Andromeda launches low cost telephone service for fast food restaurants

ACE Results – More Orders, Higher Margin, Better Customer Service

A new low-cost telephony service that is easy to deploy and enables fast food outlets to manage customer calls far more effectively has been launched by Andromeda and NewVoiceMedia Ltd. Integrated with Andromeda’s Rameses EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale) system, ACE (Andromeda Call Enhancer) is designed for fast food outlets with a common problem – too many customer calls at once, but not enough staff to handle them. The first service of its kind, ACE is designed to increase customer loyalty and spend by providing outlets with simple, innovative and cost-saving ways of handling phone calls.

With ACE no hardware or cabling are needed instore. Everything is handled at the telephone exchange, outlets retain their existing phone number and have no need to buy any additional equipment.

Customers avoid the frustration of an engaged tone as calls are queued in the telephone network. Outlets can choose to ‘overflow’ calls to homeworkers or to an outsourced call centre at busy times. This gives them access to a flexible and professional source of additional order takers. The speed of order taking is increased due to the ability of ACE to pop up caller details on the order taker’s screen for almost every call – even if the caller’s number is withheld.

ACE also provides customisable music and messaging across unlimited callers in queue, enabling outlets to offer customer specific promotions to individual callers – increasing average order value.

If a customer calls back to chase an order, they are automatically advised of its status – whether it is being prepared, awaiting a driver for delivery or is already on the road. This leaves order takers free to capture more calls and improve the service provided to customers.

Outlets can even choose to prioritise their most valued customers by moving them to the front of the queue. “In a sector where customers can switch easily from one outlet to another, a VIP caller treatment for regular, valued customers will build loyalty,” says Ben Portsmouth, Chief Executive Officer of Andromeda. “ACE will have a huge impact on the profitability of fast food outlets, whilst improving the customer experience – a rare combination of benefits.”

ACE is a suite of network-level intelligent telephony functionality made possible by a close integration between Andromeda’s Rameses EPOS software and ‘next generation’ intelligent telephony functionality provided by NewVoiceMedia (NVM). The telephony functionality is provided as a service anywhere in the world, paid for on a usage basis.

“ACE opens up a whole wealth of business benefits for fast food distributors,” says Jonathan Grant, CEO of NewVoiceMedia. “NVM has proven in other industry sectors that integrating CRM and EPOS systems with intelligent telephony is a powerful proposition, and we are very excited to be launching ACE with Andromeda, a world first in the foodservice market, delivered with a world leader in that sector.”

ACE is an ‘out of the box’ solution, providing functionality to fast food outlets on their existing telephony number, without requiring any on-site equipment or integration.

Andromeda’s state-of-the-art enterprise wide EPOS system is used by Papa Johns in all its operations throughout Europe.