Biz Agencies Route Calls Within Centers And Beyond

<B>Biz Agencies Route Calls Within Centers And Beyond</B>

By Megan Hjermstad

Call centers, wired with the latest telephony and computer software, are becoming "virtual." Agencies have implemented new automatic routing systems that allow calls to be transparently routed between multiple call centers, onsites and remote agents. In addition to traditional telephone routing capabilities, agencies are adding technology to route e-mail reservations and online transactions within call centers.

WorldTravel Partners is in the process of selecting one of the front-end systems offered by such companies as Cisco and IEX, which can interface between 10 to 50 persons. "Front ends are being put in by a lot of megas to tie in call centers. They really have a lot of intelligence built into those systems," said WTP president Danny Hood. "That's really where it's going."

WTP is using Aspect and Ion switches in its call centers to allow routing of calls. Hood said other agencies are putting in Rockwell and Nortel switches, which are slightly different, but provide the same routing functionality.

WTP also is tightly integrating Internet software in its call centers to interface with online booking systems. "We are seeing the migration to online booking, and we do need some different telecommunications options," said Brenda Catanesi, vice president of technology integration. "As soon as something goes wrong, travelers want to speak to an agent." WTP has implemented i-chat, which allows a traveler to chat in real time with an agent, and screen-pop technology, which enables a traveler using an online booking tool to pop out to a live travel consultant via an automatic dial button on the screen.

"Screen-popping tech is really vamping up the Internet portion," said Catanesi. "It's the first step to tell the system what product is being used, and what type of reservation is being made." It can route to an agent with that skill set or to the first available agent. Online service reps need to be travel agents and know e-commerce. "You have to have a safety net," said Hood. "You can't just have tech support without traveler support."

American Express for the past year has been deploying its intelligent network routing platform with new switching capabilities for load leveling calls across its larger business travel centers.

"This is a real strong competency for us today that we've built up over the past three years. It really has brought not only some cost efficiencies for our customers, but from a service perspective it has helped also," said Margaret Brownlee, senior vice president and COO for business travel and customer service. "When you're able to load level calls across a number of centers you may be able to connect four different centers and have virtually one center. So, you're able to have 'skilled-based routing' across a huge population, as many as 500 people, that may be working on one account."

The system understands where agents are located and what their individual skill sets are and can route calls based on that information. The point-of-sale tool on the desktop gives each agent access to that traveler's information and previous reservations. "The caller could call into Raleigh one hour and call back in another hour and talk to somebody in Phoenix or Tampa," said Brownlee. "For the traveler, it is completely transparent."

American Express also has implemented the platform in a handful of onsites and is using the technology to load level calls among three or four onsites. "We are looking at how to drive that down into the smaller onsites when economically feasible and it makes sense from a servicing perspective," said Michael Laughlin, vice president of office solutions.

While the network solution is not economically viable for smaller onsites with fewer than 20 people, Amex is looking at other options for them. One technology it has been following is Voice Over IP, which would enable agents to send voice transmissions over the Internet instead of telephone lines. "The quality just isn't there today but it's getting better," said Brownlee. "That's going to be an advantage to bring to our smaller customers."

American Express also is using switching technology to connect its 400 agents working at home to the system. "We are using several techniques to connect the home office to the call centers--whether it be a digital connection or an analog connection, where we're doing ISDN or DDS type service. As far as the network is concerned, they appear to be in the call center," said Laughlin.

Although Amex is getting the majority of its reservations over the phone, for specific accounts agents are receiving e-mail res requests. "One of the things we're working on is how can we route the e-mails across the network just like we do our phone calls," said Brownlee.

American Express is fulfilling online transactions outside of its large call centers through specific offices, depending on whatever booking tool the individual is on. American Express One already has centralized operations so all e-bookings come into one of two centers, and within 60 days it will open dedicated online fulfillment centers in Miami and Phoenix.

American Express will offer customers the option of handling bookings through onsite travel counselors or centralized fulfillment centers. "Where we have customers that are interested in reducing costs, we can give them a centralized fulfillment product," said Brownlee. "Where we have customers who want onsite counselors, we'll have that option also."

Other agencies have opted to open separate centers for online fulfillment, such as Maritz Travel Co., which in December introduced its ECom Service Center. Maritz is migrating all of its four dozen customers who use an online booking tool to the center in St. Louis. "The idea is to move those clients out of individual operations into a central one," said Mike Tenholder, director of electronic commerce.

When a reservation through an online system is submitted for purchase, it leaves the system and goes to the mid-office Corre product. The auto robotics ask the PNR questions, check for valid data within the PNR and forward it to the proper queue. The reservation drops into a separate queue, depending on whether it requires no human assistance, some assistance or the traveler needs to be called back. The center has a staff of 60 agents, with anywhere from 10 to 30 working at any time, and up to 50 during peak hours. Agents can assist travelers with a portion of travel or complete the whole transaction, if necessary. Maritz also has a private network with its own Internet service, so even if a server is down, an agent may be able to complete an online transaction. "If you're using Sabre BTS, and Sabre goes down, a lot of times we're still up," Tenholder said.

Navigant International's call centers are multipurpose, fulfilling reservations over the phone and assisting reservations made or begun online. The agents have access to the same data and software that travelers have on their desktops. "From time to time, people need assistance and look to an agent to help them finish off a transaction. We do see more and more applications for that type of fulfillment area," said Tom Nulty, president and COO. "We need to supplement technology with real people."

A new technology that Navigant is examining for potential use in call centers is voice recognition, which would allow callers to prequalify prior to speaking to an agent so a call could be routed to the most appropriate person.

Nulty said that recent innovations also have provided the option for more agents to work from home. Home office technology has been available for a while, but new, updated versions have improved routing functionality between call centers and remote offices.

"We have a call center in Houston using high-tech telephony with a switch that allows them to distribute calls," said Nulty. "It is not just a switch that forwards a call but also allows agents to transfer a call back into the network."

The technology is helping to attract and retain qualified agents who would prefer to work at home. "One benefit to the customer is it opens up the pool of good travel agents," said Nulty. Navigant also is using the switching technique to provide its 24-hour service through remote agents. "It's very difficult to find people to man the phones during the night," said Nulty. "People are much more willing to do it out of their homes."

Northwestern Travel Management last year purchased, tested and configured a new end-to-end solution that includes remote connections for agents working from home. Fifteen percent of its agents telecommute full time and Northwestern by year-end intends to double the number to 31 percent of its workforce.

Sharon Bochert, telecommunications manager, said each employee has a digital phone at home, which is tied into a system using a MCK extender, which converts the digital set on the desk so it will talk to the call center system. The system has automatic call distribution, so an agent can be a member of any group and the phone system recognizes that individual as just another phone in the system. Once the connection is up, it automatically recognizes the agent. "One of the objectives is to make it transparent to callers that they're working in a home office," said Bochert. "The only downside is that one agent couldn't go slip a note to an offsite agent." Previously, agents had an off-premise extension circuit that offered none of the true call center capabilities and more advanced features.

"With the direction that home officing is going, it can't do anything but improve," said Bochert. "I do hope that the technology will keep up with the service provided. It needs to be more widely available, so we can employ people who don't live close to our locations.