Travel company Thomas Cook has improved its website performance with the use of Dell's Foglight Performance Monitoring tool, resulting in an estimated 30 per cent increase in bookings.
The tool, which is based on technology that Dell acquired when it bought Quest Software in September 2012, was chosen to improve the website's load times, and detect other performance-related issues.
Dell to be bought back by founder (UPDATED) Dell sees demand for cloud rise as 'CIA anxiety' fades $24bn Dell buyout deal moves closer
Thomas Cook's UK website sees an average of over one million hits per day, rising to about three million during peak periods.
The company's existing monitoring system was unable to identify or resolve performance issues, while also providing limited visibility into the customer's online experience, making it difficult for the travel firm to estimate the impact of performance issues and understand why users leave the website.
"Previously, we would have learned of an issue at the end of the day, and it would have taken hours to identify the problem," said Andy Dean, service delivery manager, UK and France, Thomas Cook Online.
"Foglight provides immediate alerts that enable us to fix problems before they affect the customers. The time to find and resolve a problem has dropped by up to 97 per cent, from 48 hours to between one and two hours," he said.
Dean said the system has enabled the firm to increase the number of bookings it can process to 180 per hour - a 30 per cent rise that equates to £272,000 based on the average holiday price.
Another benefit for the travel agent was that its online customers, who previously accounted for about 35 per cent of customer service calls, now only account for 15 per cent, meaning an overall drop in the number of people who needed help with bookings.
The software has also allowed the firm to monitor customers who drop off the website and get back in touch with them to help them with any issues. The Abandoned Bookers Programme, which is run by Thomas Cook's retention team, has generated about £121,000 in its first three months, the travel agent said.
