The recently launched Big 9 Corporation, a one-stop information, reservation and payment facility to users and suppliers of tourism products and services, has entered into a co-sourcing venture to implement a sophisticated contact management centre at CCH Hosted Services` facilities in Midrand.
In terms of the agreement, CCH Hosted Services will house Big 9`s 26 call agents, and provide the technology to support inbound and outbound contact activities. "The contact centre is central to our strategy of delivering affordable travel destinations to the man on the street," says Stander Jordaan, MD of Big 9.
"Eight million South Africans take at least one holiday a year, which translates to more than 16 million annual trips of one or more nights away from home. Big 9 will use the contact centre to actively promote holiday destinations to South Africans, and give them an easy way to search for a suitable destination, make the reservations and pay for their holiday. CCH Hosted Services and the Big 9 IT infrastructure can process weekend getaway bookings in under four minutes." The Big 9 offering includes central reservations services for national and private game parks, as well as for guest houses and private lodges and resorts in South Africa.
The system is supported by Apropos all-media contact management software, supplied and supported by CCH Enterprise Solutions, providing both an online and Web-based reservation system. Big 9`s full-time agents staff the contact centre, managing inbound calls and executing outbound direct marketing campaigns.
In addition, CCH Hosted Services has deployed Peregrine Systems and Siebel technology in its hosted contact centre. The contact centre handles inbound and outbound calls, while providing realtime information for continuous performance management.
CCH Hosted Services marketing and sales director Frederick Castleman says a co-sourcing agreement was a sensible option for Big 9 to choose, as the company enjoys the benefit of using its own specifically trained agents, but with the facilities of a high-tech multimedia contact centre at a fixed cost.
"A contact centre is foundational to Big 9`s expansion of its e-business, particularly in respect of customer relationship management and product development. Contact centre technology is advancing almost daily, and management requirements are enormous if a company is to deliver a constant, high quality service to its customers. CCH Hosted Services provides that technology and the management capability at a fixed cost to the client, which would otherwise have had to make a massive investment in non-core business infrastructure."
The agreement is part of Big 9`s strategy to reach the broad South African public via a number of channels, including the CCH Hosted Services contact centre, and agents throughout South Africa who, in the past, have not been part of the traditional holiday booking network.
"Our aim is to reach those markets which, in the past, have not had access to a wide choice of vacations," Jordaan says. "We have actively pursued those markets via print advertising, and by creating a network of co-branded channels throughout South Africa, including schools and estate agents. We are already seeing the call volumes moving up to more than 1 000 per day."
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