SMRT Taxis Pte Ltd

SMRT Taxis Improves Customer Service with Logicalis Call Centre Solution

SMRT Taxis Pte Ltd

SMRT Taxis Pte Ltd (SMRT Taxis) is part of SMRT Corporation Ltd (SMRT) – Singapore’s premier public transport provider and one of the largest island-wide. Since 1987, SMRT has been ferrying commuters from one side of the island to another via its fl eet of bus, train and taxi services. SMRT Taxis has been in service for more than 20 years, and today carries a healthy range of close to 3,000 sedans, large capacity multi-purpose taxis and luxurious vehicles. Altogether, SMRT Taxis and the rest of the corporation enjoy an annual turnover of nearly S$700 million, with total assets worth more than S$1.4 billion.

Challenges

Taxis have long been a popular mode of transport in cities like Singapore. But like any densely populated metropolis, it is inevitable to fi nd times when demand for taxi bookings outweighs supply. During such times, it is important for taxi companies to have the technology in place to handle high call volumes. This is where SMRT Taxis turned to Logicalis for its unified communications solution to help serve commuters better.

Ms. Eunice Lui, Acting Deputy Director of Customer Relations at SMRT Taxis shared, “We had a number of phone systems in the past 10 years. Before Logicalis, we faced the issue of calls surging in and phone systems hanging. When this happened, each call dropped meant a customer lost. The prior systems could not handle this kind of call volume, especially during peak hours or rainy days. Phone call rates would shoot up to twenty times its normal rate. That was a huge problem for us, and this is exactly where Logicalis helped us.”

Expanding on the problem of high call volumes, Ms. Lui shared that “We had a booking system that did not allow for call centre agents to work effi ciently. When commuters called for taxis, they would be put on hold while the call centre agent had to manually check for available taxis before providing the customer with confi rmation of the taxi booking.”

Solution

Logicalis provided SMRT Taxis with a complete call centre solution that leveraged Cisco’s unified communications platform, which carried two key portions: Cisco Unifi ed Communications Manager (Call Manager), and Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise (UCCE). Also included in the implementation were Voice Logger and Quality Monitoring, as well as Text-to-Speech solutions.

The solution allowed more than 40 agents located at Woodlands and Ang Mo Kio to access the centralised booking system at North Bridge Road, over the Wide Area Network (WAN). With a wide portfolio of trusted technology partners, Logicalis was able to provide a seamless transition from the previous solution.

Benefits

The Logicalis call centre solution was fully implemented in 2009, and SMRT Taxis began experiencing immediate benefi ts. Praising Logicalis, Ms. Lui shared that “Our system no longer hangs when there is a surge in call volume. In fact, with Logicalis’ call centre solution, we were able to increase our call capacity by 25%.”

The solution also improved the overall effi ciency in booking a cab. Customers can now book taxis in two ways – self-service, where the caller can input details via the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, or opt to speak to a call centre agent, who will then assist in placing the booking into the dispatch system. This allows the agent to then proceed to take on another call immediately. “The solution has helped address the ineffi ciencies in our previous call centre solution – now our agents can work more effi ciently and take on more calls.” said Ms. Lui.

Key Success Factors

One of the main reasons that Logicalis has proven itself to be so successful is its strong commitment to meeting client requests. Ms. Lui shared that “the relationship between SMRT Taxis and Logicalis developed into more than just a simple vendor-client relationship. Logicalis became more of a trusted advisor and partner that was instrumental in the success of the solution. On a day-to-day basis, we would have queries and concerns, and each time we turned to Logicalis, they were able to provide us with favourable responses.”

Pleased with the quality of service, Ms. Lui commented, “Logicalis had a great team that really understood us. They knew where we were coming from and would always take our inputs into consideration whenever they proposed a solution.” She also espoused Logicalis’ timely and proactive approach towards addressing problems. “Logicalis also brought us a lot of peace of mind with their timely response rates. They always stuck to their promise in terms of time and quality of service – as committed. It really helped us run our business more smoothly.”

Looking to the future, Ms. Lui said that “we are now looking to place more users into the system. For example, besides taxis, we are also helping our bus colleagues look into this solution. Other business units could also benefit from this, and we will be approaching them accordingly.”

In conclusion, Ms. Lui said, “For us, the most important thing for our business is to serve our customers on time, as this greatly enhances our customers’ satisfaction. Logicalis helped us achieve our business goals of raising productivity and improving our quality of service. Working with Logicalis was the easiest, most enjoyable, most successful partner experience possible.”