Travel.com.au Checks in with RightNow Technologies

Tuesday, 15 May 2007

travel.com.au Ltd has implemented RightNow® Technologies’ (NASDAQ: RNOW) next-generation customer relationship management (CRM) solutions for both of its websites – travel.com.au and lastminute.com.au. The deployment is intended to manage the substantial growth in customer service inquiries across both sites, while meeting published service level agreements (SLAs) with its customers.

lastminute.com.au and travel.com.au receive up to 1,300 email enquiries a week, which are managed by a team of 11 travel consultants. In addition, up to 4,000 calls are handled each week by 18 telephone consultants who provide specialist advice on subjects as diverse as the best place to buy carpets in Marrakech or the latest, hip restaurant in Shanghai.

RightNow Service™ will enable travel.com.au Ltd to proactively support customers by identifying customer enquiry trends and responding to customers within service level agreements. It will replace travel.com.au’s previous email management enquiry platform which had made meeting SLAs challenging and provided only limited functionality in travel.com.au Ltd’s ability to track and escalate inbound enquiries to the most relevant consultant.

In addition, RightNow Service will enable travel.com.au Ltd to perform analytics on its established user feedback processes to ensure it is effectively serving customers and to continuously build upon customer loyalty. RightNow Service will also provide a framework for travel.com.au and lastminute.com.au to customise responses and tailor future marketing promotions to target market segments based on traveller profiles.

Chris Meehan, Chief Operating Officer of travel.com.au Ltd, said, “We are committed to providing a superior customer experience and developing innovation within our every day business practices. RightNow will enable us to do this by providing a more customised service and improved productivity within our customer service area.”

RightNow Service will also enable travel.com.au Ltd’s two websites to automate customer emails saving valuable customer service resource.

Mr Meehan continued, “We are confident that RightNow is capable of managing our diverse business needs. Being a company with two brands, we needed to be sure that one system could effectively manage information from both websites yet understand our individual business requirements.

“RightNow will enable us to offer our customers timelier, more accurate, web-based support which will free up our telephone travel experts for more sophisticated travel inquiries. We expect our call abandonment rate to decrease and our customers to be better serviced both online and offline.

“The RightNow Service implementation has been very smooth and configuration went according to plan. The entire project took just three months to implement which was very pleasing and was made possible by the on-demand delivery model,” said Mr Meehan.

ABOUT TRAVEL.COM.AU LTD
travel.com.au Limited (TVL) has a 74.9% joint venture ownership of lastminute.com.au in Australia and New Zealand. Travelocity (owner of lastminute.com in the UK) has the rest of the share.

travel.com.au was established in September 1997. travel.com.au is a full service travel agency offering holidays, hotels, flights, travel insurance and car hire. travel.com.au is also operating in the niche-markets of ski, cruise, corporate, family and adventure travel. The majority of travel.com.au’s business is conducted online however we also cater for those who like a human touch –an expert customer service team accessible in person or by phone. travel.com.au provides a one-stop-shop for people wishing to compare options and prices for accommodation, flights and holidays around Australia and the world and is the place serious travellers go for serious travel advice and great deals.

ABOUT LASTMINUTE.COM.AU
lastminute.com.au launched in Australia and New Zealand in 2000 and offers a range of products and services to Australians including hotels, international flights, domestic flights, holidays, gifts, entertainment and experiences. The company has continued to develop a distinctive brand that communicates spontaneity and a sense of adventure, attracting a loyal community of registered subscribers. Today, lastminute.com.au has more than 330,000 subscribers in Australia, more than 13 million subscribers worldwide and operates in 15 countries around the world.

About RightNow Technologies
RightNow (NASDAQ: RNOW) delivers the high-impact technology solutions and services organisations need to cost-efficiently deliver a consistently superior customer experience across their frontline service, sales and marketing touch-points. Approximately 1,800 corporations and government agencies worldwide depend on RightNow to achieve their strategic objectives and better meet the needs of those they serve. RightNow is headquartered in Bozeman, Montana. For more information, please visit www.rightnow.com

RightNow is a registered trademark of RightNow Technologies, Inc. NASDAQ is a registered trademark of the NASDAQ Stock Market.

ENDS