BLS AG is the second-largest transport company in Switzerland. It operates a comprehensive network in the Swiss Plateau and the Alps. Its services include rail, bus, ship, car transport, and freight transport. BLS transports around 200,000 rail passengers every day. The company employs around 4,000 people and is headquartered in Bern.
Virtual Assistant Reducing Customer Service Workload
The Spitch Virtual Assistant, implemented jointly with UMB, delivers intelligent automation for customer service, improving both customer and employee experiences.
⁓75% of callers today prefer the Virtual Assistant
Challenge:
BLS carries around 200,000 rail passengers every day, punctually and reliably. Many of these passengers have questions about timetables, season tickets, service disruptions, lost property, and traveling with pets, and they often ask the same questions repeatedly. Previously, this tied up significant resources at the BLS Contact Center, and phone inquiries could be handled only during opening hours.
Solution:
Spitch and UMB deployed a Virtual Assistant (VA) that delivers the benefits of agentic AI. At the start of a call, customers can choose an AI agent or a human; nearly 75% select the VA. Responses are sent quickly via SMS, and during business hours complex issues are routed to the most qualified staff members. Agents receive prefilled tickets with the most important context information, so callers don’t have to repeat themselves. The VA also handles cases from customers facing surcharges for traveling without a valid ticket, forwarding them to the call center for a prompt specialist callback. All data-security and privacy requirements are met, including anonymized storage and regular data deletion.
Benefits:
- Relieves call center employees of the emotional burden of answering repetitive questions and dealing with frustrated customers.
- Significantly reduces average handling time, freeing up capacity for higher-value tasks.
- Reduces workloads and increases both customer and employee satisfaction.
- Meets all data security and data protection requirements.
- Understands Swiss German dialects very well.
