Ethiopian to establish 24/7 Global Call Center

The Ethiopian Airlines said it has entered into an agreement with InterGlobe Technologies (IGT) to establish a call center that will provide Ethiopian customers access to its service 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

According to a press release Ethiopian sent to WIC, the initial phase of the call center service is planned to go live as of June, 2010 covering North America, Europe and Asia. The project will be completed in three phases through October, 2010 covering the rest of the World.

The call center will compliment the company’s and e-ticketing activities as costumers now have the option to reach Ethiopian via at any time. The services encompass reservations, sales, ticketing, flight information, flight irregularity handling, Sheba Miles enrollment and support programs and other similar queries

IGT will be managing the call center operation across its centers based in Gurgaon (India) and Cairo (Egypt), supporting calls in English, French, German and Arabic, while setting up the infrastructure and process to handle Amharic and local calls in Addis with the same system.

Ethiopian long term objective is to establish a similar call center in Ethiopia. The projected call center is therefore, precursor to the eventual transfer of technology and capacity building at home.

Tewolde Gebremariam, Chief Operating Officer of the Airlines said, “Our objective has always been to explore ways and means to enhance our services so as to provide efficient and convenient traveling experience to our customers. Hence, our latest move to avail real-time information is part of the effort to increase passengers’ convenience.”

The call center will enable customers to get accurate information regarding their flight status. The center will have the capacity to reach customers at a short notice and avail information using multi-media channels such as email, SMS, or even calls at preferential outbound rates at all times.

“This partnership with Ethiopian Airline integrates our technology, processes and best practices to provide high quality customer satisfaction to the airline industry,” said Vipul Doshi, Chief Executive Officer, InterGlobe Technologies. “We are delighted to support Ethiopian Airlines to enhance their passenger experience.”

Source: http://www.waltainfo.com/i

Call center adds 500 Omaha jobs

In a possible sign of a brightening economy, Omaha's West Corp. will be adding 500 full-time jobs at one of its Omaha call centers.

The new positions come as the result of increased demands from several clients, including leading communications, medical and sports entertainment providers, West officials said. West's Monday announcement said the jobs will be added at its facility at 9910 Maple St.

The Omaha-based communications giant said the positions would pay $9 an hour plus benefits, including paid training and a 401(k) plan.

The company had announced earlier this year that it would be laying off about 300 workers. Now with the new business, some of those layoffs will be avoided, and workers who left the company in good standing will be offered the chance to return to one of the new jobs, said company spokesman David Pleiss.

“Certainly for us, we're thrilled to have this additional business and to be able to bring it to Omaha,'' Pleiss said.

David Brown, chief executive of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, said the new jobs were good news for the city.

“It's always another good sign that our economy is doing well when an employer like West adds 500 jobs. We're happy they're doing it here.''

The new jobs will bring the number West employs in Omaha to more than 3,000, Pleiss said.

West will be offering the jobs on both a temporary and permanent basis in an effort to make positions available to college students and others looking just for summer jobs, said Geoff Heller, the company's director of human resources.

Most of the positions focus on taking incoming calls from customers inquiring about existing accounts. The company also is seeking to fill some English/Spanish and English/French bilingual positions.

Candidates will need to have communication and computer skills and be required to pass a background check and drug screen, the company said.

Source: http://www.omaha.com