Travel agent pools customer info

Adventure travel agent Abercrombie & Kent is installing customer relationship management (CRM) software to improve its view of customer data.

The company will integrate reservation, sales and analysis systems into a Siebel database to provide a consolidated view of client information.

It is replacing customer and marketing databases, and plans to complete the integration of sales data in July and marketing data in the autumn.

‘A single view of data will increase our understanding of customers and allow us to deliver better service,’ said IT director Phil Napleton.

Abercrombie & Kent is also introducing IP communications at its UK offices. Other global offices will follow over the next two years and be integrated into the CRM database.

Napleton says integrating CRM and telephony on an IP infrastructure will give staff instant access to data without the need for multiple interfaces.

‘We operate in 50 locations and our office staff can communicate with tour operators internationally more often without increasing costs,’ he said.

The Mitel 3300 IP Communications Platform and IP phones are managed centrally from London, reducing configuration and support costs.

Butler Group analyst Mark Blowers says the travel firm is upgrading much of its IT architecture from the bottom up.

‘An integrated infrastructure will give staff greater access to data, which will increase productivity and customer service.’

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