Last checked at 8 Jul 2009 07:00
| 8 July 2009 |
Eckoh plc
Vue Cinemas renew exclusive contract for three more years
Eckoh plc ("Eckoh"), the UK's largest provider of hosted speech recognition services, is pleased to announce it has successfully renewed its exclusive contract for a three year period to provide a speech-enabled cinema information and ticket booking service and live contact centre to Vue, the UK's leading developer and operator of state-of-the-art cinemas.
Under the terms of the contract, in Autumn 2009, Eckoh will deploy a completely new automated telephone service which is being designed to reflect the same innovative approach that Vue bring to the cinema market as a whole.
The service will allow callers to easily access information and to book tickets from the full and extensive range of ticket and performance types across the Vue network and to select where they would like to sit in the cinema auditorium and to keep this as a personal preference. It will also feature increased levels of personalisation so it will offer callers where desired, selections based upon their previous call patterns to make the call quicker and more intuitive.
The new service will also benefit from being deployed on Eckoh's new state-of-the-art VoiceXML call platform which operates the very latest in speech recognition technology from Nuance. This new platform which goes live in the Summer will ensure that the technical performance of the Vue service and the accuracy of the speech recognition will be best in the market.
Vue is the largest operator of modern multiplex cinemas in the country. It is also the market leader in the critical London market and has the second largest market share in terms of box office in the UK. Vue's circuit has now reached a landmark of 62 cinemas with over 607 screens.
The cinema information and ticket booking service was originally launched in May 2004 and provides Vue with a one-number telephone solution for its group of cinemas. It receives between 2 and 3 million calls every year from Vue's customers.
Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer of Eckoh, commented:
"As one of our largest and longest standing clients we are extremely pleased to continue our relationship with Vue. We are really excited about the opportunity to deliver them a new service which can provide a truly comprehensive and innovative experience to their telephone customers into the new decade. We believe that telephony based cinema services generally available in the UK have not progressed in line with the corresponding service available through the web and we are excited about reversing that trend and providing Vue with a market leading solution."
Steve Knibbs, COO at Vue commented:
"Over the many years we have worked with them, Eckoh has consistently proved to be the right supplier of choice for Vue for both the automated telephone service and the guest services contact centre. They are flexible, responsive and deliver high quality automated solutions for our business. This contract will see us launch a new service which will provide our customers with a more satisfying experience and which we believe will set a new benchmark for quality in the cinema sector."
Enquiries
Eckoh plc
Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer
Adam Moloney, Group Finance Director
Jim Hennigan, Executive Director
www.eckoh.com Tel: 01442 458 300
Corfin Communications
Harry Chathli / Victoria Ward Tel: 020 7977 0020
Seymour Pierce
Jonathan Wright Tel: 020 7107 8000