The Southwest airlines has rolled out Salesforce Service Cloud so that all passengers and contact center agents can access the travel information they need, regardless of disabilities.
Most companies today understand that accessibility is good business; Accenture has reported how companies that embrace best practices for employing and supporting more persons with disabilities have outperformed their peers. But not every company goes to the lengths Southwest does to deliver accessible experiences to customers and employees alike.
The Southwest Customer Support and Service team deployed Salesforce Service Cloud. By providing an accessible way for representatives and customers to communicate without barriers, Service Cloud empowers Southwest’s employees to deliver exceptional customer experiences. “It’s about letting technology do what technology does best,” says Erica Tyler, Southwest’s Director of Business Strategy, “so that humans can do what humans do best — connect and help each other.”
Service Cloud works with screen readers, has a robust set of keyboard shortcuts, and high-color contrast so that employees who are blind can easily navigate the Lightning Service Console.
“We want to be the most loved airline in the world,” says James Ashworth, Southwest Vice President of Customer Support and Services. “And the world includes people with disabilities.”
“It’s about our people being able to drive what the service console looks like for them,” Ashworth explains. “It’s about a diverse group of employees sitting down with us at headquarters and really telling us what they want their experience with this tool set to look like. If our employees feel confident that we listen to them, they feel more confident and empowered to deliver the right type of customer experience.”
