Contact Manager “on the line“ at Hertz Germany since end of March

Presentation of the Clarity’s and Hertz’s project on 22nd April on the occasion of an event hosted by Kompass, the innovation forum for communication, new media and e-solutions.

The German headquarters of Hertz, the best established and largest car rental company in the world, is in the same situation as many other companies who offer their services via subsidiaries: the rental business is handled by the 330 locations in this country, not through headquarters in Eschborn.  They register between three and 10 visitors a day – mostly delivery services as well as business partners and interviewees, no customers.

Therefore, the reception area that is occupied by two staff members, acts at the same time as telephone switchboard – a solution, however, that nobody was happy with.  Statistically seen, the telephone rang “only” every two to three minutes.  Nevertheless, only three-quarters of the calls could be connected successfully:  real life just doesn’t comply with equal distribution.

According to the motto: “Don’t do things by halves!“, one solution for the “reception problem” had to be found, that means callers should, just like visitors, be referred automatically to the desired contact person.  It was to be found in the combination of the Clarity Contact Manager with a voice portal and a “self-service check-in”. 

Callers are greeted in a friendly manner by a virtual Contact Manager and asked to name the dialogue party or department they want to talk to.  They are then connected automatically.  Should the target person not be available, it is possible to leave a message. 

In this way, 80 percent of the calls could be connected successfully at first go.  An analysis of the remaining 20 percent produced the following result: these calls were dealing with price and reservation inquiries, insurance inquiries, and also “general” inquiries, that in most instances the headquarter staff is not concerned with. 

A voice portal was added which means that calls that could not be connected through the Contact Manager are now connected to the portal.  Callers don’t notice anything. As before with the desired dialogue party, they are asked about their concern and can either have themselves be connected to one of three service departments or to the switchboard.  Entry can be made either using the telephone keys or by voice.  In this way, the connection rate could be increased to 95 percent; in other words, today, only 5 percent of the callers – namely those with special inquiries – are connected manually. 

And the real visitors?  Similar to the check-in machines at the airport, they can print visitor badges for themselves and register with the desired contact person using a telephone that is available especially for this purpose; it goes without saying here that the Contact Manager also connects “on request”.

In particular through the introduction of a virtual telephone switchboard, Hertz was able to clearly improve the reachability of the headquarters.  The costs that were incurred not only through implementation of the Clarity Contact Manager but also through remodelling work, will have amortised after 1.2 years.

Callers and visitors are attended to immediately and in accustomed friendly manner.  In order to take up contact with the desired dialogue or contact person, you don’t have to do much more than say one word or press one key: child’s play!

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