CallNorthWest hosted a sparkling ‘New York Nights’ themed Gala Dinner for this year’s North West Contact Centre Awards ceremony. The event took place in Manchester at the Palace Hotel on 16th October 2014 and was held to celebrate the extraordinary talent that exists within contact centres in the North West of England.
The North West Contact Centre Awards, sponsored by Red Contact Centres is an annual event hosted by CallNorthWest, who are part of The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).
CallNorthWest play a critical role in supporting the call and contact centre sector and strive to achieve the factors that drive the sector to success.
The awards ceremony, now in its 9th year, recognises the achievements of the individuals, teams and organisations within the Contact Centre Sector in the North West. Over 400 guests attended the event, representing over 40 companies.
There were 13 awards categories. The finalists were shortlisted after a written application, with the final winners and highly commended chosen after meeting with a panel of judges.
This year’s awards ceremony showed a high calibre of finalists, with the standard of entries higher than ever. The evening was compared by author, actor and comedian, Dominic Holland, with the opening address provided by Head of Innovation and Enterprise at UCLan, John Lonsdale who said “I am immensely proud of all our finalists, they are a credit to the customer management sector. This evening was a fitting celebration; it was inspiring to see the enthusiasm and passion for customer service shown by our winners, a truly exceptional evening”.
This year’s awards were a huge success and the glittery New York Nights theme gave the guests a chance to dress up and have fun.
Cheshire based winners
United Utilities set the standards high for the evening by winning two awards and being highly commended for another. They won ‘Best Customer Experience Programme’ and ‘Agent of the Year’ for Louise Sullivan. They were highly commended for ‘Frontline Team of the Year’ also.
Barbara Heaney of Home Retail Group was also Highly Commended for Contact Centre Hero of the Year.
Lancashire based winners
Paymentshield led the way during the awards ceremony after winning two categories and being Highly Commended for another two. They won the ‘Team Leader of the Year’ for Rebecca Pilkington and ‘Support Team of the Year’. They were also Highly Commended for ‘Agent of the Year’ for Philippa Squires and ‘Support ‘Person of the Year’ for Lucy O’Shea.
Phil Curwen walked away with ‘Contact Centre Hero of the Year’ and Matalan was awarded ‘Best Multi-Channel Customer Service’.
The ‘Frontline Team of the Year’ award went to the Group Sales Team at Gold Medal Travel Group.
Places for People also managed to scoop up two Highly Commended awards for ‘Best Training Programme’ and ‘Contact Centre of the Year under 100 seats’.
Manchester based winners
The winner of ‘Contact Centre of the Year over 100 seats’ was awarded to Peninsula Business Services Limited, with the Highly Commended awarded to Capita Customer Management.
The Customer Service Operations Coaching Team at JDWilliams received the Highly Commended award for ‘Support Team of the Year’.
Individual awards went to Gemma Kirkham at British Gas who came Highly Commended for ‘Team Leader of the Year’ and Stuart Staveley at Serco who won the ‘Contact Centre Manager of the Year’.
Finally, New Charter Housing Trust Group won three categories in the evening. They won ‘Best Implementation of Technology’, ‘Contact Centre of the Year under 100 seats’ and ‘Support Person of the Year’ for Emma Woodrow.
Merseyside based winners
RSA Motability did very well during the evening and walked away with two Highly Commended awards. One for ‘Best Customer Experience’ and other for ‘Frontline Team of the Year’.
Full list of Winners – Individual Awards
Agent of the Year Presented by: Karen Ditchfield
Winner: Louise Sullivan, United Utilities – Highly Commended: Philippa Squires
Team Leader of the Year Presented by: Thérèse Charlton
Winner: Rebecca Pilkington, Paymentshield – Highly Commended: Gemma Kirkham, British Gas
Support Person of the Year Presented by: Julie Bellis
Winner: Emma Woodrow, New Charter Housing Trust Group
Highly Commended: Lucy O’Shea, Paymentshield
Contact Centre Hero of the Year Presented by: Julie Mordue
Winner: Phil Curwen, Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust
Highly Commended: Barbara Heaney, Home Retail Group
Contact Centre Manager of the Year Presented by: Jane Thomas
Winner: Phil Curwen, Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust
Highly Commended: Barbara Heaney, Home Retail Group
Company Categories
Best Implementation of Technology Presented by: Michelle Cheeseman
Winner: New Charter Housing Trust Group
Best Training Programme Presented by: Dharma Kovvuri
Winner: Ageas Insurance Solutions – Highly Commended: Barclaycard (LEO) and Places for People
Best Customer Experience Programme Presented by: Cath Owston
Winner: United Utilities – Highly Commended: RSA Motability
Best Multi Channel Customer Service Presented by: Diane McLellan
Winner: Matalan
Support Team of the Year Presented by: Steven Newall
Winner: Learning and Development, Paymentshield Learning and Development -Highly Commended: Customer Service Operations Coaching Team, JDWilliams
Frontline Team of the Year Presented by: Mandy Bateman
Winner: Gold Medal Travel Group – Group Sales team, Gold Medal Travel Group -Highly Commended: Escalations Team, United Utilities -Highly Commended: Claims Team 4, RSA Motability
Contact Centre of the Year (under 100 seats) Presented by: Katherine Tiddy
Winner: New Charter Housing Trust Group -Highly Commended: Places for People
Contact Centre of the Year (over 100 seats) Presented by: Sian Ciabattoni
Winner: Peninsula Business Services Limited -Highly Commended: Capita Customer Management
