Back office as customer service?

Customer service - an oft repeated phrase . Ability to render impeccable Customer service has been well understood as sine quo non for success in service industry like travel . However experience suggests that the current practices and processes of the industry play out the concept in a limited manner . Customer services by and large is understood as a way of extending services for options for provisioning and reservation of travel products . The holistic understanding of customer servicing extending beyond reservations etc still eludes a larger cross section of the industry players . Travel fulfillment is not the be all and end all of what customer service is all about. Although the large TMC's with demanding customers have perhaps begun to understand the importance the back office processes play in extending a differentiated customer services to the customer , it is still a long way to go for the industry in general.

The front office technology has equipped the travel businesses with requisite finesse and capability to meet one set of the demands of the customers . However , the expectations of the customers and that of corporate customer in particular go beyond the reservation process . It is imperative for the industry players to recognize that the various other expectations of the customers must be met which in turn shall ensure the survival in todays’ competitive business environment and ever c hanging business dynamics.

• Correct billing for the purchase of various travel products . This would include interalia correct pax name and description of product / service purchased.
• Compliance with pricing contracts negotiated and agreed . This would include interalia correct application of discounts / handling , rebates , service fee – management fee and / or transaction fee , any other service charge and nett fares .
• Correct application of statutory levies ( only if applicable to the customer ) and correct depiction thereof on the invoices .
• Correct refund of services not utilized with correct reversal of service fee and other statutory levies .
• Compliance with agreed travel policies .
• Submission of invoices through such delivery mechanisms as may have been agreed to.
• Invoices to have such details viz , employee code , cost centers , business unit , project id and other MIS input as may be mandated .
• Correct linking of payments as mandated .
• Submission of correct and timely outstandings along with such supports as may be mandated .
• Submission of such MIS at such time interval as may be required by the customer for his own business through textual and graphical representation .
• Ability to provide real time information about customers travel spend on 3D dimensions .

The various other expectations of the customer are :

A competent back office system alone can ensure that these expectations of the customer are adequately addressed . This way Back office systems are supplemental to front office systems . A harmonious blend of these two shall alone ensure delivery of superlative holistic services to customer . The choice is not between these two technologies . Rather an appreciation of back office as a valuable differentiator of service delivery capability is required .

The adoption of competent back office technologies shall also equip the travel businesses with much needed capability to analyze the nature of customer business . Such analysis shall provide the agencies with meaningful insight into its profitability which in turn shall allow them to focus and re-focus their efforts optimally . The back office technologies shall provide “ agility “ to the travel businesses with respect to the ever dynamic customers ‘ needs . A robust back office system shall allow the travel business to reorient them selves which while cutting costs on one hand , making the organization lean and efficient, 

on the other hand it shall propel the organization to identify with and comply with customer needs and expectations .

Intram Gazebo , a web hosted product offered as a service , allows the travel businesses to offer differentiated services to its customers . The detailed debtor profiling system allows all contractual pricing mandates to put on system wherefrom all transactions flow seamlessly thereby ensuring compliance . The autoSEND feature allows seamless and human free invoice generation and delivery thereof on e – format . The d-DAS feature allows customers of the travel businesses to have real time access to data thereby giving them extreme flexibility in accessing their MIS on self serving basis .

The detailed reporting capabilities and role based dashboards give an edge to travel businesses to analyze trends of customers’ spending and take proactive action . Intram Gazebo is a powerful tool in the armour of the travel businesses which can assist them in not only being competitive but also a significant differentiator in customer service.on the other hand it shall propel the organization to identify with and comply with customer needs and expectations .

Intram Gazebo , a web hosted product offered as a service , allows the travel businesses to offer differentiated services to its customers . The detailed debtor profiling system allows all contractual pricing mandates to put on system wherefrom all transactions flow seamlessly thereby ensuring compliance . The autoSEND feature allows seamless and human free invoice generation and delivery thereof on e – format . The d-DAS feature allows customers of the travel businesses to have real time access to data thereby giving them extreme flexibility in accessing their MIS on self serving basis .

The detailed reporting capabilities and role based dashboards give an edge to travel businesses to analyze trends of customers’ spending and take proactive action . Intram Gazebo is a powerful tool in the armour of the travel businesses which can assist them in not only being competitive but also a significant differentiator in customer service.