BGL Customer Services, the customer service arm of leading digital financial services distributor BGL Group, is celebrating once again after collecting the gold award for Most Effective Recruitment Programme of the Year and seeing the Customer Experience team awarded silver for Contact Centre Support Team of the Year – Colleague at the UK National Contact Centre Awards held in London on 15 May. Customer Relations Manager Kathleen Dobb was also shortlisted in the tightly fought Customer Relations Manager of the Year category.
BGL has contact centres in Peterborough, Sunderland and Wakefield. Together, they employ around 1,300 people, who provide customer services for the Group’s own insurance brands Budget Insurance and Dial Direct, and the insurance customers of a host of household name brands through BGL’s affinity business Junction.
Given the scale of the business, recruitment and retention of people with the right skills to support BGL’s customers is an ongoing challenge. The winning recruitment team are responsible for attracting new people to BGL Customer Services and supporting them from the point of advertisement right through to their first six-month review. Through innovative tactics including the use of social media, the ‘Talent knows Talent’ colleague referral programme and local sports sponsorship, the team has attracted well over 400 new joiners through the year. Those joining are then supported through the use of a dedicated ‘Get on Board’ app before they start and regular follow up once they arrive, with the result that the overwhelming majority of people (96%+) feel satisfied with the recruitment process and say that induction training gave them the skills and knowledge they need for their role.
The team are always keen to hear from people who are interested in joining BGL Customer Services, and are currently recruiting for customer service representatives on apprenticeships, fixed term and permanent contracts in Peterborough and Sunderland and customer claims advisors in Wakefield. For more information on the roles that are currently available, visit the careers area of the BGL website.
The Customer Experience team is made up of four smaller teams which each provide invaluable support to the contact centre operation. Together they are responsible for customer analytics and insight, continuous improvement and process change, programme and project management and operational support.
The insight and analytics team monitors and reviews millions of customer contacts each year to deliver personalised coaching to customer-facing colleagues. In process improvement, the team have established a continuous improvement culture, and over the past year they have managed the implementation and optimisation of the Virtual Assistant, Ask Becky, which uses artificial intelligence to provide answers to a growing number of customer queries.
In the change management team, highlights have included launching the ambitious First Time Every Time programme, which aims to resolve customer queries within one call or contact wherever possible, overseeing the relocation for 130 colleagues to a new site in Wakefield and delivering new technology including back office workforce management. Last but not least, the operations support team plays a crucial role in supporting the entire customer service operation, handling some 10,000 calls a month.
The two national awards are the latest in a spate of successes which has seen BGL Customer Services’ contact centres named best in Europe at the European Contact Centre and Customer Service Awards last December, while the Sunderland centre recently picked up the award for North East Contact Centre of the Year for the third year running. The UK National Contact Centre Awards, which recognise the achievements of the leading individuals and teams in the industry, are awarded following a tough and comprehensive judging process, including a face-to-face personal interview or site visit.
Nicola Sumner, Customer Operations Director, BGL Group commented:
“I’m extremely proud of every one of the 1,300 people who make up BGL Customer Services. These awards are testament to our total commitment to doing what’s right for our customers and our colleagues.
“Both the Recruitment team and the Customer Experience team make a huge contribution to the high quality of customer service we deliver to millions of people across the UK. Well done to both teams, and to Kath Dobb, who consistently goes the extra mile for our customers and is both a valued mentor and a trusted manager.”
Additional Information
BGL Group is a leading digital distributor of insurance and household financial services to 8.9 million customers. The Group is organised in two divisions: Price Comparison and Insurance Distribution and Outsourcing (IDO).
The Price Comparison division offers customers access to a growing range of car, home insurance and breadth products (including life, travel, energy and pet insurance as well as utilities and money products). comparethemarket.com is one of the UK’s largest and most-loved price comparison sites and LesFurets.com is a leading player in the French market.
For additional information on bgl Group visit their Website
