Air Canada’s Bold Leap: Elevating Customer Service Through Simulation and Innovation
In 2021, Air Canada made significant strides towards a more efficient future by embarking on a major upgrade of its contact center systems. With a considerable investment aimed at consolidating four separate contact lines into one streamlined and centralized telephony platform utilizing AWS Connect, the airline sought to enhance its customer service capabilities. However, as many organizations can attest, the journey of digital transformation is rarely a smooth one. An oversight in call prioritization rules left many customers waiting with no answers, resulting in unforeseen backlash and negative publicity.
The Challenge: Overcoming Initial Mistakes
The issues faced by Air Canada during its initial upgrade were a serious shock, particularly as the contact center modernization was only the first of four planned digital transformations. Discontented customers were left frustrated as they were unable to reach support effectively. Recognizing the need for corrective measures, Kieran Hurley, the Manager of Product Development for Contact Centers at Air Canada, and his internal team were determined to prevent a repeat of this situation.
By employing a simulation-powered digital twin facility, they aimed to understand the existing problems in a controlled environment and devise optimal solutions without risking customer satisfaction in the process. This groundbreaking approach would lay the groundwork for a more successful implementation of the forthcoming contact center upgrades.
Creating a Digital Twin: A Safe Space for Solutions
Leveraging technology from UK-based vendor Simul8, Air Canada created a simulation environment that accurately mirrored its new call routing system, capable of handling realistic volumes of customer inquiries—over 25,000 inbound calls daily. This digital twin allowed the team to model various scenarios and identify bottlenecks before implementing changes in the real operating environment.
Kieran Hurley articulated the importance of simulation: "Getting success out of any technology change comes down to having the confidence that what is going into production will help your business. Without a proper simulation tool, it’s really a best guess."
By creating this mockup, the internal team could experiment with various configurations of call prioritization and analyze the outcomes. This proactive analysis was crucial for determining how to respond effectively to issues that could arise due to spikes in call volume from factors like canceled flights, increased inquiries after schedule changes, or severe weather conditions.
A Unified Approach: Transitioning to a Cloud-Based Platform
Headquartered in Québec and in operation since 1937, Air Canada is the nation’s largest airline, serving more than 80 international airports and managing an extensive customer base. The previous situation—where customers had to navigate multiple contact lines for different services—was becoming increasingly impractical. Hurley highlighted the essential role that contact centers play in both maintaining positive customer relations and recovering from service mishaps.
With the decision made to migrate to a singular cloud-based telephony system—with AWS Connect at its core—Air Canada aimed to transform the customer experience across its various service offerings. Despite the rocky start with the loyalty program migration, the lessons learned paved the way for future upgrades in customer relations, revenue inquiries, and baggage issues.
Effective Planning: Wargaming Future Transitions
Given the stakes involved, the focus turned to war-gaming the transitions to ensure a smooth implementation. Air Canada’s internal team worked closely with Simul8 to identify numerous potential scenarios that could affect call routing decisions. This meticulous modeling culminated in a detailed simulation of the desired workflow, considering factors such as agent availability and realistic call volume expectations.
One of the standout advantages of operating within a digital twin environment, as Hurley mentioned, was the potential to swiftly explore various contingencies. "Simulating 24 hours outside of a digital twin would take us 24 actual hours. However, within our realistic model, we were able to achieve in one day what typically required weeks," he noted.
A Successful Transformation: Learning from Experience
Air Canada’s efforts paid off. By effectively using simulation to tweak and optimize its telephony system before going live, the airline successfully completed all four transformations in time for the peak summer travel season. Hurley reported, "Thanks to the preventative action we took, we did not encounter any issues during the migrations that could have devastated us as a company."
The successful upgrade demonstrated how crucial it is to leverage technology for forward-thinking solutions. While Air Canada currently has no immediate plans to create more digital twins, the positive results and efficiencies gained will certainly encourage them to consider such technological approaches in future projects.
Conclusion: Looking Ahead
The experience of Air Canada’s digital transformation highlights the pivotal role of strategic planning and simulation technologies in managing complex system changes. As organizations worldwide navigate their own digital journeys, Air Canada serves as a prime example of how innovative thinking and proactive measures can not only rectify initial missteps but also provide a roadmap for sustainable growth and customer satisfaction.
Through this endeavor, Air Canada has reaffirmed its commitment to improving customer experience, ensuring that every journey begins and ends on a positive note—and that’s something worth celebrating.
