New i-Concierge Kiosk at Harbour City Enabled by Cisco, Wharf T&T and MajorLink

HONG KONG, Feb. 24, 2011 – Harbour City Estates Limited, Cisco, Wharf T&T Limited and MajorLink Communications Limited today jointly announced a leading-edge move in Asia's shopping arcade industry. With a view to reshaping the retail experience, Harbour City has become a pioneer in Asia by introducing the "i-Concierge Kiosk", a first-of-its-kind in-person customer-service kiosk, with Cisco's Smart+Connected Retail solution, Wharf T&T's system integration capability, and MajorLink's hardware and customized real-time directory service application. The kiosk integrates innovative features including video conferencing, map-drawing and information display, enabling Harbour City to offer an interactive and personalized shopping experience to customers.

As one of the best known, must-visit shopping arcades for tourists in Asia, Harbour City endeavors to provide an unprecedented shopping experience and high-quality one-stop customer service for its visitors and shoppers. Over time, Harbour City has invested substantial resources to enhance its customer satisfaction by providing all-round staff training and implementing new services. These include Customer Service Ambassadors who operate at fixed counters, a Shoppers' Care Centre and Food Concierge that provides services specific to the needs of shoppers, and Bright Senior Ambassadors who offer mobile customer services in crowded areas. In line with its surging customer needs and significant growth in traffic, Harbour City recognizes the importance of technology. Integrating creative ideas and groundbreaking technologies, Harbour City is now entering a brand-new stage to create a convenient and premium shopping experience with the deployment of the "i-Concierge Kiosk". Please refer to the solution fact sheet for technical specifications.

Facts:

Enhancing Efficiency. To cope with the continuous growth in traffic, Harbour City requires an efficient and effective customer-servicing platform to handle diversified enquiries from customers scattered throughout its 1.2-kilometer-long shopping mall. By deploying the "i-Concierge Kiosk" with Cisco's Smart+Connected Retail solution, which comprises wireless, unified communications and video technologies, Harbour City can deliver real-time, personalized customer service in a face-to-face manner in 12 more locations. The live video kiosk serves as the front end to route customer requests into the "i-Concierge" call center, which is supported by a pool of agents. Thousands of customer enquiries can be addressed by the "i-Concierge Kiosk" each day in addition to the existing concierge counters.
Optimizing Quality of Service. Product knowledge, customer service skills, and responsiveness to customers by well-trained live agents can be further enhanced with the use of the "i-Concierge Kiosk". Live agents are able to use the real-time directory service application with access to productivity tools and information. Services can be delivered more effectively, comprehensively and interactively, and live agents can concentrate on handling customer enquiries one-by-one in a hassle-free environment without customers jamming the queue. In many cases, the "i-Concierge Kiosk" can reduce the time shoppers usually spend in looking through self-service directory boards or digital signage.
Increasing Mobility and Flexibility. The "i-Concierge Kiosk" uses a wireless connection, providing Harbour City with much greater flexibility and scalability to support its business operations and cope with future expansion, without affecting its day-to-day business.

The first phase of the deployment of 12 sets of the "i-Concierge Kiosk" has been completed. The second phase of the deployment is planned to commence this April and is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Supporting Quotes

"Technology and Human Touch are the success factors of i-Concierge Kiosk System."

"The collaboration with Harbour City, once again, demonstrates Cisco's commitment to transforming the retail and shopping arcade industry with our leading-edge technologies and innovative solutions. Our networking technology removes barriers to human interaction, allowing for richer communications, true collaboration and deeper connections. It is the power of the network that transforms the way people live, work, play and learn. We are pleased to work together with Harbour City, Wharf T&T and MajorLink on the deployment of the "i-Concierge Kiosk". We strongly believe that this deployment will provide the next-generation shopping experience for visitors that will help solidify Hong Kong's position as an international shopping paradise."

"The "i-Concierge Kiosk" project pioneered by Harbour City has marked a remarkable step in the ICT application development and network enhancement to reshape the future retail experience. Wharf T&T is pleased to be one of the key partners in this project to provide system integration and networking service to ensure a smooth project implementation. Through close collaboration with Cisco and MajorLink, we have successfully delivered the first-of-its-kind innovative and interactive customer service kiosk in Asia. As a leading ICT service provider in Hong Kong, we are committed to delivering top-notch ICT solutions running on our robust network infrastructure with strong technical expertise and excellent domain know-how in system integration. We strongly believe that the "i-Concierge Kiosk" will bring Harbour City's visitors an unprecedented shopping experience with greater convenience and fun."

"We are delighted to collaborate with Cisco and Wharf T&T in bringing this innovative platform to Harbour City and offering a first-of-its-kind one-stop and interactive shopping experience to customers. The "i-Concierge Kiosk" represents an entirely new and unique approach to deliver an enhanced service proposition for better handling of diversified visitor and shopper requests. Combining our expertise in self-service solutions with leading-edge Cisco Unified Communications technologies enables us to further enhance and ensure the success of this next-generation service platform."

KC Leung, general manager (centre management), Harbour City Estates Limited
Barbara Chiu, general manager, Cisco Hong Kong and Macau
Esther Chan, vice president, business development, Wharf T&T Limited
PM Lai, managing director, MajorLink Communications Limited

Supporting Resources:

Tags / Keywords:

Harbour City, Cisco, Smart+Connected Retail Solution, Wireless, Unified Communications, Video, Wharf T&T, MajorLink

About Harbour City Estates Limited

Harbour City, the largest shopping mall in Hong Kong with an area of 2 million square feet, is one of the main tourist attractions in Tsim Sha Tsui. With over 700 shops of all kinds, more than 50 F&B outlets, three star hotels and 2 cinemas, it provides visitors from all over the world a one-stop shopping and entertainment experience – with splendid harbour views, endless shopping fun and worldwide cuisine.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com. Cisco products are supplied in Hong Kong by the channel partners of Cisco Systems International, B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc.

About Wharf T&T Limited

Backed by the state-of-the-art fully fibre-optic network, Wharf T&T is a leading comprehensive ICT service provider in Hong Kong. Wharf T&T strictly focuses on enabling customers' businesses with one-stop-shop ICT services ranging from basic to the most sophisticated customised solutions. In 2010, Wharf T&T committed to an additional HK$1 billion "+Enterprise Network" ("+EN") investment project to leapfrog its fixed network infrastructure and provide "Fibre-to-the-Desk" (FTTD) ultra high-speed broadband services to HK business customers, pioneering the development of subscription-based IT-as-a-Service applications. Wharf T&T's value propositions are our commitment to create and deliver value to business customers in enhancing their businesses. Such value propositions are further enriched and strengthened through our strategic collaboration with various partners. For more information, please visit www.wharftt.com.