Aviatur Installs Cisco Borderless Networks Architecture

Colombian Travel Agency Seeks to Improve Customer Service, Increase Efficiency and Reduce Costs

BOGOTA, Colombia, June 15, 2011 – Aviatur has chosen the Cisco® Borderless Network Architecture to enable it to move its workforce among its branches without affecting workflows or losing contact with clients. Aviatur started as a travel agency in 1957, with five employees and a capital of 60,000 pesos. Today, Aviatur Group is a conglomerate with 30 subsidiaries, more than 3,000 employees, and an aim of being the best company to work for in Colombia.

The opening of each of Aviatur’s 360 offices has been a challenge for its operations network and more recently for its technological network. “Each time we open a subsidiary or branch, there are new needs that arise because we have to assure that the processes continue flowing and that changes are transparent for both employees and customers,” said Didier Morales, Aviatur’s telecommunications director.

Unified communications, Internet Protocol telephony, centralized information administration through data channels, Internet connectivity and edge protection through data centers all help to guarantee business continuity. Since its implementation about three years ago, the Cisco Borderless Network Architecture has allowed Aviatur’s workforce to relocate conveniently without losing contact with customers or affecting the company’s operation.

An internal survey showed that 50 percent of the answered calls resulted in effective sales; but only 30 percent of the calls were getting answered. “We can now move hundreds of positions from one branch to the other, as happened a few weeks ago, and customers do not even notice it, as business continuity was always assured. Today we answer 100 percent of the calls,” said Morales.

Impact on costs

Flexibility is not the only benefit Aviatur has obtained from the Cisco Borderless Network Architecture. The technology has given Aviatur the ability to speed processes, improve productivity and generate significant cost reductions, as communications do not go through public networks but Internet Protocol networks (this fact has enabled the solution  to pay for itself and to save the company an additional 20 percent of the expenses associated with communications).

In addition, the Cisco Borderless Network Architecture has allowed Aviatur to optimize the implementation of contact centers (of major importance for a services organization). “¨Previously a new contact center required a significant amount of resources, from software to hardware, to hiring people. Each work station could cost between $10,000 and $15,000. Today, thanks to Cisco, a contact center can be duly installed in less than five days and for less than 1 percent of what was paid before,” said Morales.

Preparing for the future

The recent introduction in the country of Cisco’s latest Borderless Networks solution enables organizations to easily respond to the new demands of the market. “Studies estimate that in 2015 companies will generate 50 percent of their sales through mobile devices and social networks, that most employees will not need an office to be efficient and productive, and that video will constitute the 91 percent of the global network traffic. All of these developments give us an idea of what new business scenarios will be like,” said Luis Garzón,Borderless Networks, Sales Business Development, Cisco (CANSAC region).

Aviatur is preparing its own new business scenarios. Future plans include the increase of mobile environments to support customers with video conferences so they can be more efficient and productive. The company is already taking the first steps with the installation of mobile sales rooms and “brand outlets” in malls that offer lower fares on special days or during certain times of the year. Aviatur is also intensifying its video communications. “The best thing is that we do not have to think what kind of solutions we are going to implement, but how we are going to take advantage of what is provided by a solution like Cisco Borderless Networks,” said Morales.

Highlights

How does the Borderless Networks Architecture help?

As business environments evolve to meet new requirements, including mobility, security and increasing demands on the network to support content like video, having a robust architecture is essential. These are some of the latest Borderless Networks technologies:

• Cisco Identity Services Engine.The centralized policy engine for the Cisco TrustSec® solution, Cisco ISEenables organizations to efficiently define and manage security policies across the organization.
• Cisco Prime™ for Enterprise.  This solution enables IT departments to more effectively manage their networks and network services. Cisco Prime for Enterprise is built on a service-centric foundation and a set of common operational attributes. It delivers an intuitive workflow-oriented user experience across Cisco architectures, technologies and networks to simplify network management, improve operational efficiency, speed troubleshooting, and increase network services predictability.
• Medianet technologies and video conferencing.Cisco solutions optimize video delivery by embedding media and network intelligence into endpoints and network elements. Using medianet capabilities enables organizations to reduce costs, save time, and make better decisions for network and video application planning.
• Cisco ISR G2 integrated video conferencing.The Cisco Integrated Services Router Generation 2 platform optimizes the quality of ad hoc video communications for branch offices, reducing wide-area network traffic for local branch office video applications.
• Medianet Readiness Assessment Service. This Cisco service assesses a customer’s network infrastructure and its ability to successfully support rich media.

About Aviatur

The Aviatur Group employs more than 3,000 people, has 360 offices in the country and with representation in Quito (Ecuador), Caracas (Venezuela), Havana (Cuba), Panama City, Paris and Miami, with an office of the logistic group Aviatur Carga.

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO, news, filings) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to newsroom.cisco.com/latam

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