Increased Ridership Creating a Business Challenge

In 2011 gas prices hit all-time highs causing an immediate increase in city ridership. According to experts, since Americans have experienced such price spikes before, they are more prepared this time to respond to higher prices. This prepared reaction could translate to a steeper rise in ridership in less time than experienced before, suggests the California Transit Association.* Increased ridership is a good thing, but it comes with the challenge of making sure that riders have all the information they need from a customer service perspective. Increased ridership can also mean an increase in the amount of users trying to access your system, be it by phone or online channels, and presents the threat of exhausting your data systems and causing your organization to spend significantly more money to support this increase.  Agencies continue to tell us here at LogicTree that roughly 50%-80% of their incoming inquires ask “when is the next bus coming?” and that this volume continues to grow at a time when call center service hours are being shortened and staffing reduced.   Complementing live agent support with automated arrival services can provide agencies with the ability to provide a better customer service at a significantly lower overall cost.

*Source: Transit California April 2011, Preparing for Ridership Increases

LogicTree SaaS Solution
Solutions for solving IT challenges needing cost-savings results

LogicTree’s Software as a Service (SaaS) solution provides the advanced technology infrastructure and easy-to-use automated transit information applications at a fraction of the up-front cost investment made for traditional on-premise systems. Under this innovative services model, calls to your customer service number will be routed from the local exchange network through Qwest’s secure nationwide voice and data network, to LogicTree’s Multi-Channel Platform™, giving callers instant access to customer service information. Only calls that require interaction with a customer service agent will be forwarded to your call center. By filtering out information-only request calls, true customer service requests can be handled quicker by call center agents, creating a more positive experience for callers. 

The LogicTree SaaS solution activation approach maintains the existing customer support line and requires no equipment, space, power, or additional system administration. In addition, the SaaS solution is capable of handling surges in call volume without putting undue stress on call center agents. LogicTree provides 24/7 monitoring of all systems and services, allowing travelers in your service area to call in for information at any time or access the information through the other communication channels that the LogicTree MCP™ supports. With this increased level of service, the LogicTree SaaS solution provides your agency with the customer service capabilities that your customers desire.

Example Results

The LogicTree SaaS solution has demonstrated measurable improvements to the customer service experience and reduced agency call center costs significantly – while providing 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week customer service access.  Agencies that implemented the LogicTree SaaS solution have seen up to 40%-50% of their inquiries delivered via successful automation, resulting in a significant drop in call center expense and hold time, while freeing agents to handle more complex customer inquiries.   This approach is directly associated with a sizable operational savings . (see Sample Savings Chart below).

Sample Savings Chart:

Inbound inquiries can also be automated via SMS, and proactive announcements regarding disruptions, detours or schedule changes can be sent to customers using mobile messaging services, thus mitigating or avoiding surges in call volume.  This creates additional savings for the Agency and ensures further customer service improvement.

**Savings listed are net savings after the cost of LogicTree services and assume inquiries for bus arrivals account for 50% of all calls with the average cost of an agent-handled call of $1.25 per call.

Conclusion

Implementing LogicTree’s SaaS solution streamlines the efficiency of your customer service operation, enabling you to support an increase in customer inquiries. The LogicTree SaaS solution allows you to provide a higher level of service  while saving your agency money at the same time.