SF Addison Lee

With apps such as Uber disrupting business travel as much as the taxi market, Addison Lee has shifted its focus from account management to the passenger’s experience, which entailed a technology overhaul and a whole new way of working.

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Part of 'Intelligent 1:1 Customer Journeys', a content series sponsored by Salesforce

4 october 2019

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Why Addison Lee is putting customers in the driving seat

Brands across the world, in virtually every sector, have learned the hard way that disruption can come at any time and that there is no choice but to heed the mantra ‘adapt or die’. Disruptors don’t come much more disruptive than Uber. But while the effect it has had on the taxi industry is well known, it has also had a significant impact on business transportation. While premium car and courier service Addison Lee wouldn’t consider itself to be in the same market as Uber, the reality is that individuals can easily make the choice to use Uber or other taxi apps for their business travel, even if their company has an Addison Lee account. That has forced it to shift its focus onto providing the best possible experience to the traveller. It is a common story for brands today, as Salesforce’s latest ‘State of the Connected Customer' report indicates: 73% of customers say one extraordinary experience raises their expectations of other companies. Addison Lee’s head of CRM technology services and customer product, Matt Baker, says: “We’ve definitely gone on a journey and we’ve definitely transformed as a business. Five years ago we were very much account-centric.

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SOURCE: SALESFORCE, 'STATE OF MARKETING 2019'

“I see customer experience as our shopfront window”

Matt Baker, Addison Lee

“We had customers who were banks, so the account was king. How many people were booking on that account? How much revenue do we make out of that account. The fact there was a human being at the end of that bill didn’t really register as a challenge and a focus we should work to.” But today the business’s strategic priorities have shifted. It now has two key objectives: global growth and improving customer experience to retain business. “The whole area of our business has pivoted from account to individual,” says Baker. “That has followed the technology change [of transport apps]. People are in control of their own travel right now so we have to engage the end passenger.” The company is building its customer experience (CX) around a single contact centre that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, offering a global service across the 350 cities where Addison Lee operates. So if, for example, a passenger leaves a bag in the back of a car, the centre can instantly relay their message back to the driver and co-ordinate the quickest or most convenient way to return it, whether that’s turning the car around or having the bag couriered to another location. According to Baker, the key to providing excellent service is the emotional bond. That comes from having reliable cars, customers having amiable relationships with good drivers and the knowledge that when things go wrong, the company will resolve it quickly. “That’s where I see customer experience. It’s our shopfront window. We don’t have a shop, you don’t browse Addison Lee’s website to see what services we offer like you do [with a retailer]. When people are working with us, CX is the most important thing to build that emotional connection with the brand and hopefully retain customers.”

The biggest challenges in adapting to this new model have been cultural; particularly “getting technology teams to understand the business and the business drivers, but also getting the business to take a bit more responsibility for technology”, Baker says. Technical people tend to focus on what’s coming next, while business people focus on delivering what needs to be achieved right now, and the two need to be more able to meet in the middle. But Addison Lee’s twin business objectives of global growth and better CX – which have buy-in at the highest level – serve to focus minds on outcomes that can be measured against these. “Where Addison Lee is very lucky is that we’re still small enough to be agile,” Baker concludes. “Even though we are a global business, I still have access to everyone I need within 20 seconds’ walk, including the CEO.” With revenue up 12.9% and gross profit up 8.3% last year, the approach Addison Lee is taking appears to be bearing fruit. ■

Read the report here

Addison Lee takes the same approach to its courier business, which is currently its largest growth area. Baker says the company appreciates its customers are just trying to do their jobs, and the task of getting an item from A to B is usually not their core role yet it is also crucial to the business. Many of the items it delivers are secure data – for example a DVD, storage drive or paperwork. As such, they are likely to contain business-critical information. “There’s a reason that’s got to be [at its destination] at a certain time,” Baker says. “Usually it’s because somebody is going to use it and move forwards, and if we delay by an hour, a day, they can’t get on with their jobs. We focus our entire process around that, to say ‘how we can make that as efficient and effective as possible?’” Making these changes hasn’t been simple for Addison Lee. It has necessitated a move from several siloed technology systems to a single Salesforce CX platform. With that has come an office move that has shaken up working practices and cross-departmental relationships. Before, Baker says, the company separated departments out, “gave them all different systems and then wondered why we couldn’t get a consistent customer experience”. Now, all staff hot-desk and communicate to one another on the CX platform, which “lends itself to faster delivery so we can go to market quicker and we can fail and succeed faster”.

12.9%

Rise in Addison Lee’s 2018 revenue, year on year

8.3%

Rise in its annual gross profits