For CRM System

United Airlines and IBM today announced the carrier has chosen the technology company to deploy a new customer relationship management system aimed at improving customer service and boosting operational efficiencies.

The enterprisewide data warehouse, built with the help of IBM Global Services and already partially in use, will help United identify traffic trends, coordinate route planning, improve reservations efficiencies and enable one-to-one CRM.

According to IBM, the system "can search through terabytes of data to view and examine such variables as a customer's most frequently traveled route or type of travel--business or pleasure--to enable more personalized offers and promotions."

A United spokesperson said the two-year process pulled together all existing legacy systems and will streamline the reservations process. Only a small portion of the system's capabilities thus far have been deployed.