Redlands, California-ESRI’s Internet mapping solutions are powering a new customer service hot line at The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Ltd. (KMB), Hong Kong’s largest bus company. The system was recently awarded the Hong Kong Computer Society’s prestigious 2003 IT Excellence in Applications Bronze Award. The system, developed in conjunction with ESRI China (Hong Kong) Limited, is the latest addition to KMB’s state-of-the-art customer service hot line. The new Intranet-based information portal harnesses ESRI’s advanced mapping technology to revolutionize the storage, retrieval, and presentation of information to hot line staff. Since it started operating, customer call handling times have been reduced to a matter of minutes, and overall call center capacity has increased by about 30 percent. In addition, the time taken to train call center staff has been reduced by more than 70 percent. The map-based system enables support operators to quickly locate a caller and identify the most suitable route to his or her desired destination. It permits true point-to-point routing-from anywhere to anywhere within Hong Kong-with the system finding the nearest bus stop and identifying any transfers required along the route as well as route timetables. Travel plans can be designed to take in any number of locations along the way-more than 100,000 points of interest such as landmarks, shops, restaurants, and sports facilities are stored in the system. In addition, current traffic conditions are included so up-to-the-minute information on bus service operations can be given. All information is displayed on an on-screen map-no longer do operators need to waste time thumbing through street directory pages or looking up timetables.
ESRI China (Hong Kong) is the international office of ESRI-the world leader in geographic information system (GIS) and mapping software-for the region. ESRI China (Hong Kong) aims to bring ESRI’s state-of-the-art GIS and mapping software technology to the local community. The professionals at ESRI China (Hong Kong) commit to delivering the highest quality services in sales, technical support, training, professional services, and maintenance support. ESRI China (Hong Kong) was awarded ISO 9001:2000 quality management system certification in recognition of its full commitment to the continuous improvement of services. For more than 30 years, ESRI has been the leading developer of GIS software with more than 300,000 clients worldwide. ESRI software is used in all 200 of the largest cities in the United States and in more than 60 percent of counties and municipalities nationwide. Headquartered in California, ESRI has regional offices throughout the United States, international distributors in more than 90 countries, and more than 1,500 business partners. ESRI’s goal is to develop comprehensive tools that enable users to efficiently manage, use, and serve geographic information to make a difference in the world around them. ESRI also provides consulting, implementation, and technical support services. ESRI, the ESRI globe logo, GIS by ESRI, ArcSDE, ArcInfo, ArcIMS, www.esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of ESRI in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners.
