European travel crisis creates call traffic for BPOs
Business process outsourcing companies serving the aviation industry have seen a spike in call volumes – in some cases three times the normal levels – from distressed airline passengers, as the volcanic ash cloud grounded and disrupted tens of thousands of flights, in and out of Europe.
Offshore BPOs such as Aegis and InterGlobe Technologies have been inundated by calls over the last few days, and are asking their call centre employees to pack in extra work hours, to deal with the sudden surge in call traffic.
“We are inundated by work. The call volumes are up three times the normal level, and so is the back office processing work,” said Mr Vipul Doshi, CEO of InterGlobe Technologies. The company – which serves international airlines such as Virgin Atlantic, South African Airlines, and KLM – said it has distributed the call traffic between its centres in Gurgaon, Mumbai and Manila.
The company is working “overtime” to inform passengers about change or cancellation of flights, or taking reservation calls, he said.
Volumes surge
Aegis, the BPO arm of Essar group, has registered a 20 per cent increase in volumes since the crisis began. “Volumes have surged in our travel business largely because of the numerous ticket cancellations and inquiries made by customers, who were jittery after news of the volcano and its impact on air travel came out,” said Mr Aparup Sengupta, Managing Director and CEO, Aegis.
However, initial call resolutions were at an all time low, obviously so, because of the problems associated with physical infrastructure and the unavailability of flights. WNS is another such BPO coping with large volumes of call traffic as a result of the five day travel crisis in Europe. Mr Ambreesh Mahajan, Business Unit Head, Travel and Leisure, WNS, told Business Line, “The volcanic eruption has impacted the travel industry across the globe. Given the customer service challenges that airlines face in such situations, it is leading to an increase in call volumes.”
But isn’t increase in volumes good news for BPOs? Apparently not. “Economically, it may not be very rewarding because companies have to arrange the stay, travel and other facilities for the staff, who have had to work overtime,” said an industry source.
