BAA Contract Win
Eckoh Technologies PLC
28 November 2006
Immediate Release 28.11.2006
Eckoh Technologies PLC
ECKOH BUILDS ON TRAVEL SECTOR EXPERTISE TO DELIVER AUTOMATED FLIGHT INFORMATION
SERVICE FOR BAA
Eckoh, one of Europe's leading providers of outsourced automated solutions, and
its partner, BT, have secured a three year contract to provide an automated
flight information service to BAA. The service, which will provide flight status
information for all flights into and out of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, is
expected to handle more than 18,000 calls a day from members of the public.
The flight information service, which went live at Heathrow airport on 13th
September and Gatwick on 14th November 2006, is expected to go live at Stansted
in early 2007. Using advanced self-service technology to automate calls, the
service will be available 24-hours a day, 365 days of the year. Because it is
linked directly to BAA's own back end systems, which monitor the status of all
flights into UK airports, information given to callers will be consistent,
accurate and up-to-the-minute.
"With more than 11 million travellers passing through BAA Airports each month it
is vital that we're able to provide timely, accurate flight information at any
time of the day or night," says Tom Voice, director of BAA Retail IT. "As Eckoh
and BT's track record in the travel sector has proven, the introduction of this
automated service means we will have the capability to dramatically improve
information availability whilst reducing the cost of providing this vital
customer service."
Hosted on Eckoh's call processing platform, capable of handling up to 650,000
calls per hour and 8,000 calls simultaneously, callers will get direct access to
flight information on a no-queue basis, even during busy periods or when
unpredicted service disruptions and airport closures give rise to high call
volumes.
Nik Philpot, CEO of Eckoh, says; "This prestigious deal with BAA further
strengthens Eckoh's position within the UK's travel and transport sector, where
the market for automated information services is currently growing at around 25%
per annum. Providing the travelling public with reliable information on a timely
basis is a pre-requisite for all transport operators, and one which, we believe,
is best met by the use of cost effective automation technology."
Eckoh's clients in the travel and transport sector include Parcelforce Worldwide
and National Rail Enquiries, for which it operates the award winning
TrainTrackerTM service, the UK's most advanced mass market telephone information
line using speech recognition technology.
-ends-
For further enquiries, please contact
Eckoh plc Tel: 08701 100 700
Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer
Jin Hennigan, Managing Director
Buchanan Communications Tel: 020 7466 5000
Mark Edwards/Jeremy Garcia
Notes to editor
About Eckoh
Eckoh sets the standard for outsourced automated solutions across Europe,
specialising in advanced speech recognition and interactive services. Eckoh
enables its clients to communicate more effectively and to enhance their
profitability, while making life better for the people who use their services.
Eckoh provides automated services for clients in virtually every industry sector
including Vue Cinemas, Empire Cinemas, William Hill, 02, Virgin Mobile, Ideal
Shopping Direct, The London Stock Exchange, National Rail Enquiries, Parcelforce
Worldwide, Barclays Stockbrokers, TD Waterhouse, NIE (Northern Ireland
Electricity), Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Three Valleys Water.
In 2003, Eckoh formed a strategic alliance with BT to capitalise on the growing
opportunity for speech recognition services in the corporate marketplace. The
alliance has supplied speech solutions services to over 20 clients generating
more than 40 million minutes of self-service speech transactions and was
extended in July 2005 until 2010. The combined strengths of both parties have
created an unrivalled and value-added speech proposition and clients of the
alliance include: National Rail Enquiries, Parcelforce Worldwide, Barclays
Stockbrokers, TD Waterhouse, NIE, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Three Valleys Water.
Eckoh has a call processing platform of 10,000 lines (capable of handling over
650,000 calls an hour) of which over 8,000 lines incorporate speech recognition
technology making it the largest speech enabled call processing platform in
Europe.
In the year to 31 March 2006 Eckoh plc generated a turnover of £127 million and
had a cash balance of £12.7m. Further information can be found at www.eckoh.com.
Leading the world in travel retail.
Through its seven UK airports and further operations at 11 other airports across
the world, BAA is the world leader in airport retail. Reaching over 140 million
passengers per year at its UK airports, BAA's customer-focussed approach has won
it over 28% of the total European market, with Heathrow alone accounting for
over half of the UK market, the largest by far in Europe (source: Mintel). BAA
Retail activity covers every aspect of commercial development and management,
including; retailing, car parking, catering, financial services, travel
services, marketing, advertising and sponsorship.
BAA's wholly owned subsidiary World Duty Free (WDF) operates more than 60 stores
with 15,000 m2 (180,000 sq ft) of retail space - including award winning
specialist beauty and whisky stores.
BAA's seven UK airports - Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Aberdeen,
Glasgow and Edinburgh now have over 105,000 m2 (over 1 million sq ft) of retail
space, housing 800 retail outlets and catering sites.
BAA's international operations include equity shares and management agreement at
airports in America, Australia, Italy and Budapest in Hungary.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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