It’s been some time that JetBlue has been working with customer service start-up Gladly to improve its support operations on the ground and cut down service call times, but now, the airline is working with Gladly to take its customer service level up a notch in the sky as well.
According to Eash Sundaram, JetBlue’s chief digital and technology officer, Jetblue will be introducing software for its in-flight crew members’ tablets next year that will provide them with better insight into the passengers on board. For example, they’ll be able to know which of their passengers have connecting flights to catch and need to be given deplaning priority, or which of their passengers had to deal with a flight cancellation, so that they can provide them with a complimentary perk or reward.
To offer this functionality, Gladly is building on its existing contact center data from JetBlue while pairing that data with various other sources within the company through a network of APIs. The contact center information is at the core, but the additional data points serve to make the customer view more robust. “The contact center can be an incredibly powerful relationship-building place or it can be the most frustrating place on the planet. The need for us to be so perfect in dealing with these kinds of issues is much more important for us in terms of getting a customer back on our plane again,” Sundaram told the Wall Street Journal.
The ability to offer a comprehensive view about passengers is fairly unique in the industry, according to Sundaram. “That kind of stuff doesn’t exist today,” Sundaram added, referencing the challenge that most companies face to unify their data.
JetBlue has worked with Gladly for about three years now. Its software shortens typical call times for JetBlue customers by showing support agents a timeline of each interaction with JetBlue, preventing callers from having to repeat themselves. It also compiles other customer information, including loyalty status, favorite seats, upcoming flights, flight status and more. So far, Gladly has helped JetBlue not only consolidate all the customer data they had available, but also reduce call times by 40 percent. As it brings Gladly’s technology into cabins, JetBlue hopes the technology will be equally as effective.