American Express 2001 Annual Report Download - page 14

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operating margins, we are also investing some of these savings in growth oppor-
tunities. These include investments in new products, customer acquisition and
more efficient technology platforms that will help employees do their jobs and
service our customers more effectively.
Reengineering has been an integral part of the way we conduct business for
many years now. Our experience has shown that – to achieve sustainable
improvements – reengineering must extend beyond cost cutting. It must also
include initiatives that increase revenues, improve infrastructure and
enhance processes. Over the past several years, we have implemented hun-
dreds of such initiatives.
For instance, on the revenue side, our U.S. customer service representatives
have, for some time, had success in cross-selling appropriate products and serv-
ices to cardmembers who call into our service centers. During 2001, we
reengineered this process to increase the productivity of our representatives,
resulting in an overall sales increase of 60 percent.
We continue to harness the power of the Internet to reduce costs, improve
processes and enhance customer service across our businesses. Internally,
processes such as employee benefits enrollment, expense
management and business travel reservations are now being
handled online. Externally, we continue to support and deliver
a vast array of online tools to help all of our customers effec-
tively manage their relationships with American Express. In
fact, we now handle more U.S. card customer service transactions
on the Internet than we do by phone, mail or in person.
An example of this is American Express @Work®, our desktop
portal that helps our business customers manage their Corporate
Card and Corporate Purchasing Card programs online. Just two years
after its launch in the United States, American Express @Work now
handles more than half of all our commercial card maintenance transac-
tions. About 85 percent of all management reports are now delivered
electronically. In 2001, we expanded American Express @Work internation-
ally, and it is now offered to companies in 20 countries. With Internet usage
axp_12
American Express @ Work has
transformed the way companies
manage their Corporate Card
and Purchasing Card programs.
By moving daily administrative
tasks online, this tool significantly
reduces time and costs for cus-
tomers and for American Express.