The irony isn't lost on me... The slideware I used to present Thomas Cook's RPA revolution in 2019 to the European Customer Contact Centre Awards (ECCCA) finalist Panel in 2019.

1. How we rocked at business
transformation in 2019
(*without a digital transformation programme)

3. Back in 2017 Thomas Cook had been in the holiday business for 176 years. We knew that we
knew everything there is to know about our customers, our staff and our business.

4. Except we didn’t.

5. Our company is just a tap awayAll of the world’s information and
media is online
Mobile Devices mean our
customers want to reach us at any
time, from anywhere
We need to become our
customer’s superheroes.

6. Traditional barriers that have stood for decades are melting
away. We are vulnerable to competition and disruption.
More worryingly, the pace of change is accelerating – we
needed to find a way to keep up.

8. More worryingly, the pace of change is
accelerating – we needed to find a way to
keep up

9. We needed to figure out the new business rules that will make our
company successful again in an Internet Century.
Here’s what we learned.

10. The problem is that we’re a company set up to minimize risk, and
not maximise freedom and speed.
Information & Data
are hoarded, not
shared
Knowledge of processes lost
to 3rd party vendors over the
years – little Thomas Cook
ownership
Our structures are build around a time
when failure was prohibitively expensive and
deliberation was a value
Decision-making power
lies in the hands of the
few.

11. In other words, we’re slow BY DESIGN!!

17. We created ’Pilot’ Training Sessions for
our contact centre ‘Smart Creatives’,
giving them an environment where they
can thrive at scale. Free from the fear of
failure.

18. Know our
competition,
but don’t follow it
Use Automation to optimise
for growth,
not just revenue
Use automation to create
Superior products based
on unique insights

19. Sessions focused on giving power to individuals and small
teams – teaching them that they can have a MASSIVE
IMPACT. They created new ideas, experimented with the
tools, failed, then failed again but… eventually brought their
successes to a global market.

20. Growing Success from the Roots
3222 Error
Problem
- Seat Reservation on Flight not transferred if aircraft
replaced
- £450k compensation paid annually
Solution
- Automation of Processes cleared 4000 backlog
overnight
- 100% Correct 100% of the time
- Staff Freed to complete more meaningful work

21. Growing Success from the Roots
Disney Calendar
Problem
- Holiday of a lifetime ruined
- Expensive manual process to operate
- Selling incorrect products – awful customer experience
Solution
- Automation of Processes
- 100% Correct 100% of the time
- Staff Freed to complete more meaningful work

22. What Did We Achieve?
Original Approach Revised Approach
£1m Benefits in 2 business areas £2.4m against target of £2m across multiple business areas
Built an Award Winning, Industry Leading Automation Centre of
Excellence
Underpinned confidence to release £18m for a full Digital
Transformation Programme in FY20
Established ‘Automation First’ Mindset in Thomas Cook

23. Technology – Being Pragmatic
- Accepted our Limitations, then worked around them
- Switched a Feature Based Development, creating a
library of components
How Did We Achieve It?
Process – Governance Switch
- Adapted Funding Cycle
- Changing Senior Mindsets to slow growth from the Ground Up, not the Top Down
- Built an empowered team with a single goal ‘Save Thomas Cook’
People – Empowering Smart Creatives
- Pilot Scheme
- Protecting Pilot Mindsets
- Teaching new tools, ways of working and upskilling
likeminded colleagues

24. In Summary
(and thank you for listening)