28 April 2010, Hemel Hempstead, UK - Telephonetics Plc, the speech automation and data integration specialist, announces today the signing of a multi year contract with Omniplex Cinemas including Savoy Cinema Dublin, Screen Cinema Dublin and Swan Cinemas Rathmines for provision of its MovieLINE automatic speech recognition (ASR) film information and ticket booking service to 25 cinema sites in Northern Ireland and The Republic of Ireland.
As Ireland's largest leading cinema operator, Omniplex Cinemas account for over 50% of cinema tickets sold in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. This contract reinforces Telephonetics market leading position for providing film information and ticket booking services to the cinema industry. In the UK, Telephonetics provide the MovieLINE service to 83% of the major multiplex cinemas. In addition, the contract allows the path to open up further to international expansion for Telephonetics.
Omniplex have traditionally managed calls for their cinema sites across Northern Ireland and Eire through a centralised call centre. In December 2009, Omniplex made a decision to trial MovieLINE as part of the opening of their new Dublin site -Swan Cinemas in Rathmines. Omniplex were aware that the vast majority of the calls received by the contact centre were for routine and repetitive tasks, such as providing information on films available and taking payments over the telephone, all of which had the potential for automation. The primary reason Omniplex decided to adopt MovieLINE, following the successful trial period, was that during busy times contact centre staff would struggle to efficiently handle peaks in call traffic, leading to unsatisfied customers left hanging on the telephone, which could have resulted in film-goers going elsewhere.
Mark Anderson, Operations Director of Omniplex, commented: "Using contact centre agents alone to deal with high call volumes was often challenging, especially during busy peaks such as at the launch of a new film or during adverse weather conditions which often creates a surge in calls as people look for indoor activities. One of our key drivers was ultimately to give our customers better service. We decided to take a trial with Telephonetics to see whether an automated service proved popular with our customers. And it did - calls were immediately handled efficiently and MovieLINE allows our customers near instant access to film information and ticket booking over the telephone, at any time of the day or night."
Anthony McKay, CEO of Telephonetics Plc, commented: "We are delighted to welcome Omniplex Cinemas to our family of cinema customers - they will be in great company. This is testament to our extensive experience in the cinema industry, the simplicity of MovieLINE to deal with the routine and repetitive plus the high level of customer service we provide to our customers."
