How Glassix unified messaging powers Hertz car rental services and digital fleet management

Ariel Keshir, director of data communication and information security, in charge of call centers at Hertz, tell us a little about the company?

Hertz is the largest car rental corporation in the world, operating in 170 countries and servicing over 11,500 rental stations, including the Dollar and Thrifty brands.

What led you to look for a unified messaging solution for the company's call centers?

In recent years, we have witnessed growing customer demand to receive service through digital channels, especially WhatsApp. This is especially true among digital natives who prefer instant messaging and social channels such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Messenger. We therefore decided to provide customer service  through these digital channels, in addition to the standard phone service.

What was the reason you selected Glassix as your unified messaging platform ?

Once we understood the potential of unified messaging capabilities Glassix offers, we were confident it would be a great fit given our strict requirements. The platform's breadth and depth of capabilities did not mean we had to compromise on simplicity of implementation or ease of use.  We decided to move to Proof-of-Concept, which confirmed and even exceeded our expectations. Soon after the POC we proceeded to implementation and the new solution went live.

How did customers receive the new digital service?

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive! Immediately after the solution went live, we saw a massive transition of customers to WhatsApp and email instead of  phone. Soon after, we embedded a Glassix Live Chat widget on the company's website, and customers began making car rental reservations as well as full service using digital channels. The transition was quick and seamless, with a significant percentage of our contacts currently booked digitally without requiring phone calls. We never imagined that the volume of interactions on digital channels would be so high. We started with 10 digital agents, and in a short time the team grew to dozens of digital agents to keep up with demand. The system was initially implemented in the service center, and quickly expanded to the company's reservation center. We currently respond to several hundreds of inquiries daily through digital channels, including international customers, including road service. WhatsApp has replaced phone service dramatically. It is important to note that even when many agents had to work from home during the pandemic, the customer service was never compromised, and we received excellent feedback from our customers.

The implementation of Glassix Live Chat and chatbot has also contributed significantly to the enhanced customer experience. Our customers can receive a wide range of services through the chatbot, without requiring human intervention. This allows us to service hundreds of thousands of customers with unprecedented efficiency.

What about plans for the future?

We have formulated a vision for the future regarding the way in which Hertz wants to provide a digital service. We plan, for example, to extend the use of the platform to the legal department, so that, for example, a customer whose vehicle was involved in an accident will be able to manage the entire process with the department via Glassix. This will allow the customer to send photos via WhatsApp and other channels, fill out and sign digital documents digitally, and more. This way, information is relayed to the legal department and others through the messaging platform, with full documentation and centralization of customer history - photos, videos, forms and more.  

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Definitely. In addition to the platform's capabilities and the super professional application and support of the team, Glassix exposed us to innovative best practices in the emerging field of digital service centers. It is also important for me to note that the beauty of Glassix lies in the simplicity and ease of use. We feel that we are growing together with Glassix. This is a real partnership, and we are proud to embrace the future of digital customer service. Thank you team Glassix for the professionalism and service!