Online travel company Zuji has rolled out an online customer service module for deployment within the Asia Pacific Zuji call centre in an effort to improve customer service and reduce customer enquiries.

Zuji Asia Pacific has chosen services company RightNow to implement the portal in both Chinese and English languages, expected to be completed by January 2007. The deal is worth around $150,000, however this figure is unconfirmed.

Elynn Lorimer, Zuji director of product development, said the driver for the project was to provide information in a consistent, user-friendly way and to update Web information simultaneously.

Lorimer said Zuji parent company Travelocity also uses RightNow CRM products, and central to the deployment is the knowledge foundation, which is an improvement on their existing content management system.

"This lets us update information simultaneously across different Web sites and booking paths such as air, rail and accommodation, providing a level of consistency that could not be met by our content management system," Lorimer said.

"This in turn enables our sales and customer care team to more efficiently access knowledge they need to effectively handle customer calls.

"Therefore, the ability to provide information in a consistent, user friendly way while they are shopping for travel was a big driver for us in choosing RightNow."

Alison Higgins-Miller, RightNow Asia Pacific vice president, said providing customers with product knowledge across the entire Web site means moving a customer from "looking to booking" is much improved.

"This is why it's essential to make online travel sites as 'sticky' as possible," Higgins-Miller said.

"Providing customers with knowledge across the entire site helps them make instant decisions and this makes their experience more seamless and ultimately improves revenue for the vendor."