The opportunity to enter the greatest awards programme in the European customer contact industry, the European Contact Centre & Customer Service Awards (ECCCSA), has closed and organisers have reported 34% more organisations participating this year than 2021, suggesting more brands appreciate the value of recognising what they have achieved.

“This is great news for our industry,” said Helen Wilson, Chair of the Judges and Global Chief Experience Officer at Ipsos. “We know that organisations across Europe are working hard to improve experiences for both customers and colleagues. This is an opportunity to not only recognise the effort people are putting into what they do, but the impact that they are having.

“The ECCCSAs have also seen an increase in the number of countries participating with 33 countries engaging with the programme (up from 25 in 2021). Companies from Croatia, Estonia, Kosovo, Tunisia and Slovakia are taking part for the first time this year,” reports Director of Operations, Jackie Pringle. “And I’m delighted to see that organisations from Ukraine are taking part this year.”

Shortlisting has started, with a panel of expert industry judges reviewing the online entries. They will decide the Finalists who will be announced on 24 August 2022. The Finalists will then present to a panel of judges, in person or virtually, to be in with a chance to win Bronze, Silver or Gold at the spectacular Awards Evening in London on Monday 22 November 2022.

This year the judges will be looking for the organisations that can evidence their performance against the five key criteria:

1. Purpose – what was the rationale behind the story
2. Impact – what results were achieved
3. Experience – how has the customer and/or colleague experience improved
4. Innovation – how were challenges overcome
5. Best Practice – examples of great work that others can learn from

“Once the Finalists are announced, the next stage of the process is crucial to finding the best in Europe” explains Helen. “This year judges will be back out there visiting operations across Europe for some of the categories, whilst others retain the very successful panel judging via video.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that has nominated this year, for your support of these most prestigious awards, and wish you all the very best of luck. See you at the fabulous Awards Evening in November!”

Tickets for the Awards Evening go on sale on 24 August 2022. For more information, visit www.ecccsa.com.