The new Digital Services Act (DSA) aims to establish clear responsibilities for online Platforms (e.g. OTA’s), assessing and mitigating systemic risks associated with their services, having clear and effective processes in place for content moderation and the reporting of any illegal content removal to authorities and cooperation with law enforcement in investigations.
OTA’s particularly their Customer Service (CS) teams, handle a wide range of issues, inquiries, and complaints from customers and partners and other third parties. Customer Service is the most likely way the company may be contacted, typically via a channel advertised on the business’s website.
A small yet crucial percentage of these CS ‘tickets’ involve highly sensitive matters that require immediate and careful attention. This includes reports of physical assaults—such as sexual assaults, racial abuse, fraud, human trafficking, drug trafficking, and even homicide. Typically, these calls are managed by CS personnel, including outsourced agents, who, despite their best intentions, often lack the practical, evidential, and legal training necessary to effectively handle these complex and sensitive issues.
OTAs and the broader travel and hospitality industry value chain are witnessing a rise in criminal activity, which exploit their platforms and associated business processes. The situation may be exacerbated when issues reported to the OTA are not managed effectively through a repeatable and scalable process by appropriately trained and experienced personnel which could have serious consequences for the organisation, including risks to human life, non-compliance with laws and regulations, and challenges in engaging with public authorities, including law enforcement.
Solution
The GSA Travel and Hospitality business vertical specialises in designing and delivering a comprehensive travel-related security risk management portfolio that includes tailored products and services.
Our portfolio features a solution for addressing incoming reports, typically through CS channels, from travel and hospitality customers, partners, and third parties regarding sensitive or serious issues, such as crimes, injuries, emergencies, sensitive complaints and complex legal matters.
The engagement typically contains these elements:
- Needs assessment to identify organisational gaps and opportunities in order to design and scope the work.
- Roles, responsibilities and accountabilities including organisational fit for any new business processes.
- Policy development, Standard Operating Procedure documentation, process design (e.g. escalation).
- Technology review including how to leverage existing technology to enable the new process.
- Training and awareness (programmes were certificated).
- Organisational change management.
- Deployment support.
- Design of associated management and operational reporting including quality.
The following are an example of areas that are addressed:
- Human life and well-being being managed in a timely manner (e.g. a medical emergency, human trafficking).
- Tickets being managed within agreed SLAs due to increased expertise and experience within the organisation.
- Single parties were equipped to appropriately “own” tickets through to resolution.
- Tickets being referred to a regulator or another mandatory legal requirement, in the required timescales.
- Investigative due process implemented, and matters reported in a timely manner.
- Tickets being identified and classified early on so risks are identified early.
- Correct entries into the ticketing system (e.g. reporting, opinions,) resulting in a reduction of legal exposure or other harm.
In summary GSA can deliver a seamless process for the identification, escalation and professional management of sensitive CS tickets originating from a customer or partner interaction with the company typically via the Customer Service channels (chat, email, phone).
“GSA did a great job. In fact, Legal reached out to my team earlier this week, just to compliment the team for improving so much on how they do fact gathering and fact presentation. They see huge improvements since before the training. The team feels emotionally and professionally equipped now to deal with these reports and confident that we are resolving them in the best manner for our customers, partners and our agency partners including law enforcement bodies and regulators.” Spencer Mott, CSO, Booking.com