American Airlines selects SafeHarbor as online customer support provider
Integrated support services enhance usability and reduce costs
SATSOP, Wash. (Dec. 17, 2001) — SafeHarbor Technology Corporation, provider of web-based customer and technical support services, today announced it has launched user support services for American Airlines' internal corporate portal -- Jetnet -- ultimately serving nearly 127,000 American Airlines, American Eagle and TWA LLC employees. American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp., is the world's largest airline.
For American Airlines, SafeHarbor provides a customized web self-service support environment, including problem determination tools such as a Troubleshooting Guide, a precise tool for quickly identifying the user's issue. The customized Knowledge Base, which uses a sophisticated taxonomy to organize the content, delivers easy-to-use, graphical answers to user questions. The entire self-service environment is integrated seamlessly into American Airlines' corporate portal site.
"Our goal is to provide our employees with proactive support, to anticipate and resolve their issues quickly and inexpensively," said Andrew Watson, American's vice president of ebusiness. "SafeHarbor's model is different from a traditional phone or e-mail support provider. They demonstrated that their integrated support solution really does result in high levels of voluntary self-service adoption. And their ability to build it in a matter of weeks was key for us."
SafeHarbor's service also gives American Airlines employees a number of choices for requesting and receiving support. Users with support questions are first offered immediate, consistently accurate answers through the support portal. In addition, SafeHarbor's staff provides live, one-to-one support through web cases (an e-mail-like web form), e-mail and telephone. This approach reduces costs while it enhances American Airlines' efforts to deliver an integrated web-based experience.
Each user has a personalized support page where they can review answers to earlier questions. This personalization can also identify the user's information needs, such as what kind of computer and browser they are using, to provide faster, more efficient help from SafeHarbor technicians.
"American Airlines recognized that we could help them build a highly effective internal self-service support solution in the required time frame," said Bo Wandell, SafeHarbor's president. "They also appreciate that successful self-service support environments require daily care and feeding, driven by the well defined and proven techniques that are the backbone of SafeHarbor's value proposition."
When people turn to customer service, typically about 80 percent of them are asking a question that has been asked before. SafeHarbor's web self-service anticipates these common questions, making this service more efficient than the traditional contact center approach, which often answers the same questions hundreds of times a day.
American Airlines is the latest Fortune 150 enterprise to leverage SafeHarbor's expertise in customer and technical support. Other SafeHarbor clients include Adobe Systems, the second-largest PC software company in the United States, and Washington Mutual, the country's eighth largest banking company.
About SafeHarbor Technology Corp.
SafeHarbor Technology Corp. is the world leader in delivering support as a service for companies who want to interact with customers online. SafeHarbor's Semaphore Service™ provides web self-service customer and technical support as a smarter alternative to traditional one-to-one customer service.
The company creates and continuously optimizes online support environments, building user preference for web self-service. This service improves site or application usability, support efficiencies and customer satisfaction for our clients. On average, over 80% of our clients' end-users get immediate answers through web self-service. The remaining 20% are answered by live, one-to-one support--including web case, e-mail and phone. This success rate helps clients significantly reduce support costs.
SafeHarbor's corporate headquarters are in Satsop, Wash.--90 miles southwest of Seattle. The company also has offices in Seattle and New York. To learn more, please visit www.safeharbor.com.
About American Airlines
American Airlines, celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2001, is the world's largest airline company. With its regional affiliates, American Eagle and AmericanConnection, American provides service to more than 240 cities in 50 countries worldwide. Corporate information is available on-line at www.amrcorp.com. Flight reservations and information are available at www.AA.com, American's award-winning web site.
Press Contact:
Susan Cummings
Director of Marketing Communications
SafeHarbor Technology Corporation
(206) 922-5000
sue@safeharbor.com
For more information about how SafeHarbor can help your company increase productivity, customer retention, satisfaction and loyalty—while reducing support costs—please contact us at:
