Ambassador of the Year

This category is for those individuals who have a unique role within the Contact Centre.  They may be responsible for meeting and greeting visitors and clients to the centre, they may ensure that their fellow colleagues in the Centre are given everything they need to do their job well.  They may be the ‘go to’ person to get an event organised.  They have an excellent knowledge of the Contact Centre dynamics and represent the Centre in a true Ambassadorial role.

Newcomer of the Year

This award will recognise non-managers working in a frontline role within a contact centre, who has been in post for a minimum of six months. The judges will be looking for evidence of exceptional vocational competence, achieving great results and making a difference within a short period of time, plus excellent interpersonal skills.

Support Person of the Year

This category is for non-managers working in any contact support function within the organisation. The judges will be looking for evidence of enthusiasm, willingness, adaptability, determination and vocational competence, in either a full or part time capacity.

Sales Agent of the Year

This category is for individuals working at advisor grade in a sales capacity. It is appropriate for agents/advisors who have demonstrated exceptional levels of sales and vocational competence, in either a full or part time capacity. Entrants must demonstrate consistently high performance as an agent/advisor, achieve consistently strong results and make a real difference to their organisation.

Customer Service Representative of the Year

This category is for individuals working at advisor grade who have demonstrated exceptional levels of service and vocational competence, in either a full or part time capacity. The winner will be someone who goes above and beyond his or her day-to-day responsibilities to provide excellent customer service and support to their colleagues. Entrants must demonstrate consistently high performance as an adviser, achieve consistently strong results and make a real difference to their organisation.

Team Leader/Supervisor of the Year

This category is open to individuals who have been employed in the role for a minimum of six months and who demonstrate exceptional leadership, first-line management skills and vocational competence, in either a full or part time capacity. The Team Leader of the Year is a professional and inspirational person who leads by example and takes responsibility for the team. They ensure their colleagues’ experience of work is always a positive one. Entrants must demonstrate strong leadership, be results oriented, with a commitment to staff development, and have evidence of guiding their team to consistently high performance.

Trainer/Coach of the Year

This category is seeking a professional trainer or coach who applies best practice in learning theory to deliver training and development that achieves organisational objectives. The winner will take their role extremely seriously, training is meticulously planned and learning theory is applied with precision in order to get the best out of the people. Activity is tailored to the individual’s needs but also helps achieve departmental group objectives. This person’s training programmes have made a difference not only to individuals’ career objectives and the organisation, but also the participants’ quality of life and outlook. The winner is not averse to trying innovative new techniques to train and coach employees in a controlled environment.

Support Manager of the Year

Open to individuals who have been managing a support team or function based in a contact centre (eg finance, marketing, HR, IT), for a minimum of six months, in either a full or part-time capacity. This award will recognise an individual who has shown exceptional leadership, innovation, broad management skills and vocational competence. The winner demonstrates consistently high performance of the support team, communicates and shares the company’s vision/mission, and combines a commitment to the delivery of organisational objectives with an efficient and effective service. The winner will have successfully implemented innovative strategies that impact positively on the team and have a commitment to the continuous improvement of staff and self.

Contact Centre Manager of the Year

Open to individuals who have been managing personnel within a contact centre for a minimum of six months, this category looks to reward exceptional leadership, innovation, broad management skills and vocational competence in either a full or part-time capacity. The winner demonstrates exceptional leadership, ensures consistently high performance of the centre, communicates and shares the company’s vision/mission, and combines a commitment to the delivery of organisational objectives with an efficient and effective service. The winner will have successfully implemented innovative strategies that impact positively on the wider organisation and have a commitment to the continuous improvement of centre, staff and self.

Hero of the Year

This award will recognise your shining star – someone who has gone over and above the call of duty to enhance the smooth running of the operation.

People Development

This award will recognise companies that successfully address ongoing development needs for individuals, departments and whole organisations to see that business needs are met. The judges will be looking for examples of how people development affects the company ethos and how it is embedded in the company culture.

Support Team of the Year

From a support function team based in a contact centre (eg finance, HR, IT), this award will recognise an initiative delivered by teams or departments. The entry needs to outline the process, the driver(s) for implementation, key performance indicators and provide evidence of positive outcomes. It must also include evidence of the impact of the initiative on the objectives and performance of the business.

Best Customer Engagement

This award recognises how you deliver exceptional levels of service to your customers and should include details of how you measure customer engagement – targets, performance against targets, KPIs, etc. Evidence can also include details of a multi-channel approach eg: via digital, social, voice and web.

Best People Engagement

This will be presented to a centre that puts its staff at the heart of the operation. The successful centre shows that front line people are the focus of the business. Your entry should include details of: 

• Special initiatives to promote employee engagement
• Health and wellbeing practices 
• Evidence should include photographs, KPIs on performance improvement through engagement, plus sickness and retention rates.

Performance & Quality

This category will recognise an organisation or team which integrates the customer journey with front line people to ensure the highest levels of performance and quality. The winning organisation/team will demonstrate an integrated approach to operational measures which affect performance – combining quality monitoring and performance management techniques such as call recording and monitoring, MPS, coaching and development, speech analytics, complaints, reward and recognition – to deliver the most efficient service for the customer and the business.

Best Business Improvement Strategy

This award recognises how an organisation has created an improvement strategy for their people, systems or processes. The category can include workforce planning or any other improvement initiative. Evidence will be required of:

• The objectives behind the strategy 
• How the strategy was planned, implemented and monitored
• Effective use of internal communication channels to inform staff about the programme and its aims
• The impact on customers, staff and operational/business performance 
• Overall results and how the strategy fits into the long term future strategy of the business.

Diversity and Inclusion

This new category is open to any contact centre who can demonstrate a commitment to supporting a diverse and inclusive workforce in attraction, engagement and retention. Our category is open for campaigns or initiatives that are clearly focused on improving diversity in the workplace and making the organisation accessible to people from a diverse range of backgrounds.

Mental Health & Wellbeing in the Workplace

This category recognises organisations who have truly invested time and resources into providing an open, supportive and educational environment for their team members who have experienced Mental Health wellbeing challenges – personally or professionally.  Those who have gone above & beyond to drive Mental Health & Wellbeing initiatives from a human-led perspective – not just a tick box exercise.  The winner will be an organisation that see promoting positive Mental Health as a must – proactively – not just reactively.

Best Recruitment & Retention Strategy

This award recognises contact centres that best attract, select and retain talent.  Centres that can show their recruitment and retention strategies give them an advantage in this highly competitive region whilst helping to uphold a career of choice status for contact centres. The judges will be looking for examples of how your centre’s strategy not only gives a great candidate and new starter experience but ensures that your company’s values, behaviours and visions are reinforced throughout the processes.

Best Training Programme

This exciting category gives an opportunity to demonstrate what training packages are on offer within the contact centre teams and this includes any virtual training.  The award is open for any training initiatives offered in-house to any role e.g. Agents, Coaches, Team Leaders, Senior Management, support teams.  The winning team must be able to illustrate how your training programme is enhancing a role for the individuals within your centre.  The judges will be looking for examples of how the programme has assisted with engagement through the learning and development opportunities available, as well as a focus upon the return on investment to the organisation.

Best Agent Induction Programme

With Training & Development being high on the agenda for any Contact Centre agent of 2020 – this award will be looking for the best induction programme offered for new starters at the beginning of their journey and throughout.  The winning programme will demonstrate the investment into the agent population, being able to showcase the implementation of a seamless and welcoming learning environment with a blended approach which considers all types of learners.  This category will recognise excellence in Learning and Development opportunities available to engage and inspire the super agents of the future. This does include any virtual induction programmes.

Digital Team of the Year 

Nominated teams will have day to day responsibility for the development and delivery of their non voice digital activity. The team will be responsible for social media, messaging, video and livechat. The team will be able to demonstrate how they have aligned across customer channels and have a good awareness of the tools and techniques available to maximise this channel. They will be clear on their social media strategy and will be consistently delivering against their measures and organisational objectives.

Contact Centre of the Year – Outsourced

This category is for an outsourced contact centre with a highly successful business relationship with their client. To be successful in this category you must demonstrate: A clear understanding of your client’s aims and objectives. How you’ve helped them through the effective and professional delivery of a range of services. How you’ve implemented two-way communication channels between the outsourcing front line and client decision makers. Evidence of effective integration, investment in client relationship and transparency.

Please address the following questions/requirements:

• Demonstrate your understanding of your client’s aims and objectives and how you’ve worked together to fulfil these successfully.
• Provide two examples of how you’ve helped them through the effective and professional delivery of a range of services.
• How have you implemented two-way communication channels between the outsourcing front line and client decision makers.
• Provide evidence of effective integration, investment in client relationship and transparency.

Contact Centre of the Year – In-house

This award is attributed to an in-house contact centre that demonstrates leading practice for both staff and customers. The judges will be focusing on two areas:

• How you are an employer of choice? The entry should outline your recruitment strategies, what makes you an employer of choice, your commitment to training and development and how you provide a great physical environment to work in.
• How does your centre underpin the running of the overall business? Please include evidence of how the centre contributes to the wider business, how the centre delivers world class service to its customers and what makes the centre an extraordinary place to work in.