Case Study: On-demand IP ACD
Allegiant Airlines
Company Allegiant Airlines is an all-jet, low-fare passenger airline helping to change
Allegiant is an all-jet, low-fare passen- airline ticketing and travel services for the better. The company emphasizes
ger airline serving world-class U.S.
destinations. low-costs, innovation and leisure traffic to world-class destinations. Nonstop
scheduled service is provided from 68 U.S. markets to Las Vegas, Orlando
Business Challenges
and the Tampa Bay area; cities in which it also maintains hotel partnerships.
• Manage rapid business growth
The airline also operates charter service throughout the U.S., Mexico
• Handle peak call volumes
and Canada.
• Reduce abandoned call rates
• Support multiple call center locations Scaling to Business Growth
• Maintain quality of service Allegiant Airlines has experienced rapid yearly growth in the size of its fleet, the number of cities
• Improve customer satisfaction served and the passenger miles flown. In October 2005, Allegiant employed 25 customer
service agents handling 75,000 calls per month. Airline executives estimated the need to
Solution double the number of agents in Reno and add a call center in Las Vegas in order to manage
With Seratel, Allegiant achieved a increasing call volumes while maintaining quality of service. With abandoned call rates as high
more flexible, simplified infrastructure,
realized significant cost savings, and
as 35% during peak call periods, a new call center solution had to be identified and imple-
gained critical visibility and control mented quickly. “We could have added more hardware and expanded our existing telephony
over call center operations. infrastructure,” said John Fenyes, Director of Reservations, but the technology was outdated
and we would have had to purchase and install additional hardware and software to route calls
between the two locations, which would burden us with management of an over-provisioned
Benefits infrastructure to handle peak call volumes. This would have been a large, expensive project.”
• Added agents without capex
• Improved resource utilization, Seratel On-demand IP Call Centers
agent productivity Allegiant’s management team chose a new approach with Seratel: on-demand solutions that
• Lowered abandoned call rates would allow them to adjust the number of call center agents in real-time, add home-based
• Increased bookings revenue agents and remote agents at airport terminals, and add call center locations without upfront
of 15% capital expenditures. This flexible approach promised to help reduce operating costs and
• Established multi-sourced improve customer satisfaction. Within a month, Allegiant was productively handling customer
call centers calls with Transera’s Seratel On-demand IP Call Center solution. According to Fenyes,
• Improved customer service “I have worked in the call center industry since the 1970s, so I was very skeptical that the
and satisfaction new infrastructure and application could be deployed in less than three weeks. The cut-over
was flawless: the fastest and smoothest I’ve ever been involved in.”
Visibility, Control and Flexibility
Seratel delivered immediate and dramatic results. Allegiant added 20 are being served, and react immediately to current trends and
agent positions to the Reno call center without any accompanying opportunities, instead of waiting for analytical reports.
capital expenses. The airline increased the number of agents per shift,
With Seratel, customer service agents receive a CTI “screen pop”.
and lowered abandoned call rates significantly. “By adding agents,
Calls are delivered to the agents with the customer’s information,
we realized an immediate increase in bookings revenue.” said Fenyes.
enabling speedy access to the correct reservation page. For Allegiant,
Real-time visibility into call center operations enabled company this has resulted in a 10-second average reduction in talk time, and a
executives and call center managers to adapt strategies and increase 15% increase in the number of bookings.
agent productivity. Prior to Transera, management made decisions
Allegiant has added a second call center in Las Vegas with zero
based on weekly summary reports. With Seratel’s browser-based
capital investments. Seratel intelligently routes callers to the best
management dashboard, they can now view agent activity and call
available agent, across all sites. Resource utilization is more efficient,
handling in real-time. Allegiant’s management quickly identified and
and call handling is faster and more accurate. Allegiant now handles
addressed problem areas and improved agent performance
over 100,000 calls per month, and their “all circuits busy” problem is
and productivity.
a thing of the past. Special promotions that once overwhelmed their
The day after Seratel was deployed, Allegiant’s Managing Director of call center resources are now handled smoothly and efficiently with
Marketing & Sales, Ponder Harrison, began monitoring live calls to the on-demand model delivered by Seratel. When call volumes spike,
hear customer requirements and agent issues first-hand. “Seratel Allegiant can dynamically scale resources to meet fluctuating
provides me with an up-to-the-minute understanding of what is going demand. If all agents are busy, calls are parked and treated in the
on in my call centers and in the customer community,” said Harrison. network until an agent is available – no more fast busy signals.
“Now I have real-time visibility into incoming call volumes, wait times,
“Transera addressed our requirements for visibility, control and
response times and abandon rates. For the corporate executive,
flexibility,” said Fenyes. “It’s now easy for us to add agents, move
Seratel delivers more visibility and control than I’ve seen from other
agents across teams and respond to the ups and downs of business.
call center systems.” Allegiant’s incoming calls can be directed to
We can scale our call center infrastructure as our customer base
remote agents working in corporate offices or at airline ticket
grows, without making significant infrastructure and staff investments.
counters. The ability to add agents and modify call distribution
Transera alleviates unnecessary management burdens, which allows
strategies in real-time is essential during peak times such as holidays.
us to focus on our core business: selling travel packages with the
With a web browser and a phone, Allegiant executives at any location
high quality service our customers expect.”
can see and hear how their customers are being served, while they
PSTN
PBX/ACD
Call Center – Reno
Before Transera
With Transera
PSTN
Soft Switch Call Center – Reno
Call Center – Las Vegas
Seratel ™
Home Agents
Airport Gate Agents
Transera Communications, Inc.
10101 N. DeAnza Blvd., Suite 100, Cupertino, CA 95014 • T 408.873.1984 • F 408.873.7412
www.transerainc.com