Qantas off shoring FF loyalty call centre

[juddles]

Am feeling that this is "storm in a teacup' type stuff. Obviously a couple of hundred QF staff are affected, and no joy to them. (BTW my wife worked in the QF res in Brisbane before that disappeared - so I am fully aware of the impact). And we would all love to chat to fellow aussies when we want to sort something. But someone has to pay the $50-$100 hr minimum that such chats cost the airline. Anyone want to put their hand up for that cost? Thought not....

QF is not bleeding this year - due to many such hard decisions. But if QF was what we would all like - perfect service, upgrades to business everytime an exit-row booking didn't stick, an aussie answering the phone within seconds of us calling and having an hour to chat, etc, then they would die within months.

Airlines are an absolute cut-throat international industry, and in the age of the internet and price comparisons, they are doing an amazing job of just surviving. A small call-centre gets sent overseas? They fight to not close and base everything overseas, from maintenance to pilots.

 

[moa999]

Exactly...
Qantas is just slightly more Australian than the rest of them... And has a Roo on its tail.

Not like it flies Australian made planes, fuelled by Australian sourced and refined oil.

It's got enough disadvantages in geography, operating mostly from costly airports and non-protetective government policy

 

[samh004]

Anyone want to put their hand up for that cost? Thought not....

Well to start with, I do pay what they charge for their airfares and I'll tell you, while what I earn has actually decreased, their airfares have risen so sharply it's not funny! I might be happy to be routed to Manila when I call up if they lowered their fares to what I was paying when I first started hitting WP in 2011/2012. My trips to LRE used to cost $69 each way, now they're pushing $200!! If fuel has dropped in price, something isn't right.

QF is not bleeding this year - due to many such hard decisions. But if QF was what we would all like - perfect service, upgrades to business everytime an exit-row booking didn't stick, an aussie answering the phone within seconds of us calling and having an hour to chat, etc, then they would die within months.

Airlines are an absolute cut-throat international industry, and in the age of the internet and price comparisons, they are doing an amazing job of just surviving. A small call-centre gets sent overseas? They fight to not close and base everything overseas, from maintenance to pilots.

I think one of their greatest assets are their staff. They are what really make the airline. Their frontline staff, whether that's in-person at an airport or on the phone make a great impression and shape how you feel about the rest of the experience.

To some this seems like not a big deal, but I would imagine to a lot of people this will lead to headaches, which lead to a poor first impression and a sour start to a journey. I would think this isn't what they should be aiming for!

 

[juddles]

..... My trips to LRE used to cost $69 each way, now they're pushing $200!! If fuel has dropped in price, something isn't right.....

How on earth do you think $69 trips are viable????? It costs QF that alone for anyone that calls the call
centre!!

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

CBA also has a Philippine based call centre as well.

[off topic] Interesting, I was told by CBA they have all Australian contact centres.
IME, i have always spoken to Aussies, for credit card, general banking, insurance type phone calls.
Which calls do they transfer to the Philippine's?

 

[Sdtravel]

A company i used to work for opened an office in Manila to save on costs. I had several in my team to work nights and weekends.

One of the staff in my team stopped showing up. No one in his local team or his local manager knew what was going on. After a week or two of not turning up we reached out to his family to see what happened and where he was. The answer i got was that he was in Singapore for work.
I was like we didn't send him there....

Turns out he had taken another job and just left. No courtesy call to resign. He didn't bother to tell payroll to stop his paychecks. Didn't tell his coworkers in the Manila office he wasnt coming back. No contact at all. Just stopped coming in, jumped on a plane and we would figure it out.

I have no idea what we paid them or what conditions we gave them but basically there was no loyalty or dedication to the job. I had spent weeks training, talking to and integrating him into our team and we were preparing to bring them to Sydney for 2 weeks to meet our team. But in the end all that meant zip. I don't want to stereotype everyone in Manila im sure there are great people there but I imagine QF will probably have a similar experience. The people on the other end of your call probably don't care about QF so probably don't care all that much about you.

The ball is in the QF court to get a call centre with a positive experience for their frequent flyers and show that these people do care about my issue and are empowered to do something.

 

[Pushka]

I've also found there is such a degree of anonymity - Origin comes to mind. When things get tough they simply hang up. I was querying what he was saying as I just could not understand him. Then I was sent a survey about service quality so I gave him zeros. I did actually get a follow up call though.

 

[DaveB]

Companies that play around with their public interface often takes years before the consequences come to the surface.
Ansett's problems was definitely not helped when they cut 10% of their call centre staff in 1997 to pay for new call efficiency software with a direct consequence being their call drop off rate increased to 13%, a fact no one ever bothered to delve into.

 

[moa999]

I have no idea what we paid them or what conditions we gave them but basically there was no loyalty or dedication to the job.

Probably that.. Having seen a few Manilla contracts - I would say employed by a third party Manilla entity, can be terminated with no notice, 2 wks leave, minimal if any sick leave etc

I don't think their is anything special about Australians that makes them particularly loyal, dedicated to a company - there are good and bad employees everywhere.. but loyalty cuts two ways

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Qantas outsourced a lot of IT functions to Indian consultancies some years ago. So that must have worked out ok because you never see complaints about QF IT on here.

 

[JohnK]

LOL GoldCanyon340.

Most computer software that has been offshored has not improved. Take IMAS for one. Was OK. Became awful.

 

[RichardMEL]

Tend to agree.

With my professional IT hat on many of the large companies we deal with have long outsourced support functions to India and other places and.. it's not good

Even "follow the sun" type 24/7 support that switches to different support areas around the world has been problematic specially with poor handover for ongoing issues (but this is not something relevant to QFF functions)

 

[Sdtravel]

Qantas outsourced a lot of IT functions to Indian consultancies some years ago. So that must have worked out ok because you never see complaints about QF IT on here.

A lot of IT infrastructure and systems for Qantas is looked after by IBM (I believe possibly in Sydney). Not saying IBM are awesome but it probably helps

 

[docjames]

I'll just leave this here (right hand column, half way down).

Contact Centre Week 2017 - Speakers

 

[dajop]

but for an Australian company the easiest people to converse with are Australians. It is simple common sense. I grew up in Asia but I still find Aussies easier to speak to... mostly!

Element of truth in this. I've been working in Asia, and mainly with Asian colleagues for over 8 years now, and interact with people regularly from Pakistan to Japan to NZ and most places in between. Often when I am in a discussion between Australians and colleagues elsewhere in Asia I find myself translating what the Australians are saying into words that other colleagues will understand and vice versa. Unless you are constantly speaking to or listening to people with different types of accents it can be difficult to communicate effectively (ie. free of misunderstanding).

Having said that, in my experience, Filipino's would have to be just about the least difficult to communicate with and least likely to require "translation" between English spoken in different accents.

 

[samh004]

How on earth do you think $69 trips are viable????? It costs QF that alone for anyone that calls the call
centre!!

That's partly my point. I'll pay what they charge, but I'd prefer to speak to an Australian.

It's a slippery slope from here and what has kept Qantas Australian are the Australians they employ. Take them out of the equation and who knows what you end up with in a few years time.

I'll just leave this here (right hand column, half way down).

Contact Centre Week 2017 - Speakers

That's where I used to live and I still have to visit to pick up mail. If any AFF members will be attending I'll come down and say hello!

 

[Kef]

Am not supporting nor attacking this move, but does anyone else see the irony of this?

"We" get offended that Qantas goes overseas for cheaper labour, yet half of the people upset want to use the call centres to book overseas holidays so they can go to cheap-labour countries and spend their money over there

What research is this statement based on?

 

[straitman]

What research is this statement based on?

Does it really need research?

At worst change a few words and it's spot on IMHO.

 

[NM]

A lot of IT infrastructure and systems for Qantas is looked after by IBM (I believe possibly in Sydney). Not saying IBM are awesome but it probably helps

Just because an IT services contract may be with IBM Australia, do not assume that all aspects of the actual service will be delivered by on-shore resources. The term "blended rate" gets a lot of use in such service delivery.

 

[Sdtravel]

Just because an IT services contract may be with IBM Australia, do not assume that all aspects of the actual service will be delivered by on-shore resources. The term "blended rate" gets a lot of use in such service delivery.

Im not assuming, i used to be part of the audit teams that reviewed IBM Qantas compliance. I just cant remember which DC the staff i was speaking to were in.