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Date: XX August 2002
Ref: 084
JOHNNY VEGAS AND ALCATEL PUT ST.
HELENS TOP OF THE LEAGUE
Saints introduce Alcatel OmniPCX Office to Bring Fans Closer
to the Club
Alcatel has announced that St Helens Rugby League Club
has installed an Alcatel OmniPCX Office to bring efficiency
and improved customer service to club operations. The all
in one solution has been installed by Alcatel partner ECS
to provide a state-of-the-art voice and data infrastructure
that includes embedded voicemail and secure Internet-based
remote access. Johnny Vegas, a lifelong St Helens fan, supplies
the voice message for the system’s automated attendant.
St Helens is the Rugby Super League’s most successful
club, boasting seven trophy wins in seven years. It required
a system that reflected the club’s status in the game.
Existing technology consisted of a number of stand-alone
PCs with Internet access via a dial up connection to a Freeserve
account, employees had no individual email access and enquiries
were sent to a generic club email address which was checked
on an adhoc basis.
ECS installed the Alcatel OmniPCX Office to provide St
Helens with an infrastructure that would give the club the
flexibility needed to meet the changing demands of its supporters.
The Alcatel OmniPCX Office includes system welcome, IVR,
personal assistant, and individual email addresses and Internet
access. With the new infrastructure in place, St Helens
is also intending to introduce an online ordering and payment
facility for its superstore goods and tickets.
Johnny Vegas welcomes callers via the automated attendant
function, offering supporters a choice of ticket information,
the club superstore, the St Helens’ lottery, the restaurant
and marketing and sales. The club logged over 5000 calls
during the first week due to the innovative nature of the
welcome message e.g. “For ticket information and general
enquiries; like ‘do fish know when it’s raining?’
press one.”
“St Helens is the Manchester United of Rugby League
and we needed a system that reflected that,” said
Lee Cummings, commercial operations manager at St. Helens.
“Johnny Vegas has added his own inimitable style and
we can now compete on a level playing field with other clubs
by offering our supporters access to up-to-date information
24 hours a day. The Alcatel OmniPCX Office has massively
improved both internal and customer-facing efficiency.”
In addition, the voice and data network is designed to
improve internal communication and bring added mobility
to all members of staff. The voice system combines digital,
DECT and analogue phones which are deployed according to
the needs of each individual employee.
“The system installed by ECS is tailored to the exact
needs of St Helens Rugby Club,” said Richard Pitt,
area director of Alcatel networking activities. “They
now have an infrastructure in place that can be adapted
to the club’s needs as requirements change. The installation
is an innovative use of Alcatel technology that provides
callers with a break from the traditionally dull auto attendant
messages.”
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