Who would have thought that spinning a yarn is an essential skill for an airline executive? Well, it seems it is

With the protracted merger between United and Continental Airlines nearly complete, employees of what is now one of the world’s largest carriers are getting down to that all-important business of improving the customer experience.

As part of this process, the airline has begun the deployment of a new analytics tool for its customer contact centre.

“It’s been a journey of about four years to get to this point,” says Leslie Colbert, Managing Director - Customer Policy, United Airlines, “ and we’re now testing the tool we’ve chosen in one site and expect to roll it out to others by the beginning of next year.”

United first tested the water for a new analytics tool a few years ago. One of the big challenges, arguably down to the merger of United and Continental during that time, was getting prioritisation and understanding of what the product was and how having the right data could aid decision-making to benefit not just the contact centre but the entire enterprise.

Colbert cannot stress enough that: “Emphasising the message of what a tool like this can do across divisions is most helpful when you’re going to pitch for funding.”

Once approval had been given, the team began a detailed assessment of three analytics tools before making the final cut. The one finally chosen for its innovative approach to technology development is from a company called NICE.

Bridging gaps

While the end goal is enterprise-wide benefits, you have to start somewhere. And in United’s case, the first and most important objective is to improve the customer experience in the contact centre then share information learned with other divisions. “This will be done by identifying specific points in the customer journey where there are failures,” explains Kathy Adoga, Managing Director - Contact Centers, United Airlines.

It’s about identifying how experiences are playing out in reality and reacting to those

Kathy Adoga, Managing Director - Contact Centers, United Airlines.

The tool could be used to understand the gaps in customer expectations or to identify conversations that are happening in order to understand what is being said about the airline. “If, for example, a lot of people are calling about the government sequester, that will pop up on a real-time screen and enable us to drill down to find out what they are saying,” says Adoga.

Another function of the tool is the ability to monitor agents and compare them against their peers; this could prove to be useful in understanding if a particular approach isn’t working with customers. Also if there is a problem with the customer completing a task on the website, leading to a flood of calls into the contact centre, this can be analysed and addressed in an appropriate way.

“It’s about identifying how experiences are playing out in reality and reacting to those,” says Adoga.

This is a big shift for United, which in the past relied on surveys. Of course, these played a valuable role but with the customer interacting through multiple touch points today, surveys have their limitations. With the new analytics tool, United can be with the customer throughout the journey, capturing every interaction in order to understand any opportunities for improvements or, conversely, instances where the agents get it just right.

Adoga acknowledges that there will be a learning curve for supervisors, and usage of the tool will grow over time. Training will, therefore, be fundamental because not only will supervisors learn how to use the product and coach their employees, operational teams will be trained to use the tool to identify changing trends or specific issues throughout the enterprise.

The aim: to drive loyalty, operational cost savings and boost business.

To hear more from Leslie Colbert, Managing Director - Customer Policy, United Airlines and Kathy Adoga, Managing Director - Contact Centres, United Airlines, join us for Smart Travel Analytics, North America in New York (Jan 28-Jan 29 2015)