Calls for Air NZ hit home

By PETER GRIFFIN

Air New Zealand is undertaking a major upgrade of its call centre contact and workforce management software to Genesys after centralising its global network of call centres locally.

Air New Zealand employs 500 call centre staff, 330 fielding reservation and ticket-related calls, the rest handling queries about air points, in Christchurch.

Since mid-last year the airline has been closing its call centres and bringing the work home.

One call centre in Antwerp looks after the European market and Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong call centres service Asia. But all US, UK, Canadian and Australian after-hours calls and queries are channelled to New Zealand.

Air New Zealand's call centres manager, Barry Hardy, said the deal with San Francisco-based Genesys Telecommunications was worth more than $1 million.

"It's a big-ticket item but we've got good pay-back."

The Genesys CTI (computer telephony interface) software displayed on agents' screens a call's origin as it came in.

"The agent knows which country the call is coming from, and all the right currencies and fares are on screen," Hardy said.

Workforce management had become more sophisticated than a team of people using Excel spreadsheets.

"This is far more efficient," Hardy said. "We can do all sorts of what-if scenarios, forecast call flows and allocate resources."

Previously Air New Zealand used IBM-made CallPath software. Genesys acquired CallPath in 2001.

Centralising operations had added 64 staff, Hardy said. However, that had been off-set by a dip in numbers as Sars, the Iraq war and a softer travel market hit call volumes.

Despite research group Callcentres.net showing that last month nearly half of New Zealand call centres wanted skilled staff, Air New Zealand was not having trouble hiring.

Greater skills were needed because technology and "self-serve" options had automated some call requests. Air New Zealand also was planning to have multi-lingual agents in its call centres for Asian customers.

"Going back 12 months we were just handling the New Zealand market, now we're handling multiple markets, so the skills needed are greater," Hardy said.

Staff were fielding internet and e-mail queries, but a phone conversation was the main, and best, way to talk to customers.