Having a solid quality of management solution for customer service in the hospitality industry is key to maintaining a competitive advantage. At Shangri-La Group, the customer and employee experience is a top priority, especially for Han San, director of the company’s customer contact center.

As captured in this Genesys’ (News - Alert) video, the main role of the contact center is to handle all worldwide toll-free reservations, while also managing and servicing the various programs within the system. Shangri-La is currently upgrading to a full G8 solution. The new solution is expected to easily accommodate for the many recent deployments of workforce optimization systems that include WFM (workforce management) as well as quality monitoring systems.

Genesys offers several intelligent options for customer front door solutions. They are designed to be intuitive and offer self-service options to create a positive experience for all users. In addition to workforce optimization, Genesys offers back-office optimization, dynamic customer engagement, performance management and eServices.

In a contact center environment, San says that one of the biggest challenges is to really optimize Shangri-La’s workforce as labor costs continue to rise. While operating budgets in the hospitality industry on the rise, customers still expect to receive the most accurate information anytime, every time. Now, with the increase in telephone calls, web chats and social media, the pressure is on to provide the best customer experience. This experience demands a clear focus on quality of management.

That puts hotel chains like Shangri-La in the position to have the knowledge and best training for employees so they are ready at any time of the day to service customers. This quality of management approach is beneficial for the 24 hours a day, seven days a week service. It helps the contact center to be aware of when the customer wants to speak to them.

San believes that any hotel can put up a big fancy chandelier and create the cookie-cutter approach to hospitality. What sets hotels apart is one thing: customer service. With a quality of management system in place for the contact center, customers can speak to a customer care agent before they even step into the hotel.

Genesys enables the organization to really engage the customer in the best possible way at all times, according to San. It doesn’t matter whether the interaction comes to them in the form of a phone call, e-mail, web chat or a simple comment left on the website, San says his staff is able to get to them instantaneously and address their concerns right away. This instant response creates the experience the customer wants and generates the loyal customer base the hotel needs for long-term success.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO East 2012, taking place Jan. 31-Feb. 3 2012, in Miami, FL. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. For more information on registering for ITEXPO registration click here.

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