WNS is leveraging its unique roots in the airline industry, having started as an in-house delivery center for British Airways in 1996, to help the wearied traveler have a more pleasant journey. It is customer experience when getting from here to there that sets a company apart in this industry perhaps more than any other. WNS is using that point as a driver for incorporating domain expertise and automation into operations in order to help clients differentiate in the very competitive travel space. WNS serves airlines, online travel agencies, global hotel chains and related companies with a staff of more than 6,000 travel-specific “domain experts” underpinned by proprietary software tools and processes.
For example, a WNS airline client was struggling with customer complaints and slow turn around time related to lost baggage, and was exceptionally concerned about providing value to premium customers. WNS applied a bolt-on workflow tool, a “baggage tracing platform,” to effectively retrieve mishandled baggage data and enable service agents to simultaneously track bags and proactively call passengers regarding their missing baggage. WNS also set up a priority desk for VIP customers, applied customer journey mapping on the website, and introduced a LiveChat channel for web containment and reduced customer effort. Applying these tools and processes significantly impacted the client’s operations, with outcomes including a 50% reduction in customer complaints and a reduction in turnaround time for reuniting the passenger with their baggage.
In another case, WNS used RePax, a WNS automation tool to track flight delays, re-book passengers and re-issue tickets, as well as manage communications to passenger and staff including real time information via SMS or web updates. RePax also provides automatic compensation calculation and hotel rebooking; according to WNS, on an average this reduces the overall cost of rebooking by 15-20% and rebooks 25 times faster than manual re-booking. Similarly, the WNS RoboTKTexchange tool re-issues 95% of airline tickets on rescheduled flights without any human intervention.
While the business outcomes are impressive from an operations perspective, the stated end goal is to improve customer experience, so HfS would like to see WNS get even closer to connecting these results to traveler experience and revenue impact.
The travel industry has some of the greatest opportunities for optimizing customer experience given its volatile nature. The impact of weather, crowded skies, and mechanical issues make the potential for customer dissatisfaction high and the need to understand customer journey and provide insights in real time all the more crucial. Add in the impact of social media, where usage pertaining to travel is exceptionally active, and the bar to meet customer demands rises further. WNS has demonstrated strength in blending automation, analytics and talent to address these issues for its clients, improving the experience of the traveler.
Continuing on the path of customization for the airline industry and other travel companies will require a constant evaluation of the customer journeys, channel preferences and business outcomes that are unique to the traveler experience. The travel industry poses innumerable opportunities to make customer experience more pleasant, thereby creating opportunities for differentiation, and WNS is in a unique position to develop capabilities, helping to give its clients wings to lift up the traveler experience.
Service Provider : WNS