When the COVID-19 pandemic upended the way businesses operated, DERTOUR, one of Switzerland’s largest travel companies, faced a monumental challenge. The company needed to ensure business continuity and maintain excellent customer service while transitioning its telephone system from a traditional, office-based setup to a modern, remote-friendly solution. With a workforce of 900 employees spread across retail outlets and service centers, adapting quickly to a work-from-home model was both an urgent need and a daunting task.
The move involved transitioning from legacy Avaya hard phones to Microsoft Teams’ soft phones. For DERTOUR, this was not merely a technology upgrade; it was a complete shift in how communication and customer service were managed. The stakes were high: maintaining seamless communication with customers was critical to supporting the company’s travel operations, especially during a time of heightened uncertainty.
The Challenge
Although Microsoft Teams provided a strong foundation for collaboration and communication, its native telephony capabilities fell short of meeting the specific needs of DERTOUR’s service center. The service center, which plays a crucial role in supporting the company’s retail operations, required tools that could provide visibility into call traffic and team performance.
“Our biggest concern was that our managers couldn’t monitor their teams,” said Gunnar Meyer, Head of IT Service Delivery. “We’re not a classic call center where live calls are the only focus. For us, the reports are more critical. We needed a way to track activity and ensure smooth operations without compromising the customer experience.”
In short, DERTOUR needed a solution that offered advanced reporting, robust monitoring capabilities, and seamless integration with Microsoft Teams—all while being easy to implement and maintain.
The Search for a Solution
Recognizing these gaps, DERTOUR began evaluating several solutions to enhance Microsoft Teams’ functionality. The search spanned multiple vendors and products, with a focus on finding a partner that could deliver not only the required technical features but also the support and reliability needed to ensure success.
After testing several products, the company identified Landis Contact Center for Microsoft Teams as the ideal solution. “Landis stood out from the competition because it was easy to implement, maintain, and use,” Gunnar explained. “The system came out of the box with the reports we needed. We had competitors offering customizable reporting, but the process was time-consuming and didn’t deliver the results we expected. Landis, on the other hand, just worked.”
Seamless Onboarding and Implementation
One of the standout aspects of Landis Contact Center was its simplicity in deployment. Unlike other solutions that required extensive technical expertise or third-party involvement, Landis allowed DERTOUR’s IT team to handle the setup in-house.
“Our head of IT operations managed the onboarding process and found it straightforward,” Gunnar said. “Thanks to Landis’ Teams-native design, the system was up and running quickly. It’s intuitive, easy to configure, and doesn’t require extensive training to maintain. Even exporting data into Excel for additional analysis is simple, which makes it very practical for our needs.”
The Outcome: Enhanced Control, Visibility, and Reliability
The adoption of Landis Contact Center transformed DERTOUR’s telephony operations. The system provided service center managers with the insights they needed to monitor team performance and call traffic in real time. This visibility proved crucial for balancing workloads and identifying areas for improvement.
Key outcomes included:
- Enhanced Visibility and Control. Managers gained access to robust reporting tools that allowed them to track call volumes, response times, and team availability with ease. “We now have complete transparency into our call operations,” Gunnar noted. “This helps us identify bottlenecks, ensure no calls are missed, and maintain high customer service standards.”
- Improved Training and Quality Assurance. The introduction of call recording was a game-changer for the service center. Managers could review calls to identify training needs and ensure that staff were delivering consistent, high-quality customer service.
- Seamless Transition to Remote Work. During the pandemic, the need for a stable and reliable telephony system was paramount. Landis ensured that DERTOUR could transition to remote work without disruptions.
- Scalability and Reliability. Supporting 170 users and handling an average of over 400 daily calls, Landis Contact Center proved to be a scalable solution capable of meeting the demands of a high-volume operation.
A Partnership Built on Trust and Support
Beyond the technical benefits, what truly set Landis apart was the company’s customer-centric approach. Gunnar highlighted the responsiveness and professionalism of the Landis support team.
“The customer support is outstanding. They respond quickly to urgent tickets and always provide clear, actionable solutions,” Gunnar said. “It’s rare to find a partner that prioritizes your needs as much as you do. With Landis, every interaction feels like a partnership, not just a vendor-client relationship.”
Future Opportunities and Innovations
Looking ahead, DERTOUR is exploring additional ways to enhance its operations with Landis. Features such as CRM integration and multichannel capabilities are on the company’s radar, and Landis’ commitment to continuous development ensures that these possibilities remain within reach.
“I appreciate the transparency and active development of the Landis system,” Gunnar said. “New features are regularly introduced, and we can always see what’s coming. This gives us confidence that Landis will continue to meet our needs as they evolve.”
Feature Requests to Drive Improvement
Gunnar also highlighted specific feature requests that would further enhance the system’s usability for DERTOUR, including:
- Consolidated Wallboards: Managers overseeing multiple call queues expressed a need for a single, consolidated view of live call activity across all queues. This feature would simplify monitoring and improve efficiency for large teams.
- Scheduled Reports: Automating the delivery of weekly performance reports to managers and stakeholders would save time and ensure consistent visibility into key metrics.
These suggestions demonstrate the collaborative nature of the partnership between DER Touristik Suisse and Landis.
Client’s Perspective
“Every interaction with Landis has been positive,” Gunnar said. “They’re genuinely supportive, transparent about what they can and cannot do, and truly view this as a partnership rather than a vendor-client relationship. The reliability of their product is unmatched, and even when faced with challenges, their responsive and thoughtful approach makes problem-solving a breeze.”
Key Achievements
- Rapid Transition to Remote Work: Successfully migrated DER Touristik Suisse’s telephony system to Microsoft Teams, enabling uninterrupted customer service during the pandemic.
- Increased Operational Efficiency: Provided service center managers with the tools to monitor and manage calls effectively, overcoming limitations in Teams’ native capabilities.
- Simplified Reporting and Analysis: Delivered ready-to-use reporting features that allowed the team to track performance and extract actionable insights.
- Strong Customer Support: Consistently fast and effective responses to support requests, reinforcing trust and reliability.
A Strong Recommendation
For companies considering a similar transition, Gunnar’s recommendation is clear: “If a company wants a solution that’s easy to implement, very stable and reliable, with a team that works on a partner level, they should go with Landis. We found out in the proof of concept that they deliver exactly what they promise.”
