MGt partners with Eckoh to provide Speech based Subscription services to the Media Industry
MGt, the outsourced customer management and technology solutions specialist that serves the UK digital broadcast, new media and communications industries, has signed a service agreement with speech automation specialist, Eckoh, to provide voice based subscription services to its digital media clients.

The partnership launched its first service in June this year for a leading sports channel, for which it currently manages very high volume peaks around major sporting events.  It is Eckoh’s ability to manage such large-scale peaks that makes its service particularly appealing to MGt’s media clients.

“The subscription model that most digital media providers use, means coping with significant and frequent volume surges and is a common challenge that’s hard to overcome using the traditional contact centre model,” says MGt’s Jonathan Guthrie, Chief Executive.  “By partnering with Eckoh we’re able to offer clients the security of an automated system that can handle the peaks in demand in conjunction with our agents.  For our clients this means sales opportunities are not lost, whilst quality of customer service is assured.”
 
Eckoh believes its partnership with MGt is indicative of a growing trend fuelled by increased adoption of automation in the customer management industry.  “Increasingly outsourced customer management providers find that their clients are seeking automated solutions to extend service availability to their customers and reduce their overall costs,” says Nik Philpot, CEO, Eckoh.  “Smart players recognise that, by partnering with specialist providers like ourselves, and offering automated services in tandem with their traditional, agent based contact centre operations, they will hold on to a greater share of their clients’ business.”

The speech service can be used as a stand-alone solution or as an overflow service when call volumes exceed levels that can be handled by MGt’s contact centre agents.  Because Eckoh’s platform is integrated to MGt’s own CRM system, Profile, subscription and payment details are transferred to MGt in close to real time.  This means the outsourcer has a consistent view of service performance and volume levels at all times and can, in turn, provide the same level of management information and insight to its clients. All calls are handled via Eckoh’s own call processing platform, capable of handling up to 650,000 calls per hour.  The service offers automated payment via credit card or allows callers to set up direct debit instructions for ongoing subscriptions.