Parcelforce Worldwide extends its parcel redelivery service using advanced self-service technologies from Eckoh
Leading express logistics company, Parcelforce Worldwide, has significantly extended the scope of its contract with BT and Eckoh, one of Europe’s leading providers of outsourced automated solutions, with a series of innovative enhancements to its parcel redelivery service.
The new and enhanced service builds upon the automated speech recognition solution for redeliveries developed by Eckoh and BT and implemented by Parcelforce Worldwide earlier this year.
The extended redeliveries service will see Eckoh take responsibility for Parcelforce Worldwide’s entire end-to-end redeliveries support service, which includes management of the front end web interface, as well as co-ordinating customer instructions with Parcelforce Worldwide’s delivery depots and customer contact centres. With further developments planned for later this year, customers will soon have the convenience of making payments for additional service options, such as requesting a redelivery on a Saturday or to a different address, using a fully automated telephone based payment system.
The fully hosted service will provide a high level of consistency across all contact channels, whether web or telephone based. The overall solution utilises Eckoh’s extensive speech recognition expertise and self-service technology platform, but also leverages Eckoh’s substantial web design and deployment heritage, which now forms an integral part of the enhanced solution.
Emma Bailey, Customer Services Policy Manager at Parcelforce Worldwide says: “By taking over the full end-to-end redeliveries support process, Eckoh and BT will help us to further streamline our efficiency and service performance through ensuring that customer requirements are consistently and accurately met by our delivery network and across all of our contact channels.”
Jim Hennigan, Executive Director at Eckoh comments: “We are delighted to further extend our support to Parcelforce Worldwide’s initiatives aimed at enhancing their customers’ service experience. We are confident that these customer service ambitions will be helped significantly by the introduction of an automated payments option and the consolidation of the redeliveries service, which will benefit from Eckoh’s broader managed services portfolio and most notably our web expertise.”
Eckoh expects to manage in excess of 1 million calls on behalf of Parcelforce Worldwide during 2007.
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, William Hill, 02, Ideal Shopping Direct, DEFRA, The London Stock Exchange, National Rail Enquiries, AXA PPP healthcare, BSkyB, Parcelforce Worldwide, BAA, Barclays Stockbrokers, TD Waterhouse, Scottish Power and NIE (Northern Ireland Electricity).
Eckoh is also a market leader in providing interactive services to large media owners and has amongst its clients ITV, the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster, Trinity Mirror, the largest newspaper publisher and IPC, the leading consumer magazines group.
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, which was extended in July 2005 until 2010, has supplied speech services to over 25 clients generating more than 55 million minutes of speech self-service transactions. 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 one of the largest speech enabled call processing platforms in Europe.
In the year to 31 March 2006 Eckoh generated a turnover of £127 million and had a cash balance of £12.7m. Results for the year ending March 2007 will be released in June 2007. Further information can be found at www.eckoh.com.
