INSIKTER
Call centres, hubbar, lokala team: Vilken typ av service är rätt för dig?
Servicenivå är ett ständigt aktuellt ämne för reseansvariga. Diskussionen handlar ofta om vilken servicemodell som passar bäst för stora globala reseprogram eller mindre nationella program.
Det viktigaste är vad du värderar högst: snabb kommunikation eller ett team med stor förståelse för dina resenärers behov och företagets riktlinjer.
Först och främst ... en strukturell jämförelse
Here are the nuts and bolts:
Call Centre | Hub - Personliga Team | Lokal - Personliga Team |
Reseagenterna är baserade i ett land och supporterar resenärer världen över | Agenter baserade i ett land som supporterar resenärer i samma land samt andra i regionen. | Agenter baserade på ett kontor i samma land som resenärerna. |
Större arbetsplats med ett högre antal agenter. | Pod-baserad arbetsplats med ett fokuserat team av agenter. | Pod-baserad arbetsplats med ett fokuserat team av agenter. |
Agenterna är uppdelade på olika icke-specialiserade teamledare | Agenterna är uppdelade i specialiserade team, eventuellt baserat på kund eller bransch. | Agenterna är uppdelade i specialiserade team, eventuellt baserat på kund eller bransch. |
Samtalen besvaras av alla tillgängliga agenter enligt först till kvarn-principen | Samtalen besvaras av en tillgänglig agent inom det tilldelade specialiserade teamet enligt först till kvarn-principen |
Samtalen besvaras av en tillgänglig agent inom det tilldelade specialiserade teamet enligt först till kvarn-principen |
Den personliga touchen eller snabb service?
Personalised teams, whether it’s a Hub or Local, will always come with a more human touch. When your travellers work with the same group of people for all their bookings, the agents will become very familiar with your programme’s requirements, such as policy rules, preferred suppliers, unused ticket processing, and more. And your travellers will feel more at ease knowing their bookings are managed by a team that knows them.
Callcenter kommer inte att ha samma personliga touch. Däremot kan de hantera högre samtalsvolymer i snabbare takt, vilket kan vara attraktivt för större multinationella organisationer med reseprogram som handlar för tiotals miljoner dollar.
Vilken modell är mer flexibel?
It’s been said over and over, but recent events have proven that corporate travel programmes need to be agile and nimble in the face of change. Depending on where this falls in your priorities for your programme, it can determine what kind of service model you’ll prefer.
When it comes to a local, personalised team that is dedicated to an industry, segment, or client, it is much easier to adapt to changes in traveller needs or feedback. For example, a client-specific team can receive real-time policy updates and apply those new requirements immediately. This feedback also goes two ways – if agents are hearing the same concerns, complaints, or are mitigating the same problems repeatedly, it can be raised with the travel manager(s).
The other important thing to remember is that agents who are assigned to specific teams, whether by industry, volume, or client, tend to have more experience than an entry-level agent and can provide more informed service.
It’s similar in a hub environment. The only change is that the travel consultants support travellers from more than one country. Here’s an example. You’re an organisation with an office in South Africa, and you also have team members based in Mozambique, Nigeria and Kenya. Instead of using a local team in each of those countries where you may only have a few travellers, they can all instead be “hubbed” and supported through South Africa. They can still book, and invoice as if they were based in the origin country, and even pay in local currency. Plus, all the above service you’d get from a local team is replicated in a hub (or at least, it is at FCM Travel!).
This may be a harsh way to put it (and isn’t necessarily bad depending on your priorities), but to call centre agents, your travellers’ calls are just another checkbox in their day. This is the result of a high-volume framework. There won’t be the same feedback loops, and since a call centre will be servicing many clients at large, change will be more incrementally and may take more approvals.
Vilken modell är mer skalbar?
Another important consideration when choosing your support model is how it scales with your organisation's needs and costs.
When it comes to numbers, call centres simply have more staff. A call centre can host hundreds of agents in one spot, and the dawn of remote work can even triple those estimations. This means an agent will always be available to answer the phone when the next disruption, crisis, or emergency happens. And, call centres can scale more quickly at lower costs, making them more attractive to organisations where the "bottom line" is the most important factor.
This all may come at another cost, though. You won't be able to expect the same level of “white-glove” service as you'd get from a local or hub team; an agent might be taking a booking from your organisation for the first time, and that first time may also be their last time.
The biggest argument for a call centre is that a personalised team won't have the numbers to support travellers. But we need to remember that a personalised team is by no means “small” and can have upward of 40-50 agents assigned to one traveller segment, industry, or client.
Building relationships and navigating nuances
How important is it to you that your travellers feel like they have a connection with the consultants servicing your programme?
The main difference between an agent from a call centre and a personalised local or hub team is how well they will understand your travellers and programme. Even on a personalised team of 40 people, it is statistically likely that a traveller will work with the same travel consultant time and time again. This is especially impactful for your road warriors.
Imagine what you would like better:
- Having to reexplain your requirements and wants every time you call
- Or speaking with an agent who already knows, and may even remember your favourite hotels or booking procedures?
It’s a simple fact that call centres can’t accommodate this. So, if it’s important to you, then you have your answer on which model is a better fit for your programme.
Vilket alternativ är rätt för dig?
It all comes down to preferences, priorities, and needs. During your request for proposal (RFP) process, make sure to include questions that unpack how a TMC handles servicing. Ask for customer testimonials, referrals, and examples of how they’ve handled specific issues or problems.
To be transparent, at FCM, we use the personalised team model of local teams and hubs. We’ve found that it’s the best way to bring our travellers and clients the support they need, all while keeping the human connection. This comes at a cost, but the results are priceless. If you want to hear about how we do it, let’s schedule some time to chat.