Asia Pacific Award for Dialog and eChannelling

Dialog Telekom, Sri Lanka's foremost telecommunications service provider, and eChannelling Limited, Sri Lanka's first and only listed technology company, recently received international recognition for pioneering and operating (since 2002) the jointly developed "e-channeling via mobile" service in Sri Lanka.

The solution was adjudged the winner in the Innovative Technology of the Year category at the prestigious Customer Relationship Excellence (CRE) Awards held in Hong Kong.

eChannelling is the revolutionary centralised medical appointment booking system, which allows Dialog subscribers access to over 600 doctors in 10 hospitals in a convenient, cost effective and time saving manner. Subscribers can make an appointment simply by dialing the short code 225. Appointment details are confirmed via SMS, and the service is available 24x7, 365 days of the year.

Chief Executive Officer eChannelling Limited Sidath Chandrasena said, "We are delighted that the eChannelling service, Sri Lanka's pioneering medical IT network, achieved international recognition for its use of innovative technology. The affiliation we forged with Dialog Telekom in 2002 enabled us to deploy an electronic channelling service via handsets, thus, providing Sri Lankans with instant access to medical specialists.

The service accentuates the benefits of e-commerce, a powerful tool in reaching out to consumers, and we thank Dialog for recognizing the immense potential of the eChannelling service".

Dialog handles over 2000 appointments via eChannelling on a weekly basis and has successfully processed more than 200,000 appointments since the inception of the service.

Head of Customer Service and Contact Management at Dialog Telekom Sandra de Zoysa had this to say "The launch of eChannelling in 2002 positioned Dialog as the service leader in the use of innovative technology to deliver an unparalleled value proposition to its customers.

eChannelling via mobile is an excellent manifestation of our service philosophy, which places the customer at the focal point of all new product and service endeavours.

We are extremely proud of our ground breaking partnership with eChannelling in this award winning venture, a partnership which has stood the test of time over the past 5 years and delivered unparalleled consumer convenience".