How Air Liquide Transformed Its Customer Experience with Diabolocom

As a global leader in gases, technologies, and services for industry and healthcare, Air Liquide operates in 60 countries worldwide.

With revenues exceeding €27.5 billion in 2023, nearly 67,000 employees, and 4 million clients and patients, the French industrial giant plays a pivotal role in transforming sectors as diverse as metallurgy, food processing, electronics, and healthcare.

However, in an increasingly complex and competitive environment, Air Liquide must continuously innovate to meet its customers’ expectations for service quality, responsiveness, and simplicity.

Tackling the Challenges of Global Customer Relationship Management

Founded in 1902, Air Liquide has spent over a century establishing itself as a global leader in the production, distribution, and application of gases for industry, healthcare, and environmental needs. The company owes its dominant position to its expertise across the entire value chain of industrial and medical gases—from production to distribution. 

Yet, this global scale and diversity of operations come with significant challenges in managing customer relationships. With millions of gas cylinders delivered annually, thousands of sites requiring continuous supply, and increasingly complex technical demands, Air Liquide’s teams face the constant task of managing a vast network of communication channels and stakeholders.

This is the essence of the “One Number” project: to provide customers with a single point of contact to address all their needs, from straightforward requests to highly technical inquiries. This large-scale transformation aims to streamline processes, equip teams with the right tools, and improve communication flow to enhance responsiveness and efficiency.

To bring this vision to life, Air Liquide turned to Diabolocom’s customer service solution.

Simplify the customer journey by providing one point of contact

Before launching the “One Number” project, customer relationships at Air Liquide France Industrie were fragmented across numerous contact points.
Customers had to navigate 18 different phone numbers to reach various services, including order placement, billing, technical support, and emergency assistance. This fragmentation caused confusion for customers and challenges for teams in managing inquiries effectively.

Air Liquide decided to overhaul its customer relationship strategy by creating a single contact number. The goal was clear: simplify the customer journey by providing one point of contact capable of handling all requests quickly and efficiently.

This ambitious project required a complete rethinking of processes to ensure optimal call management.

Choosing Diabolocom as their technology partner was a natural decision for Air Liquide. Beyond Diabolocom’s expertise in managing multichannel customer interactions, it was the quality of their support that set them apart.

This close collaboration allowed for the creation of a tailored solution perfectly aligned with Air Liquide’s operational needs. Thanks to this partnership, the “One Number” project delivered on its promise: today, Air Liquide France Industrie customers can access all services through a single phone number and enjoy fast, effective support for their requests.

Benefit from optimal call quality and dedicated support

This transformation wasn’t just about introducing a single number. For Air Liquide, it was equally important to ensure optimal call quality, especially for managing emergency calls.

This priority was a key reason for selecting Diabolocom. “We are very satisfied with the call quality,” confirms Annabel Losson-Oleksow. This performance is made possible by Diabolocom’s telecom expertise, enabling them to maintain full control over their production chain.

However, beyond technical performance, it was the collaborative nature of the relationship with Diabolocom that truly made the difference for Air Liquide. Far from simply providing a solution, Diabolocom’s teams worked daily to support Air Liquide’s agents in adopting this new system.

“We chose Diabolocom for the voice quality and the dedicated team support”, says Annabel Losson-Oleksow.

This support continues to this day through weekly check-ins to review feedback from the field and identify areas for improvement. “We have weekly discussions to address open issues,” highlights Annabel Losson-Oleksow. This ongoing collaboration and co-construction approach have allowed the system to evolve continuously, ensuring it meets the operational needs of Air Liquide’s teams.

Toward an Enhanced, Multichannel, and Unified Customer Experience

Building on the success of the project in telephony, Air Liquide is now setting its sights on further simplifying the customer journey. The company has recognized that while phone calls remain a preferred channel for emergencies, they account for only part of customer interactions. “Today, we receive one phone call for every four emails,” notes Annabel Losson-Oleksow, Senior Customer Experience Manager at Air Liquide France Industrie.

To address this multichannel reality, Air Liquide has decided to expand its unification efforts to all contact channels.

Practically speaking, this involves integrating email interactions into the Diabolocom platform alongside phone calls. Agents now have a 360° view of each customer’s interaction history, allowing them to provide optimal support from the initial contact to issue resolution.

Conclusion

This partnership reflects Air Liquide’s commitment to placing customer experience excellence at the core of its strategy. By unifying its contact channels and leveraging Diabolocom’s expertise, the industrial group has laid the groundwork for a customer relationship that is simplified, responsive, and efficient.

However, this transformation extends beyond the implementation of a technological solution. It represents a true cultural shift, aiming to make every customer interaction a unique moment of value creation. This approach requires strong team commitment and the support of a trusted partner with expertise in customer relationship management.

This is the essence of the collaboration between Air Liquide and Diabolocom: combining the best of technology and human interaction to deliver an exceptional customer experience.