28th Sep 2005 10:11
Eckoh Technologies PLC28 September 2005 For Immediate Release 28th September 2005 Eckoh Technologies PLC TD Waterhouse extends contract with BT and Eckoh Technologies for speech-enabled Stock Quotation service until 2007 • TD Waterhouse extends hosted speech contract with BT and Eckoh Technologies until 2007 • Access to real-time share price information on more than 1,500 UK listed companies under new terms of contract • Over 25 per cent of TD Waterhouse's daily calls now handled by automated Stock Quotation service BT, one of the world's leading providers of communications solutionsand Eckoh Technologies, one of Europe's leading speech applicationservice providers, today announced a two year contract extension tosupply TD Waterhouse with an automated Stock Quotation service,using advanced speech recognition technology. The automated Stock Quotation service, originally deployed for TDWaterhouse, by BT and speech partner Eckoh Technologies in 2003,allows customers to access real-time share price and market indexinformation quickly and efficiently, without needing to speak to alive agent. Over the past two years, the speech-enabled call handling servicehas expanded to incorporate an additional 10 branded products,including stock quote services for TD Waterhouse's corporate clientsand a "find my registrar" service on all quoted stocks. BT andEckoh's Stock Quote solution now handles over 25 per cent of TDWaterhouse's daily inbound calls. Under the new two-year contract, the Stock Quotation service willallow investors to access real-time share price information on morethan 1,500 UK-listed companies, popular indices and registrarinformation quickly and easily, using automated speech recognitiontechnology. BT and Eckoh's highly scaleable speech platform, (capable ofhandling up to 6,500 calls simultaneously), means that calls areanswered immediately even when there are large peaks in demand asthe stock market fluctuates. Through an on-line managementinformation solution provided by Eckoh and BT, TD Waterhouse hasaccess to up-to-the-minute Business Intelligence on call volumes,peaks in demand, service performance and the day's most popularstocks. Darren Hepworth, vice president of Customer Contact at TDWaterhouse, said:"Since its introduction, the service has provided our customers withmore than 2 million quotes and has had a positive impact on the number ofcustomers progressing to an agent to complete a trade. The figuresreally do speak for themselves. We are delighted with the resultsand are now turning our attention to look at the future potentialfor Self-Service, working closely with our partners BT and EckohTechnologies." Chris Pike - Head of CRM Practice at BT comments:"Our extended contract with TD Waterhouse is an example of how BT'snetworked perspective enables us to create a range of CRM solutions andservices that meet our customers' changing business needs. Speechrecognition services play a key role in enabling our customers totransform their business operations, and most importantly their customerservice delivery. Working closely with Eckoh, we have jointlydemonstrated client service excellence in the delivery of sophisticatedclient handling solutions. TD Waterhouse's decision to extend theircontract is testament to that quality of service." Jim Hennigan - Managing Director - Eckoh Speech Solutions comments:"We are delighted that TD Waterhouse has chosen to extend its contract withBT and Eckoh. The Stock Quote service is a great example of the benefits tobe realised from successful speech recognition services - from both acustomer service and cost efficiency perspective. We look forward to building on our remarkable success through the BT alliance,and driving further new business opportunities for BT customers in theaccelerated market for advanced speech recognition services." Ends For further enquiries, please contact: Eckoh Technologies plc Tel: 08701 100 700Martin Turner, Chief Executive OfficerNik Philpot, Chief Operating Officer Buchanan Communications Tel: 020 7466 5000Mark Edwards/Jeremy Garcia BT Tel: 07885 652 235Suzy Christopher, PR managerAlison Cashmore, Tel: 0113 346 2703External Communications Manager Notes to EditorsAbout Eckoh Technologies: Eckoh Technologies plc designs, builds, hosts and manages speech solutions forlarge corporations and organisations using ASR (Advanced Speech Recognition) andIVR (Interactive Voice Response) technologies. It is a leading UK serviceprovider and infrastructure owner/operator and continues to exploit thesignificant growth in demand for speech solutions across Europe. In 2003, Eckoh formed a strategic alliance with BT to capitalise on the growingopportunity for speech technology in the corporate marketplace. Since 2003, bothparties have combined their core competencies to create an unparalleled customerservice offering in the provision of hosted speech solutions. The relationship with BT empowers Eckoh to leverage BT's World class IntelligentNetwork capability, their CRM expertise and their broader telephony serviceoffering whilst BT benefits from Eckoh's leading market expertise and technicalskill-set in the design and application of hosted speech solutions.The combined strengths of both parties have created an unrivalled andvalue-added speech proposition and clients of the alliance include: BarclaysStockbrokers, TD Waterhouse, NIE, UGC Cinemas, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, NationalRail Enquiries and Three Valleys Water. Eckoh has a call processing platform of 10,000 lines (capable of handling over500,000 calls an hour) of which over 6,500 lines incorporate speech recognitiontechnology, making it the largest speech enabled call processing platform inEurope. In the year to 31 March 2005 Eckoh Technologies plc generated a turnover of£79.7 million and had a cash balance of £13.3m. Further information can be foundat www.eckoh.com. About BT: BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications solutions servingcustomers in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific. Its principal activitiesinclude networked IT services, local, national and internationaltelecommunications services, and higher-value broadband and internet productsand services.BT consists principally of three lines of business: • BT Retail, providing a comprehensive range of communications and related services to more than 20m UK consumers and businesses. • BT Wholesale, providing network services and solutions within the UK to more than 600 fixed and mobile operators and service providers including the provision of broadband and private circuits. • BT Global Services, providing networked IT services to meet the needs of multi-site organisations globally. BT Global Services operates in more than 130 countries and also offers international carrier services. In the year ended 31 March 2005, BT Group's turnover was £18,623 millionwith profit before goodwill amortisation, exceptional items and taxationof £2,085 million. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York. BritishTelecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group andencompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. For more information, visitwww.bt.com/aboutbt About TD Waterhouse TD Waterhouse is one of the world's largest discount brokers, providinginvestors with a broad range of brokerage, mutual fund, banking and otherconsumer financial products.TD Waterhouse UK provides investors with simple, secure and cost effective sharedealing services, combined with a wealth of high quality, timely informationfrom some of the world's leading providers. * TD Waterhouse UK provides investors with execution-only share dealing services through its website at www.tdwaterhouse.co.uk and by phone on 0845 607 6001. * Trading is available in UK and International Equities, Unit Trusts, Bonds and Gilts, Covered Warrants and Contracts For Difference (CFDs) * Accounts for both active traders and long-term investors are available - including Nominee and Certificated trading accounts, Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs), Personal Equity Plans (PEPs) and Self Invested Pension Plans (SIPPs). For further information, visit www.tdwaterhouse.co.uk This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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