Automated data capture service for Poultry Register

In January 2006, Eckoh and strategic partner BT, deployed an around-the-clock, speech-driven data capture service for DEFRA, enabling poultry owners to meet requirement to register their details and helping to boost Government and industry ability to effectively tackle an outbreak of avian flu. The speech-driven service captures the name, address and contact details of poultry owners, fulfilling registration questionnaires, eliminating the need for manual transcription and post-call follow up work.

DEFRA required a service provider that had the necessary hosting capacity and was robust enough to manage and process thousands of calls simultaneously.  BT and Eckoh’s highly scaleable call processing platform combined with their track record of operating high volume speech applications for other government bodies, made them the natural choice.

Benefits for DEFRA
• Confident handling of call peaks
• Automated data capture for fulfillment purposes
• Freed up DEFRA’s call centre staff to focus on more complex enquiries
• Business Intelligence provided DEFRA with information required to monitor calls by volume and time of day
• Eckoh’s hosted service meant no up-front capital expenditure required

Benefits for Callers
• Enabled poultry owners to register their details on an around-the-clock basis
• Callers connect straight through to the service at all times regardless of call peaks
• Speech recognition technology eliminated the need to navigate long touchtone menus

Gary Bullard, managing director of BT Global Services UK