easyJet wants CRM ROI right here RightNow

easyJet is stepping up its well-known online booking with software from RightNow Technologies.

The budget airline is looking to save about £750,000 in operational costs by rolling out customer relationship management technology costing £300,000. It estimates its return on investment at under one year.

RightNow said it comes up with a one-off price as opposed to other 'on demand' hosted CRM vendors - some of whom concentrate more on internal functions such as sales management - that typically charge on a per seat per month basis.

Gary Schaffer, easyJet head of contact centre, said the airline wanted to keep headcount costs flat while increasing passenger numbers. It sells around 98 per cent of its seats over the web and counts 1.5 million visitors to the www.easyjet.com site every week.

RightNow has made headway selling its hosted customer self-service and management technology across various sectors but some well-known travel companies stand out. Besides easyJet, its clients include BA, Lastminute.com's Holiday Autos and Opodo.

However, in a recent interview with silicon.com RightNow CEO Greg Gianforte acknowledged that any of these companies' success with CRM depends following processes and using the technology properly, a criticism that has been levelled against some consumer-facing companies in the past.

RightNow has been one of the most successful tech IPOs of 2004.