Vue Cinemas Chooses Eckoh

Vue Entertainment, a UK's developer and operator of cinemas, extended its contract with Eckoh, a European provider of automated contact center solutions, to provide its speech-enabled cinema information and ticket booking service until 2009.  At the same time, it awarded a new contract under which Eckoh will underpin the automated service with a 50-seat contact centre operation.

"This means our customers will get a consistent service experience whenever they contact Vue," says Roland Jones, IT director at Vue.  Customers calling Vue are immediately connected to the automated service but may opt to speak to an agent at any time.  "Because the back office systems and databases available to the contact centre agents are the same as those which power the automated service, the information offered to the customer by both will be consistent.  And, because both services are provided by the same company we're confident that the service quality and approach will be consistent too," Jones concludes.

Eckoh has operated the automated service cinema information and booking service for Vue since May 2004.  A number (08712 240 240) provides information for all of Vue's 58 UK cinemas.  The service, which takes over three million calls a year, allows customers to request film information and viewing times for their nearest cinema and to book and pay for tickets in advance.  It also directs customers to the nearest cinema showing the film they want to see. 

Vue and Eckoh are also using automation to personalize the information given to customers.  The service recognizes regular callers, remembers their cinema preferences and offers those first.  It also includes a personalized SMS opt-in feature that keeps customers up-to-date on forthcoming film information.  To date 85,000 customers have opted into the SMS service.

Vue's cinema information and ticket booking service is hosted on Eckoh's technology and telephony platform.