CRM vendor RightNow Technologies, Bozeman, MT, said yesterday that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City had implemented its RightNow Service to improve customer service across its five major business units.
The MTA now can answer riders' questions more quickly, accurately and cheaply, RightNow said. The MTA has seen e-mail response times improve 80 percent to 95 percent with the system and has gained greater insight regarding the questions and concerns of customers.
The MTA encompasses New York City Transit (which operates the city's subways and buses), commuter rail services Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Railroad, Long Island Bus and a business unit that operates seven of New York City's bridges and tunnels. About 8 million people use the MTA's services daily.
The MTA already had a 4,500-page Web site for New Yorkers to check schedules, buy tickets and obtain information. Yet call volume stayed high.
RightNow lets the MTA deploy a searchable online knowledge base of answers to most commonly asked questions and provide a system to manage e-mail effectively. The MTA's knowledge base gets 30,000 visits monthly.
RightNow has proved timely and valuable to the MTA. The agency faced a $1 billion budget shortfall and needed input from the riding public as part of its crisis management strategy. A RightNow Web form was posted on the MTA site and generated more than 4,000 comments in 12 weeks. The comments were in addition to those received through postal mail and at public hearings.
