Nominations are invited from organisations who have successful deployed new technology within their contact centre/customer service centre. Nominations should outline the business benefits that have been realised including:

• The impact on the customer and colleague experience
• ROI achieved
• The results achieved
• The approach used to implement and integrate

The award is not for the technology solution itself, but how it has been implemented, deployed and maximised within your organisation. We are happy to accept joint nominations for this category from the organisation and technology provider.

Nominations are invited from organisations who are exploring the use of new and evolving Contact Centre technology solutions. This may include solutions such as AI, Virtual Assistants, Robotics, intelligence apps, Chatbots, biometrics etc. Nominations should outline the business benefits that have been realised and how they are exploring use of the new solution. This should include:

• The impact on the customer and colleague experience
• The Results achieved
• The approached used to implement and integrate with other channels

We are happy to accept joint nominations for this category from the organisation and technology provider.

Nominations are invited from organisations that are successfully implementing changes in their organisation, that are transforming the way that they work/their offering. Nominations are invited from organisations that:

• Can demonstrate how they are aligning People, Process and Technology initiatives to their business strategy and vision.
• Have an effective transformation programme in place
• Can demonstrate their learnings from this implementation and the results achieved
• Outline how they are transforming the way they connect with their customers, enabling them to deliver a unique customer service experience

This category recognises innovative new ideas and developments that have enabled organisations to meet the needs of their customers more effectively. Innovative approaches may apply to any aspect of the customer relationship or methods to improve existing systems or processes supporting customer service.

Judges will be looking for:

• Evidence of innovative thinking and deployment
• A clear business reason for the deployment
• Demonstration of the benefits to the business, the customer and the user
• A demonstration of how the service/product will improve performance of the operation
• The reasons you believe that your idea is innovative and relevant to todays customer

This category is for teams who have implemented a change in their business processes which brought about improvements in either the customer journey or the customer service operation. Judges will be looking for:

• A clear understanding of the objectives behind the strategy
• Evidence of how the strategy was planned, executed and monitored
• Effective use of internal communication channels to inform teams across the business about the programme and its aims
• Clear evidence of the impact of the strategy on customers, advisors and the performance of the centre within the business as a whole (including a demonstrable return on investment)
• What the team has learned from the process and any future plans

Nominations are invited from organisations that have developed and implemented an effective self-service solution. The solution can be at any point in the customer journey. The judges are looking for:

• An overview of the solution and a rationale for the deployment
• Evidence of the benefits realised for the business and the customer
• How the organisation gathers feedback on the customer experience.
• The effectiveness of the solution in creating ease of use for customers.

Nominations are invited from organisations across all sectors that have developed and implemented an effective risk/fraud management initiative for their contact centre/customer service centres. The judges will be looking for:

• An overview of the initiative
• Evidence of effective implementation and delivery against objectives.
• Engagement with key stakeholders in the business
• High level overview of technology solutions deployed
• Demonstrate how the initiative achieves the right balance between managing risk and protecting the customer experience
• Evidence of the success of the initiative – i.e. reduction in risk or fraud

This category is open to any Contact Centre or Customer Services internal Learning and Development Team. Nominations should outline:

• The overall scope and objectives of the programme
• The impact of the programme on the operation
• The benefits that have been realised
• How the success of the programme has been are measured and what results they are achieving
• What methods have been used to develop and deploy the programme
• How the programme has been embedded

This award is open to any Customer Services team who work with their customers via the contact centre or face to face. Nominations should outline:

• Demonstrate how the team work together in order to deliver for the customer
• What improvements have been implemented to ensure that the customer experience is the best it can be
• How the team’s performance has impacted the organisation overall
• A recent initiative that the team have implemented/delivered that has delivered a great experience for customers
• Demonstrate how the team have listened and responded to customer needs
• Customer engagement/satisfaction results

This category is open to Customer Relations/Complaints teams providing support to the Customer Services/Contact Centre operation. The team will be specialists responding to complaints including complaints passed through from the Contact Centre. They will have a good understanding of the customer issues and opportunities for improvement in their business and be able to demonstrate improvements that they have implemented. Judges will be looking for:

• A tangible passion for customer service and a positive team attitude
• Effective measurement of processes and procedures
• A keen sense of the importance of the team’s work to the organisation, and how improvements by the team have resulted in better customer service overall
• Evidence of follow-up measures and checks to ensure customer complaints are not repeated
• Evidence of teamwork and an effective training, motivation and reward programme

Nominations are invited from quality monitoring teams that support the Contact Centre and/or Customer Service teams in an organisation. Nominations should outline:

• The overall objectives of the team and how they are performing
• The quality framework that has been implemented and the rationale behind this model
• How the team measure their success
• How the team have influencing different parts of the organisation in order to improve the overall quality of service delivered to customers
• The tools and methodologies deployed and the rationale

This category is open to internal facing team that provides support to a customer facing team. This could include teams from HR, customer insight, management information, marketing, planning, training etc. Judges will be looking for:

• Examples of when your team have delivered ‘above and beyond’ in order to provide the high standards of customer service
• Innovation and initiative when trouble shooting or problem solving
• Evidence of strong communication both between the team and with their internal customers
• Demonstrable teamwork and mutual support
• Evidence of how the team’s work and innovations have improved the performance of the business areas they support

Nominations are invited from any company who has a great partnership with its outsourcer and can demonstrate results that show how the customer and employee is benefitting from the partnership. This Category is a joint entry and must show both companies on the entry form. Nominations should outline:

• Evidence of an efficient, effective, customer and colleague focused operation.
• A clear understanding of the business aims and challenges and how the partnership has helped to meet them.
• Consistency of message across the business and outsourcer
• Open, two-way communication channels between the outsourcing frontline and the client decision makers
• Evidence of effective integration and ongoing investment in the relationship
• Demonstrable progression or achievement of the original business objectives and evidence of the outsourcer’s impact on the customer experience
• How the outsourcer has embedded the clients brand into the operation
• The value-add, outside of cost, that the outsourcer has brought to the relationship

Nominations are invited from organisations who have demonstrated that they are an employer of choice for customer service professionals. Nominations should outline:

• How your organisation makes people feel valued
• The benefits your organisation provide to employees that are deemed best practice
• What learning and development opportunities exist for people
• How your organisation measures employee engagement and what results you are achieving.
• How you support a worklife balance for people
• How you support diversity in the workplace
• How you support community activities

Nominations are invited from Organisations that are working hard to support a smarter, safer, healthier and more sustainable environment. Judges are looking for:

• Evidence that your CSR programme demonstrates social, ethical, environmental and philanthropic values into its company culture.
• Examples of the good work you are doing in these areas
• The overall benefit the organisation is realising from their CSR policy
• How colleagues can engage with the programme

Nominations are invited from organisations who have successfully deployed a multi/omni-contact strategy for their organisation. Nominations should outline:

• The number of channels that have been deployed
• The rationale behind each channel deployment
• What benefits have been realised
• Evidence how the customer experience has changed/improved
• Demonstrate how the capabilities of frontline advisors have been adapted to handle multichannel enquiries.

Nominations are invited from organisations who have successfully introduced social media in their organisation. Nominations should outline:

• Demonstrate the rationale for deployment of social media
• Share how they have implemented the social media team and how it fits with other channels
• The business benefits that have been realised
• Key performance indicators for social media channels and how your organisation is performing against those measures
• How they are tracking and influencing customer usage of social media channels.
• How feedback is gathered from customers

Nominations are invited from organisations who have successfully implemented a robust model for collecting and analysing Voice of the Customer data. Nominations should outline:

• The overall objective of your Voice of the Customer programme
• Your approach to collating customer insight, including methodologies used.
• Examples of how the insight has been used to improve the customer experience
• The benefits have been realised from this initiative

Nominations are invited from organisations that can demonstrate that the marketing function has worked closely with their customer service or contact centre counterparts to deliver a successful customer campaign. Judges will be looking for:

• A clearly planned campaign with targets
• Evidence that the marketing and customer service/contact centre functions worked together as a team from the outset: shared responsibility and great communication
• A creative campaign that engaged both the customer and the internal team
• Good use of the right channels to achieve the objectives
• Evidence that the campaign delivered its quantifiable objectives

Nominations are invited from multi-lingual contact centres. Judges are looking for:

• Evidence of an efficient, effective, customer and colleague focused operation.
• A clear understanding of the contact centres role within the business at all levels, with appropriate resources and systems in place to ensure ongoing success
• Robust people processes including recruitment, learning and development and colleague engagement
• A people-centric environment with effective communication vehicles
• Appropriate reward and recognition schemes
• Evidence that the frontline are involved in decisions that impact them
• Evidence of the positive impact of the centre on the company as a whole
• Clear targets and measures and your performance against each of these
• Evidence of how the centre has contributed to the wider business
• A demonstration of the centre’s role within the wider business

Nominations are invited from contact centres with less than 100 seats. Judges will be looking for:

• Evidence of an efficient, effective, customer and colleague focused operation.
• A clear understanding of the contact centres role within the business at all levels, with appropriate resources and systems in place to ensure ongoing success
• Robust people processes including recruitment, learning and development and colleague engagement
• A people-centric environment with effective communication vehicles
• Appropriate reward and recognition schemes
• Evidence that the frontline are involved in decisions that impact them
• Evidence of the positive impact of the centre on the company as a whole
• Clear targets and measures and your performance against each of these
• Evidence of how the centre has contributed to the wider business
• A demonstration of the centre’s role within the wider business

Nominations are invited from contact centres between 100 and 300 seats. Judges will be looking for:

• Evidence of an efficient, effective, customer and colleague focused operation.
• A clear understanding of the contact centres role within the business at all levels, with appropriate resources and systems in place to ensure ongoing success
• Robust people processes including recruitment, learning and development and colleague engagement
• A people-centric environment with effective communication vehicles
• Appropriate reward and recognise schemes
• Evidence that the frontline are involved in decisions that impact them
• Evidence of the positive impact of the centre on the company as a whole
• Clear targets and measures and your performance against each of these
• Evidence of how the centre has contributed to the wider business
• A demonstration of the centre’s role within the wider business

Nominations are invited from contact centres with more than 300 seats. Judges will be looking for:

• A clear understanding of the contact centres role within the business at all levels, with appropriate resources and systems in place to ensure ongoing success
• Robust people processes including recruitment, learning and development and colleague engagement
• A people-centric environment with effective communication vehicles
• Appropriate reward and recognition schemes
• Evidence that the frontline are involved in decisions that impact them
• Evidence of the positive impact of the centre on the company as a whole
• Clear targets and measures and your performance against each of these
• Evidence of how the centre has contributed to the wider business
• A demonstration of the centre’s role within the wider business