This continues a category of posts focused on Innovative Uses of Technology for Business Benefit. As I wrote in The Giant Crunching Sound, CIOs are crunching incumbent, utility technology spend and freeing up dollars for innovations.
Ask most travelers what the least hassling aspect of a business trip is, and the likely answer is that related to their rental car. That may seem like a left handed compliment but given the joys of travel these days, it is a compliment. Hertz Rent-a-Car, now part of Ford, but soon to go IPO, is one major reason for driving customer service that the rest of the industry has to emulate. And a lot of that service comes from leveraging one technology innovation after another.
While most Hertz employees are pleasant, I love the fact that on most rentals, I can get away with a total of 4 interactions each averaging a minute or two with them. I get on their courtesy bus and tell them my name. I show my driver's license when I exit the garage. I tell the attendant the mileage and fuel level when I return the car. I tell the shuttle driver the airline I am flying. Every thing else is automated or uses self-service technology.
Start with the web-site for reservations. First introduced in 1996, the site has evolved to support multi-lingual customers in over 7.000 locations around the world. Given one way drop-offs, weekend rates, corporate discounts and an amazing range of cars and options, the site is pretty easy to navigate. You can print driving directions from the site (uses Microsoft Mappoint) or from a kiosk when you land. The kiosk computerized directions were introduced way back in 1984. Most competitors still only hand out paper maps, so I must admit I have cheated and availed of the Hertz kiosk if I happen to be renting from a competitor. Of course, with the on-board option on many of their cars called NeverLost you can get GPS navigation, first introduced in 1995.
When you get on their courtesy bus, the driver has an Intermec handheld computer which allows him to relay on an AT&T wireless network to the garage which customers are en-route. That way, you could be coming in at an unplanned time and they still make sure the car is assigned and ready to go. At the garage canopy, there are electronic boards pointing the customer to the assigned parking space - handy given the bigger locations have hundreds of such parking slots. They have the contract printed out and in the car. The garage attendant at the exit verifies your license, asks if you want to prepay for gas and lets you on your way. Many of the competitors still make even their frequent fliers sign contracts at 5 places in triplicates. Of course, they also try to sell you more insurance and upgrades you do not want. From entering their bus to out of their garage averages 15 minutes, compared to twice or three times with many competitors. Of course, with WI-FI at Hertz garages, you can choose to stay and work on your laptop as long as you want - but it's your choice.
The cars themselves are loaded with technology (if you choose the options). In addition to the GPS mentioned above, Hertz has Sirius satellite radio (and likely soon satellite TV - Avis already has an arrangement with DirecTV), and DVD players handy for family trips. (Caveat: see growing privacy and law-enforcement concerns with tracking devices).
It is the streamlined return process which has always impressed me, and allowed me to catch a few flights I should have missed. Attendants with their wireless devices and printers can process returns in the parking lot in seconds and allow you to jump on the courtesy bus. While most of the competition now offers something similar, Hertz pioneered this in 1987. The bus in turn is wired to tell you what gate your flight is scheduled for take-off.
Back to the web site. Each rental receipt is available on-line for 6 months. Frequent flier mile requests can be processed on-line. Try getting retroactive credits with other travel companies without calls and paperwork!
This is all the technology a customer interacts with. Behind the scenes is a sophisticated reservation and inventory management system, scheduling technology to optimize the pick up routes across various terminals at airports, maintenance record keeping for over 500,000 cars and so on - a pretty complex network.
Post 9/11, a number of airports have moved car rental garages away from terminals and also mandated shared shuttle service. Some of Hertz's innovations have been negated with this supposedly "equitable" treatment of all rental companies. But given its track record of "firsts" in the industry, Hertz still is a shining example of how technology can dramatically improve customer service - in this case. by dramatically reducing the "face time" your employees need to have with your customer.
On of Hertz's early innovations, the Map-printing Kiosk proved to be a lifesaver, when as a Consultant new to the US I flew around a lot every week - it gave me the security of arriving to unknown places in the middle of the night and find my hotel without ever getting lost. This was in the early 90's.
In fact we take such conveniences for granted, assuming they are "industry standard" ... not quite.
Fast forward to last year, when I flew to Boston for an interview - the company's standard agency was Avis, so they booked me there ... fine .. or so I thought.
After a horribly delayed flight I arrived at the Avis lot around 4am, trying to get directions to my hotel in Suburbia, a good 30 miles away. Wow, no Kiosk!!! (???). Well, you'd think the clerk can help you (like they do at Hertz). Apparently they are not supposed to, for liability reasons (???) - or so they say.
Oh, well, GPS will help - except the system I reserved was not in the car; the crew at the station had trouble first finding the key to the locker where they keep the GPS units ( a lousy Motorola phone), then they had no clue how to operate it. We ended up reading the user manual together, and I was faster in deciphering it than they were.
All in all, I spent 50 minutes at the Avis lot, despite being the only customer there.
Posted by: Zoli Erdos | July 24, 2005 at 01:10 PM
Zoli, thanks. Sounds like a nightmare -that Avis experience. My intention, of course, was not to beat up on Avis or the others. Avis, in fact, has pushed Hertz to innovate. In the marketing world Avis's slogan "We try harder" has long being associated with how a number 2 in a market should behave. Also, Enterprise innovated the concept of locations away from airports which prompted Hertz to introduce Local Edition.
Hertz is usually - not always - premium priced, so there is a cost for their innovations. Also, they are not fail proof. Last year in Rome, I had to wait an hour to get a car, even though I am one of their Number 1 (frequent renter) members.
But overall, I like to write about companies like Hertz, Jetblue and others which make our customer, employee and other experiences richer through technology...I hope to profile 2-3 such companies each month...if you hae suggestions on such companies, lovee to hear about them
Posted by: Vinnie Mirchandani | July 24, 2005 at 03:32 PM
You're right, Vinnie. My bad experience could have been specific to that night, that crew, and not typical of Avis, and I did not mean to write an Avis-bashing piece.
What came to my mind reading your post was how easily we take certain things for granted - like the Hertz environment was the only one I experienced for years, so I simply thought this was "THE car rental experience" as such, and was in for a shock to live through the difference:-)
Posted by: Zoli Erdos | July 24, 2005 at 04:12 PM