In this roundup marking customer wins, Workday lays out an enhanced employee experience (EX) at Gorillas; Informatica helps modernize data strategy at Saudi Airlines; SAS propels The Nature Conservancy to record membership revenue; Freshworks helps clear a path for Collinson Group; and Five9 signs on to serve as contact center software partner to the European Tour. Details follow below.
Workday Bolsters EX at Gorillas
Workday, the American vendor of human capital management software, has been chosen to enhance the EX at Gorillas, the Berlin-based provider of rapid grocery delivery services, and to transform its human resources (HR) capabilities.
California-based Workday will augment the HR experience at Gorillas with a user-friendly system that lets employees access relevant information and enables them to complete their tasks at any time and from anywhere. Employees will be able to focus attention on essential work with the automation of processes, while line managers can gain better insight into talent management and workforce planning. Overall, bringing in Workday represents a key element in the global people strategy of Gorillas to strengthen its core HR infrastructure and provide a stronger EX for its workforce.
Gorillas launched in May 2020 in Europe with the promise of delivering groceries to customers in 10 minutes or less. The service currently has more than 14,000 employees in nine countries in Europe and in the US. Gorillas started stateside operations in May last year in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, and has plans in the future to expand to Manhattan and then to other parts of the country, according to the company. In March 2021, 10 months after launching, Gorillas became the fastest European startup to reach $1 billion in valuation and attain unicorn status.
Informatica Helps Saudi Airlines Strategize Data
Informatica, the provider of enterprise cloud data management services from Redwood City, California, says it has been selected to help modernize the data strategy of Saudi Airlines and transform the airline’s CX. As the national carrier of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Airlines will play a pivotal role in bringing about Saudi Vision 2030, a program to position the kingdom as a luxury destination, with the airline expected to manage a surge in visitors to some 100 million annually within the next five years.
For the project, the Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud platform will provide a single source of trusted insights, its cloud-native and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered capabilities enabling Saudi Airlines to handle dispersed and fragmented data with greater efficiency. Meanwhile, the Informatica Customer360 app will deliver a single view of passengers to help Saudi Airlines drive relevant, personalized engagement, providing intelligent insights to transform CX, increase cross-sell, and activate next-best steps.
“The Saudi Vision 2030 is an inspiring one,” says Abdulgader Attiah, chief data officer at Saudi Airlines. “Data will power this transformation, and now with Informatica, we can empower our teams with consistent, trusted data and leverage intelligent insights to inspire and captivate our customers.”
SAS Leads The Nature Conservancy to Success
SAS, the provider of analytics and data management services from Cary, North Carolina, was instrumental in helping global environmental organization The Nature Conservancy attain its best-ever membership revenue numbers in 2020 and a 10% increase in donor retention, the Conservancy revealed in a recent announcement extolling its partnership with SAS. The record membership revenue posted that year was all the more remarkable in achievement given that environmental conservation may not have been at the forefront of most people’s concerns because of COVID-19.
Using SAS, the Conservancy succeeded in centralizing all its data in the SAS customer data platform (CDP), allowing the organization to gauge membership response to campaigns—who was opening emails, responding to direct mail, or answering phone calls. Having such information, in turn, enabled the Conservancy to identify the appropriate audience for any given campaign with greater accuracy, increasing the campaign’s chances of success.
Other SAS features the Conservancy found helpful were personalization and the ability to streamline email. Deploying SAS Customer Intelligence 360, the group could personalize its newsletters and tailor content to individual members or potential donors for select global regions, including Canada, the Caribbean, and Africa. And with SAS 360 Engage: Email, a module within Customer Intelligence 360, marketers had at their disposal enhanced tools for building email campaigns, including brand guidelines and mobile-optimized design templates.
Freshworks Steers Path for Collinson Group
Freshworks, the provider of customer engagement solutions based in San Mateo, California, says its Freshdesk customer service software was used by the UK travel experiences and insurance firm Collinson Group to react to fast-changing business and travel requirements caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
When new travel rules were introduced because of the pandemic, Collinson rotated its medical aid division to offer COVID-19 testing at partner airports and clinics in the UK, US, and Asia Pacific, establishing facilities in less than three weeks. And using Freshdesk, Collinson helped handle the 50% increase in traffic and queries by incorporating chatbot-first support and automation into its customer engagement. All told, Collinson put in place more than 120 automated workflows, including email triage, automatic ticket-type routing, and chatbot self-service.
The Freshdesk implementation helped Collinson consolidate its customer communications, providing a unified view of customer interactions in nearly real time that enabled the organization to see emerging trends and mitigate issues when needed, Collinson executives say. And at a time that was stressful for travelers, Freshdesk helped agents resolve customer queries quickly, providing visibility to the travel industry across channels such as chat, email, and voice, significantly reducing the time undertaken for major operational pivots from weeks to days.
Five9 to Serve as Software Partner for European Tour
Five9, the provider of cloud contact center solutions from California, has been designated as the official customer contact software partner of European Tour, the corporate organization that operates the leading men’s professional golf tours in Europe.
As part of the multiyear agreement, Five9 will provide the Tour with industry-leading cloud contact center solutions, focusing initially on developing an AI-powered Intelligent Virtual Agent (IVA) and online chat function to serve as a digital concierge to players, corporate partners, and fans. Through the increased use of automation, the service will also help streamline European Tour communications and logistics, as well as provide around-the-clock support. Headquartered at Wentworth Club in Surrey, England, the European Tour—to be called DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons beginning in the 2022 season—is considered the second most important tour in men’s golf, behind the US-based PGA Tour.
For its part, Five9 will leverage the partnership to continue its growth in the European market, working with the Tour on a corporate hospitality program, unique branding assets, and the co-development of digital content for distribution throughout the golfing season.
Author Information
Alex is responsible for writing about trends and changes that are impacting the customer experience market. He had served as Principal Editor at Village Intelligence, a Los Angeles-based consultancy on technology impacting healthcare and healthcare-related industries. Alex was also Associate Director for Content Management at Omdia and Informa Tech, where he produced white papers, executive summaries, market insights, blogs, and other key content assets. His areas of coverage spanned the sectors grouped under the technology vertical, including semiconductors, smart technologies, enterprise & IT, media, displays, mobile, power, healthcare, China research, industrial and IoT, automotive, and transformative technologies.
At IHS Markit, he was Managing Editor of the company’s flagship IHS Quarterly, covering aerospace & defense, economics & country risk, chemicals, oil & gas, and other IHS verticals. He was Principal Editor of analyst output at iSuppli Corp. and Managing Editor of Market Watch, a fortnightly newsletter highlighting significant analyst report findings for pitching to the media. He started his career in writing as an Editor-Reporter for The Associated Press.
