NEWS — GLOBE TRAVEL AWARDS 2014
Zolv picked up a second award for its SalesAssist technology at the Globe Travel Awards last week. LEE HAYHURST reports
Innovation in Travel
sponsored by
Zolv’s Olly Wenn receives the award from Stuart Parish (left),
Travel Weekly; Simon Ferguson, of sponsor Travelport; and Lucy Huxley, Travel Weekly
Travel technology specialist Zolv celebrated a year of success by scooping the Innovation in Travel accolade at the Globe Travel Awards.
The panel-judged prize, sponsored by Travelport, was awarded for Zolv’s new SalesAssist technology, which adds a visual dimension to the sales process for call centre agents. Since unveiling the system at
last year’s Travel Technology Europe show, Zolv has had talks with several travel companies and the first trials are poised to start.
‘Much-needed innovation’ SalesAssist also picked up the Technological Innovation gong at last year’s Travolution Awards, the digital sister title of Travel Weekly. Olly Wenn, managing director
of Zolv, said he felt the accolades were an endorsement of attempts to provide the trade with much- needed innovation in an area that is important but often overlooked. “I hear all the time how the call
centre is increasingly important, yet it hasn’t changed much in 10 or 15 years,” he said. “We are not just talking about
call centres – homeworkers are also a very important part of the mix. We want to talk to consortia who supply IT to their members. “Agents can use this for stock content but also to introduce their
own content as a real
endorsement of their
expertise and knowledge. “As a pure
We are
able to look at the problems
tech company but focusing on travel, we are able to look at the problems the industry faces from an outsider’s point of view. “The attitude has been that
call centres do what call centres do; it takes a disruptive view to say it could be married up with something else.”
SalesAssist concept In essence, SalesAssist offers agents who sell over the phone the ability to exploit content such as images and video, as store-based agents can. The
technology enables agents and customers to collaborate in a shared online session during which content can be sent directly to the customer’s screen.
26 •
travelweekly.co.uk — 23 January 2014
the industry faces from an outsider’s point of view
The client
can also send content such as forms back to the agent, cutting down on errors. Sessions
are also stored, so what was
communicated to the customer during the session
can be reviewed.
Microsoft recognition In addition to the Travel Weekly and Travolution awards, Zolv has just achieved Microsoft silver partnership status for application development. This is given to firms whose developers have taken Microsoft competency exams and through customer endorsements. Wenn said: “We
are just about to start pushing SalesAssist out to the market, so this is a great start to the year. “At the Globes we
Olly Wenn picks up the Technological Innovation gong at last year’s
Travolution awards
had a room full of people, pretty much every one of which is on our hit list to talk to about Sales Assist.”
How Zolv’s SalesAssist works
l A customer on a call is asked to click a SalesAssist button on Zolv’s website.
l This will trigger a shared session during which the agent can share content directly with the customer.
l These sessions are saved and can be reviewed, enabling call centre managers to assess agent performance and to resolve disputes.
l Zolv hopes to attract tour operators and agencies with call centres to use the technology. It claims use of SalesAssist will lead to higher conversion rates and increase call centre efficiency.
l Zolv is also specifically targeting the cruise sector with SalesAssist and is hoping to persuade operators to let it access and pass on their content to agents.
GLOBE TRAVEL AWARDS 2014
Zolv wins Innovation in Travel award
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92