Cebu Pacific (CEB) is set to cease the operation of its Philippine call center as part of its digital transformation to improve its customer experience.
CEB said it will discontinue its Philippine hotline numbers by May 1, 2021, and will fully shift to digital or the internet for online booking and check-in and to manage a booking, as well as attend to queries using Charlie the chatbot.
“Charlie, along with our Customer Care team, are online 24/7 to assist everyJuan. We continue to enhance existing processes as we remain committed to empowering customers and ensuring access to the information they need anytime, anywhere, without having to call the hotline or go to a ticketing office,” said Candice Iyog, CEB vice president for marketing and customer experience.
CEB began ramping up its customer-first initiatives through digital innovation in 2017 when it was among the first airlines in Asia to invest in an integrated facility and technology for social intelligence and customer engagement.
The airline said this headstart has equipped it to adjust quickly to address customer needs amid the coronavirus pandemic, mainly through its social media channels manned by the CEB customer care agents.
In the first quarter of 2021, a total of 87 percent of CEB’s passengers maximized its website to book flights directly in the platform, the airline noted. Along with this, 67 percent of CEB passengers managed their bookings online, specifically during flight disruptions.
In 2018, Charlie was introduced to enable passengers to receive real-time answers to common queries and transactions, such as flight schedule and status, check-in process, itinerary and boarding pass retrieval, and the like; or lead them to the right steps to address their concerns.
Since then, Charlie has been continuously improved and is now able to respond to more queries, without having to talk to an agent.
In the past year, the carrier said it has further improved its self-service options, not only to choose a preferred flexibility option, but even to correct and update information as needed, manage group bookings online, and receive notifications via email or text messaging, among others.
