Part 2: Forge Powerful Customer Trust Through Transparent and Secure CX Policies

This blog post is the second in 2-part CX series: Streamline Travel and Hospitality Customer Journeys With First-Class Back Office Outsourcing.

In this chapter, we’ll delve deeper into why outsourcing is a strategic decision for travel companies. You’ll discover how transparent and highly secure back office services and policies can help you forge stronger customer relationships. 

Don’t miss Part 1! Discover why industry leaders like McKinsey and Forrester recommend BPO partnerships to maximize your digital CX.  Learn how decades of back office experience and an innovation-driven culture can be leveraged to unlock the power of analytics, AI, and automation in your travel business. Click here to learn more. 

In our previous blog post, we explored the insights of leading analysts on the critical role back office outsourcing plays in the success of travel and hospitality brands such as air carriers, hotels, resorts, and online travel agencies (OTAs). We discussed the importance of customer segmentation and hyper-personalization, alongside the power of analytics and AI in optimizing multi-channel self-service experiences. 

Now, let’s shift gears and delve into a critical yet often overlooked aspect of back office CX in today’s digital age: CX data security. This second part of our series explores how partnering with a trusted back office BPO partner can empower your travel and hospitality business to build customer trust through comprehensive cybersecurity policies and clearly defined legal policies. This trust also inspires positive social media engagement with travel customers on their favorite channels, all implemented by back office specialists.   

In a sector characterized by irregular operations (IROPs), an unshakeable foundation for data privacy is mission critical. By the end of this blog post, we’ll demonstrate how a BPO partner’s expertise goes beyond back office tasks by fostering a secure and trusted digital support environment for your customers throughout their travel journey.

---

Key Insights

• Cybersecurity is a CX differentiator. We highlight how robust cybersecurity practices can become a competitive advantage in the travel industry, building trust and loyalty with customers increasingly concerned about data privacy.  
• A trusted BPO with the right cybersecurity expertise partners with travel brands to enforce specialized security protocols like multi-factor authentication and a zero trust approach to cybersecurity. The BPO’s compliance expertise can elevate your brand’s cybersecurity posture while supporting core business functionality.  
• Seamless integration of security into the customer journey is mission critical. With a BPO partner, your travel brand’s cybersecurity measures are implemented transparently, increasing the overall security, safety, and satisfaction of the customer’s journey. 

---

Why a Highly Secure Back Office Matters to Travel Customers and Differentiates CX

In today’s digital, fast-moving world, travel and hospitality brands handle a wealth of sensitive customer information, from passport details to credit card numbers. Customers entrust the travel and hospitality brands they support with this data to plan their dream vacations or essential business trips. Unsurprisingly, they expect this information to be safeguarded with the utmost care. 

Here’s where a highly secure back office comes into play. By prioritizing robust cybersecurity measures and investing in legal protections, travel and hospitality business leaders forge deeper trust with their customers. This is why leading industry analysts like Gartner advise proactively investing in outcome-driven cybersecurity that keeps pace with threats: 

Cybersecurity outcome-driven metrics (ODMs) are operational metrics with special properties that enable cybersecurity’s stakeholders to draw a straight line between cybersecurity investment and the delivered protection levels that investment generates. 

—Gartner®, “Top 9 Trends in Cybersecurity for 2024” 

iQor’s CX optimization capabilities include a hyper-secure private CX cloud that ensures compliance and mitigates threats, protecting your brand’s privileged information and providing data security and peace of mind to your travel customers.  

Imagine this: a customer finalizes their booking, excited about their upcoming adventure.  Knowing their data is protected by a strong cybersecurity program leveraged by a trusted BPO adds an extra layer of confidence to their travel experience. Conversely, a data breach can leave customers feeling vulnerable and erode trust. 

By demonstrating a commitment to cybersecurity, your travel or hospitality brand is sending a clear message: your customers’ privacy matters. This commitment fosters a sense of security and allows customers to focus on planning and enjoying their travel experience.

Partner With BPOs That Harness World-Class Zero Trust Architecture and Proactive Risk Mitigation

In today’s data-driven world, travel and hospitality brands understand the importance of customer trust. This includes ensuring the security of sensitive information, especially when working with offshore partners.

Here’s how iQor builds trust and ensures traveler data is secure: 

1. Unwavering Commitment to Data Security. We recognize cybersecurity as a top concern. That’s why we implement robust data privacy and security measures, including multi-factor authentication, detailed account logging reports, and a zero trust approach. Our secure, multi-layered approach safeguards your customers’ information, wherever our service centers may be located.
2. Meaningful Investments Into Employee Experience. Happy employees are more vigilant with sensitive customer financial data. We foster a culture of employee satisfaction through open communication, clear security policies, and ongoing training. This translates into a more secure environment for your data and a more positive experience for your customers.
3. Effective Multi-Factor Authentication for Agents. Proactive planning is essential to align secure data privacy standards with irregular operations. Our back office expertise deploys multi-factor authentication that protects customer profile information and associated financial data in a dynamic marketplace.
4. Transparent Policies That Build Customer Trust. Travelers deserve peace of mind.  Our commitment to transparency extends to informing customers about how their data is used and protected. Open communication—a core iQorian value—about our security protocols builds trust and fosters long-lasting client relationships. 

Back Office Insights: Chargeback Support Ensures Seamless, Secure Travel Customer Experiences

Security goes beyond IT support. It also involves meaningful and transparent investments in legal policies that ensure both merchants and end customers are treated fairly.

Think about the last time a processing error led a company to issue a payment refund on your behalf. For example, when booking airline, hotels, and other accommodations through an online travel agency or aggregator (OTA), effective and efficient chargeback support can elevate customer satisfaction by ensuring refunds are posted in a timely manner. This is where a travel brand’s behind-the-scenes BPO partner can play a vital role. 

A BPO partnership for back office chargeback support might include: 

• Account Maintenance & Data Accuracy. CX specialists meticulously maintain account information and ensure optical imaging is clear for all transactions. This minimizes errors and disputes before they even arise. 
• Dispute Resolution Expertise. A trusted BPO well-versed in chargeback data science and legal intricacies can efficiently resolve disputes, ensuring both the traveler and the merchant receive fair treatment. 
• Comprehensive Legal Support. A dedicated legal support team oversees every step of the process to guarantee that all chargebacks are handled according to regulations. This minimizes legal complications and gives travelers peace of mind. 

A trusted outsourcing partner can also provide thorough social media monitoring and escalation management. Travelers often voice concerns on social media. BPO teams proactively monitor these platforms and identify potential escalations, including those considering legal action.  

By intervening swiftly and professionally, they can prevent negative social media buzz and legal risk and protect the brand’s reputation. BPO expertise can empower travel and hospitality brands to deliver seamless CX, even when IROPS arise, ensuring customers return from their dream vacations with positive memories of their travel and accommodations experience. 

Seamlessly Integrating Security Into the Fabric of the Customer Journey

Maintaining robust cybersecurity can sometimes feel like a balancing act. Travel brands need strong policies in place to ensure your customer experience remains smooth and efficient through optimized disruption management. This is where a BPO partner with expertise in back office cybersecurity CX can be invaluable. 

Here’s how BPOs seamlessly integrate security into the customer journey: 

• Clear, Open Communication. BPOs can help develop accessible communication channels for customers to review security policies. This transparency builds trust and allows travelers to understand how their information is protected. 
• Frictionless Security Measures. With a trusted BPO partner, security protocols can be implemented behind the scenes without creating unnecessary steps or delays for customers. Streamlined processes also ensure security is seamlessly integrated, resulting in a user-friendly experience. 
• Proactive Security Education. BPOs can work with travel brands to develop educational content such as knowledge bases and FAQs for customers. This empowers travelers to recognize and avoid potential phishing attempts or scams, further strengthening the overall security posture. 

Strategic outsourcing can empower your travel or hospitality business to deliver robust security programs that function as a silent guardian within the customer journey. Customers receive the protection they deserve, while their travel planning and booking experience remains positive and efficient. This fosters a sense of security and satisfaction, creating a win-win situation for both your brand and your customers. 

Uncover the role of employee training and empowerment in back office security.

Travel and hospitality organizations are aware that customer experience hinges on a team of competent, driven back office employees. The extent to which staff are trained and equipped plays an instrumental role in shaping these experiences.  

By incorporating generative AI technologies, a BPO can offer significant contact center training and career development opportunities that exceed performance expectations. iQor strives to surpass client performance targets through Symphony [AI]^TM, our holistic AI strategy that optimizes the entire employee lifecycle.

iQor’s culture of innovation drives our CX experts to always seek new tools, techniques, and applications for AI optimization across CX operations. Whether the service we provide is customer-facing care or back office support, Symphony [AI] has the potential to transform agent performance and client outcomes through:  

• Preparation of agents to offer superior customer experiences. 
• Transformation of approaches used by employees to meet customer needs. 
• Education that enables agents to swiftly locate necessary information. 
• Alleviation of stress and reduction in time spent handling each customer query. 

Drive continuous improvements to travel customer CX with dedicated monitoring, reporting, and a culture of open communication.

Reports on customer experience within the travel industry provide insights into key areas such as dominant countries from which travelers originate, comparisons between repeat visitors and first-time guests, and records of customer service engagements. 

iQor’s back office services surpass traditional outsourcing expectations by proactively gathering, analyzing, and reporting insights to our clients about program performance using powerful analytics tools like our proprietary VALDI interaction analytics platform. Staying informed empowers our travel and hospitality clients. We ensure they receive accurate, timely updates and maintain open communication channels for a stress-free experience.  

The information your strategic outsourcing partner reports can encompass a range of metrics customized to the needs of each business, including: 

• Economic measures such as adherence to policy and cost reduction. 
• Service quality indicators like client satisfaction and supplier service standards. 
• Business-related metrics that scrutinize return on investment and output efficiency. 
• Ecological sustainability markers that monitor business travel’s carbon emissions with an emphasis on greener practices. 

The Bottom Line: The Future of Travel is Hyper-Connected, Hyper-Personalized, and Hyper-Secure

Let’s recap our experience exploring streamlined customer journeys through first-class back office outsourcing throughout this 2-part series. 

In Part 1, we explored strategies for keeping pace with the rapid evolutions of the travel and hospitality landscape. Today’s travelers crave a hyper-connected journey, tailored to their unique needs, and delivered seamlessly across all touchpoints. 

Customer engagement statistics from McKinsey, Forrest, Gartner, and beyond prove that the key to unlocking this future lies in embracing data. By leveraging powerful analytics and hyper-personalization strategies, travel brands can create unforgettable experiences that resonate deeply with their customers and build trust through transparency and integrity.  

A forward-thinking business solutions provider who shares these values and possesses the experience and resources to harness industry-leading strategies is the key to elevating customer service and experience to new heights.  

By following the reports of top travel and hospitality industry analysts and choosing a third-party CX expert to refine your CX approach, you can help define the industry’s future by creating irresistible experiences at every touchpoint for your valued customers. After all, in this sector, the journey is as important as the destination.

FAQ: Empowering Your Travel or Hospitality Brand with Back Office BPO Solutions

1. How can BPO back office support specifically benefit the travel industry?

Answer: BPOs offer a range of back office solutions that can maximize your travel brand’s operations: 

• Streamlined Customer Service. BPOs can handle tasks like booking management, itinerary changes, and voucher processing, freeing up your in-house team to focus on complex inquiries and building customer relationships. 
• Optimized Dispute Resolution. BPOs with expertise in chargeback management and dispute resolution can efficiently handle these issues, reducing costs and improving customer satisfaction. 
• 24/7 Availability With Global Support. BPOs with geographically diverse teams can provide multilingual customer support around the clock, ensuring seamless assistance for travelers in any time zone. 
• Data Analytics & Reporting. BPOs can analyze back office data to identify trends and inefficiencies. These insights can be used to optimize processes, reduce costs, and improve the overall customer experience. 
• Robust Data Privacy and Security. BPOs prioritize data security with robust protocols and employee training. This ensures your sensitive customer information is safeguarded. 

2. How do BPOs ensure the security of customer data in the back office environment?

Answer: Reputable BPOs prioritize data security with robust back office measures like: 

• Restricted access controls to sensitive data, such as multi-factor authentication. 
• Regular data encryption that follows world-class encryption standards. 
• Secure data storage facilities with advanced security protocols. 
• Comprehensive employee training on data security best practices. 
• Regular security audits to identify and address potential vulnerabilities. 

Experience the iQor Difference

To navigate today’s travel and hospitality landscape, you need more than just a BPO provider. You need a trusted BPO who understands the unique challenges you face and can deliver solutions that drive real results. 

iQor is a globally trusted managed service provider of digitally enabled business and CX solutions recommended by the world’s leading travel and hospitality brands as a trusted advisor that seamlessly integrates with the needs of their organization.

We go beyond traditional outsourcing to offer a comprehensive suite of services designed to optimize your entire customer journey.  Here’s how we can help you soar:

• Deep Industry Expertise. Our team boasts extensive experience in travel and hospitality, including navigating our customers’ proprietary CRM platforms and leveraging OCR. 
• Data-Driven Insights. We implement cutting-edge data science and AI to unlock actionable insights from your customer data. This empowers us to optimize channel utilization, identify risk areas, and personalize the customer experience for increased satisfaction. 
• Global Capabilities & Security. With a presence across 10 countries and a private, high-performance CX cloud, we offer scalability, security, and seamless global support. 
• Next-Generation Solutions. We are early adopters of innovative technologies like VALDI’s advanced analytics and iQor’s Symphony [AI] ecosystem, continuously investing in creating the future of travel industry customer service. 
• Trusted Partner Approach. We foster a consultative partnership, deploying dedicated account teams with industry expertise to guide you every step of the way. You’ll gain a reliable advisor who understands your business and is invested in your success. 

iQor offers the perfect blend of innovative digital support solutions and expert leadership dedicated to creating exceptional customer experiences. Ready to transform your travel and hospitality brand? Contact us today and let’s discuss how we can turn more travelers into enthusiastic brand advocates. 

Susan Halvorsen, vice president of business development at iQor, is a dedicated CX leader who champions the power of innovation to elevate customer experiences in travel and hospitality. Connect with Susan on LinkedIn.