Village Roadshow Selects VoiceWeb SA to Launch Envox-Based IVR Solution

Village Roadshow, an Australian-based entertainment firm that operates multiple cinemas and multiplex theatres in 16 countries, is working with VoiceWeb, a speech application developer and value-added service provider in Greece, to develop a speech-enabled interactive voice response (IVR) movie information and ticket service based on Envox Worldwide's Envox Communications Development Platform.

Darivakis Kostas, general manager of Village Roadshow Greece, said, "As a service provider in the entertainment business, Village Roadshow understands the value of its customers and is continuously looking to improve service for those seeking movie schedule information and tickets. We needed a speech-enabled IVR solution that would quickly answer routine questions and process ticket orders as well as offer a better solution for the call centers operating at each cinema. But, most importantly, we needed a solution that was tailor-made to our evolving needs and products. The Envox Communications Development Platform enabled us to achieve this."

He added, "Within six months of its implementation, our voice portal gained the confidence of Village Roadshow customers and a considerable percentage of our clients choose to buy their tickets through this system. Our voice ticketing system is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year; and, our customers appreciate that they can buy their tickets with virtually no wait, even during peak hours. Users can access our system from any phone, and the speech-enabled solution provides for a great user experience."

Village Roadshow selected VoiceWeb to provide customers with an automated voice solution for routine inquiries and ticket sales, while offloading calls from their agents. VoiceWeb designed a speech-enabled movie information and ticket service based on the Envox Communications Development Platform. The service features a natural language interface for navigation and an actor's persona was used for the voice user interface (VUI). The service supports all cinemas and multiplexes, days, show times, seats, screen types and movies so that the user can buy tickets according to their specific criteria with full voice credit card clearing.

The development capabilities of the Envox Communications Development Platform were used to design the IVR system's call flow, enhance it with speech recognition capabilities and integrate it with Village Roadshow's existing ticketing application. Additionally, the Envox-based solution handles call transfers for customers that require the attention of an agent. Calls are now sent to a centralized call center. VoiceWeb also implemented a Web ticketing portal that provides movie schedule information and enables moviegoers to purchase tickets for all Village cinemas and multiplexes in Greece.

To date, Village Roadshow has been able to automate 80 percent of its customer calls, outperforming its 50 percent automation goal. In addition, more than 1.5 million calls have been served via the IVR solution.

By centralizing its call center agents, the average customer wait time to speak with an agent dropped by roughly 90 percent. Before the new Envox-based solution was implemented, customers waited an average of eight minutes to speak with an agent with the wait time sometimes soaring to 45 minutes during peak times. Now, the automated service instantly serves the majority of customers, while those callers requiring agent assistance generally wait only one minute (possibly up to four minutes during peak times).