Travel

Connected with RingCentral

The largest travel agency franchisee in North America

In 2015, the former Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associates, TraveLeaders, and Tzell Travel Group joined to form Travel Leaders. As the largest network of travel agencies in North America, Travel Leaders has more than 1,250 full-service and client-centric franchise locations. The headquarters for this franchisee is in Roswell, Georgia. They have 75 employees and independent contractors.

Trouble with connectivity

Prior to switching to RingCentral Office ®. the employees at Travel Leaders were using different phone systems at each location. This made communicating between offices difficult and put a strain on customer relations. Customer calls could not be transferred to other offices, so customers would have to hang up and dial a separate number. The company needed a business phone system that had more modern features and would enhance collaboration between offices.

“We previously used 5 different phone systems, making it impossible to be a unified company,” says Teressa Pattillo, Director of Operations. “We needed a system that allowed us to easily connect and be more seamless. That system was RingCentral.”

Keeping customer service a priority

Since switching to RingCentral, communication and connectivity issues no longer interfere with the level of customer service provided by Travel Leaders—service that leaves no room for error and definitely no room for missed calls. Although Pattillo has no professional IT background, she found RingCentral’s system intuitive. The ease of administration allows Pattillo to make system changes quickly and remotely, either via the web portal or the RingCentral mobile app.

“We have to answer all inbound calls within 3 rings, and we do not want customers listening to automated messages,” says Pattillo. “RingCentral allows us to shorten customer wait times with the call grouping feature.”

Working closely despite the distance

At Travel Leaders, 80% of the employees work remotely. It’s important that the staff remain connected and accessible to their colleagues as well as their customers. The flexibility offered by RingCentral enables employees to remain accessible and to easily communicate—wherever they are—without using their personal phone numbers.

“Our employees slowly started working remotely, per allowance by the previous phone system,” says Pattillo. “They operate out of 10 different states and 1 international location—and with RingCentral, our customers are able to reach them, regardless of where they are.”