Leading UK Car Rental Company Holiday Autos Streamlines And Increases Customer Service with RightNow

BOZEMAN, Mont., Feb. 24, 2004 -- RightNow(R) Technologies, the leading on-demand CRM company focused on customer service, today announced that leading UK car rental company Holiday Autos has cut emails to its UK customer service center by 50 percent, a reduction of 250 a day, and telephone calls by 20 percent, a reduction of 450-500 a day, since implementing RightNow's customer service solution this past summer. Holiday Autos also achieved a tangible return on its original investment in the RightNow solution within four months of implementation.

The RightNow solution was up and running just four days after installation began and following a 60-day pilot, the solution went live on Holiday Auto's main UK website www.holidayautos.co.uk .

One of the key benefits of the RightNow solution at Holiday Autos is its online self-learning knowledge base, which analyzes and sorts question and answer pairs so that the most recent and relevant queries rise to the top of an extensive list. This functionality enables customers to rapidly obtain answers to routine questions, minimizing the need to telephone or email the customer services team.

"We had been looking at implementing an online customer service solution for some time," Martin Eade, UK operations manager, Holiday Autos, said. "Web penetration among our customers has grown from 20 percent two years ago to around 70 percent today and with more people traveling independently, that trend looks set to accelerate."

"Installing RightNow has enabled us to take advantage of these developments and, with the help of the self-learning knowledge base, to rapidly achieve customer self-service rates of 85 to 90 percent," he continued.

Most high-volume repetitive queries are now managed via the web, which takes pressure off Holiday Autos' contact center. This allows the company to shift the focus of its customer service representatives away from a sales role to concentrate instead on high-quality service provision. The new approach is enabling Holiday Autos to increase its customer retention rates and, at the same time, gain more repeat business and referrals.

Holiday Autos also benefits from the rich reporting functionality of the RightNow solution. As Eade explained, "In the past, there was no way of anticipating peaks in demand or monitoring and tracking spikes in certain types of questions, for example. In contrast, RightNow gives us a comprehensive overview of the status of our complete customer service operation."

"We can also use RightNow as a diagnostic tool. It acts as an early warning system, alerting us about potential problems and enabling us to take appropriate action before they happen."

"The impact of RightNow on our business has been tremendous," Eade concludes. "Using the system enables us to present information that is easy for our customers to access, always consistent and available in one place 24/7. Implementing the RightNow solution has changed our whole approach to customer service."

Following the success of the service with its business clients, Holiday Autos is now looking to roll out RightNow to its trade partners, who account for 40 percent of its total business. The trial for this phase of the implementation began on December 5, 2003.

About RightNow Technologies

RightNow Technologies is the leading on-demand CRM company focused on customer service that improves the effectiveness of service and support operations with easy-to-implement technology, replicable best practices drawn from the industry's broadest base of successful implementations and engagement terms that create accountability for delivering quantifiable results.

RightNow has delivered these benefits to more than 1,000 customers worldwide such as: Air New Zealand, Ben & Jerry's, Briggs and Stratton, British Airways, Cisco, Dolby Laboratories, Inc., Electronic Arts, Pioneer, Raymarine, Remington, Sanyo, Specialized Bicycles and more than 150 public sector clients including the Social Security Administration and the State of Florida.

Founded in 1997, RightNow has offices in Bozeman, Dallas, San Mateo, New Jersey, London and Sydney, with an associated office in Tokyo. RightNow's products are available in 17 languages worldwide. For further information visit http://www.rightnow.com/ .