According to Puzzel, formerly Intelecom, it’s time to make today’s increasingly popular travel websites an integral part of your contact centre

The internet has revolutionised many things, especially how we choose to spend our leisure time and book our holidays. High street travel agents are now a thing of the past, we simply carry out our own research on the web. And it’s not just the online equivalent of the glossy brochure that we have access to, social media means that we can now see what other ordinary travellers thought of a destination, a hotel, or a travel experience. TripAdvisor has brought enlightenment to the travelling public, and potentially, fear and trepidation to many operators in the travel and leisure industry.

Inevitably, this trend puts increasing pressure on the people who run contact centres and on the agents who work in them. Fast response times and excellent customer service are, more than ever before, top priorities. A swift response to a poor review can help to save a situation and handling the review in the right way can turn a previously disgruntled customer into a happy one. In addition, as all the dirty laundry is out there for all to see, other potential customers can see how well the issue was handled.

So just how does your contact centre keep on top of reviews, both good and bad, in the first place and then secondly, how do you manage them effectively? Next to good staff training, cloud-based technology is the ‘must have’ weapon in the contact centre – a powerful tool for keeping your customers loyal and your well-earned corporate reputation intact.

Here is a round-up of what the latest cloud-based contact centre solutions can do and why you should turn to integration to maximise multi-channel interactions and improve customer intimacy.

• All in one package – from one single application contact centre managers and agents can see detailed information for each enquiry, including which channel it has come from, contact details and notes about any previous contact. This means agents have all the relevant information they need in one place, and are better equipped to provide high levels of customer service
• Multi-channel is the way to go – agents can respond to phone or fax calls, e-mail, social media posts, SMS and Chat all within the same application enabling customers to interact with you in many different ways and in the way that best suits their needs
• Integrate, integrate and integrate – creating an omni-channel contact centre is the way to go especially with the rise in social media and therefore integration is a critical success factor. The latest technical innovations mean contact centre technology can now integrate directly with some of the world’s most popular travel websites such as TripAdvisor. Customers complete their reviews which pop up on the screen, enabling agents to respond accordingly and swiftly. These customer reviews, along with your responses, are then automatically uploaded back to TripAdvisor
• Save time – cloud-based contact centres not only integrate with critical business systems and external websites like TripAdvisor, they offer single sign on. Agents save precious time because they don’t need to toggle between multiple systems
• Improve customer service – because agents save time by having TripAdvisor inextricably linked to their core contact centre platform, customers are rewarded with a seamless experience and timely response to their reviews
• Boost efficiencies and reduce costs – automation increases productivity, enabling agents to get to the heart of the issue very quickly. By dealing with this type of review speedily and effectively, businesses reduce costs both in terms of time spent on the issue, and potentially, the final outcome – happy and loyal customers.

Whether dealing with a genuine grumble, managing a chancer looking for a freebie, or saying thank you to a valued client for leaving a charming review, a timely response protects your brand image, and shows that you are a business that takes good customer service seriously. The secret to making it all possible is clever integration using the latest cloud-based contact centre technology.