Contract Extension with Addison Lee

RNS Number : 2292Q

Eckoh PLC

17 October 2011

 



For Immediate Release

17 October 2011

Eckoh plc

("Eckoh" or "the Company")

Contract Extension with Addison Lee

 

Eckoh plc (AIM: ECK), the UK's leading provider of customer service solutions using speech recognition, is pleased to announce it has entered into an exclusive contract with Addison Lee to provide automated speech recognition services until 2014.

Addison Lee is Europe's largest minicab service with over 3,000 premium minicabs, taking approximately 150,000 calls a week and has more than 28,000 corporate accounts including 50% of the FTSE 100.

Eckoh announced an initial two year agreement, on the 15 November 2010, to undertake a pilot project providing a telephone booking service to allow Addison Lee's cash customers to book a minicab without necessarily having to speak to a contact centre agent.

Using Eckoh's advanced speech recognition technology the service allows a cash customer to provide the time they need a cab and the pickup and drop off locations, and the details of their journey are then confirmed to their mobile by text. Eckoh also use any previous journey information for that customer to improve the accuracy and speed of the system. This service launched just before Christmas in 2010 and helped Addison Lee to manage more efficiently the time of the year when calls to their contact centre are at their highest, eliminating the need for callers to queue for an agent.

As Christmas 2011 approaches the new contract will see the automated phone service being extended to allow Addison Lee's 28,000 account customers to also book journey's using the Eckoh solution. Eckoh are also working with Addison Lee on other services that will launch in 2012.

Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer of Eckoh, commented:

"Addison Lee has established a tremendous reputation for technical innovation combined with high quality customer service, so we're delighted that they've selected Eckoh as their exclusive partner for speech automation. We're looking forward to partnering with them over the next 3 years and providing a range of services that helps enhance their reputation through technical excellence and customer satisfaction."

Peter Ingram, IT Director of Addison Lee, added:

"We have been really impressed with how responsive and flexible Eckoh have been to our needs and how well they've delivered on our requirements, and this is why we've decided to extend our relationship with them until 2014. Over the last year the automated solution has helped us manage our incoming calls much more effectively, which is particularly useful in a business like ours where call levels can increase massively and unpredictably. The service has given our cash customers an alternative way of booking over the phone and we're looking forward to offering the same flexibility to our account customers."

Enquiries:

Eckoh plc Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer Adam Moloney, Group Finance Director www.eckoh.com	Tel: [phone]
Buchanan Jeremy Garcia, Nicola Cronk, Gabriella Clinkard www.buchanan.uk.com	Tel: [phone]
Singer Capital Markets Shaun Dobson	Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors:

About Eckoh plc

Eckoh plc (AIM: ECK) is the UK's leading provider of customer service solutions using speech recognition, and complementary services on the web and mobile.

Eckoh's solutions enable transactions, enquiries or payments to be processed without the caller needing to talk to a contact centre. This significantly reduces its clients' costs, whilst freeing up contact centre agents to deal with more complex enquiries. Eckoh is the largest provider of such hosted services in the UK.

Eckoh's secure and resilient infrastructure has the scalability to handle over 650,000 calls an hour and up to 8,000 calls simultaneously, which means calls can always be answered no matter how unpredictable the circumstances.

For more information, visit: www.eckoh.com

About Addison Lee

Addison Lee operates a fleet of 3,000 minicabs and 200 chauffeur driven Mercedes-Benz. At almost five times the size of its nearest competitor, Addison Lee is Europe's largest minicab fleet. Due to the size of the fleet and use of innovative technology, Addison Lee is the only company capable of offering account customers average response times of just 10 minutes throughout central London. Addison Lee's minicab rates are on average 30% cheaper than black taxis on account.

All drivers are fully trained at the Addison Lee Driver Training School. Vehicles are air-conditioned and come with satellite navigation as standard. Addison Lee has won several environmental awards for showing exemplary environmental management and has lowered its emissions by 38.6% since 2002.

Over 28,000 companies hold corporate accounts with Addison Lee including 50% of the FTSE 100 companies. 10 million passengers travel with Addison Lee every year. 

The company also offers a range of other services including executive coaches, international chauffeur cars and a one hour courier service in central London.

Established in 1975 Addison Lee is still a family run business and was recently listed as Britain's 44th fastest-growing private company by the Sunday Times.

For more information, visit: www.addisonlee.com

 

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