On Tuesday evening (15th May 2017) the winners of the UK National Contact Centre Awards were announced to a full house of over 700 industry professionals at The Brewery in London. Leaders from HMRC, Sky, Network Homes, and Parseq were crowned winners of the coveted Contact Centre Manager of the Year categories for large, medium, small, and outsourced centres respectively, and were delighted to receive their award from Spandau Ballet and Eastenders star, Martin Kemp.
“It was once again a night to remember!” said Ann-Marie Stagg, CEO at the CCMA (Call Centre Management Association) which organises the awards. “Seeing talented people get recognised for the incredible work they are doing to raise the standards in contact centre operations is exactly why we run this award programme.”
Following two months of face-to-face interviews, panel presentations, and site visits up and down the country, 15 individuals won Gold awards including Catherine Lindsay from Hermes for Customer Experience Champion of the Year following her Silver win in 2016 for Contact Centre Manager of the Year – Medium. This year Catherine was recognised for influencing and improving Hermes’ customer experience across the organisation.
Sarah Williams of Network Homes, winner of Contact Centre Manager of the Year – Small, picked up her award in front of 20 colleagues including her CEO. “It’s such an honour – for me and my whole team – to be recognised by the industry for our hard work,” she said. “This really has been the highlight of my career and one of the best nights of my life. I’m so excited to have been able to share it all with my team here.”
Iain Gibson of Parseq, winner of Contact Centre Manager of the Year – Outsourced, was described as an inspirational manager by the judges. Iain himself commented, “I couldn’t do what I do every day without the team I have behind me.”
The team at Sky UK walked away with two Golds including the award for Most Positive Impact on the Community for their Sky Academy Skills Studio contact centre operations, where thousands of young and vulnerable members of the local community have been helped to improve their confidence and communication skills. “It’s a superbly-run programme backed up by caring people and dedicated resources,” said Ann-Marie. “Competition was incredibly tough in that category and we were proud to see how all the nominees were giving back to their communities.”
HIVE Connected Homes were ecstatic to win Overall CCMA Team of the Year which is nominated by all the judges on the basis of which organisation displayed the best team work during face-to-face judging and site visits. “As individuals, the HIVE team are each fantastic, but as a team they are a brilliant, high energy unit pulling together for common goals,” said Ann-Marie Stagg. “Their enthusiasm simply blew us all away.”
Commenting on the continued growth of the UK National Contact Centre Awards, Ann-Marie Stagg said, “With a two-month, rigorous, face-to-face judging process we’ve established a reputation as the blue-ribbon awards for our industry in the UK. It has been good to see that borne out by both the number and quality of entries this year, as well a record-breaking number of attendees at the Gala Dinner.”
She went on to say, “I’d like to add my personal thanks to everyone who participated, including our sponsors and especially the judges who have committed a lot of time and effort. And of course, to all the winners, who have demonstrated they are making a positive impact in our industry.”
| Contact Centre Support Manager | Boyden Manns | Endsleigh Insurance |
| Customer Relations Manager | David Linbourne | Directline Group |
| Resource Planning Manager | Fiona Cameron | HIVE |
| Quality Manager | Mark Cassidy | Virgin Media |
| Business Improvement Manager | Jackie Ingoe | Northern PowerGrid |
| Customer Experience Champion | Catherine Lindsay | Hermes |
| Team Manager – Rising Star | Emma Clarke | Northview Group |
| Team Manager – Collections | Kerry Barker | Wescot |
| Team Manager – Multi-channel | Gemma Tripp | Pelican Business Services |
| Team Manager – Sales | Leanne Brooks | Barclaycard |
| Team Manager – Service | Joanne Schofield | Assurant |
| Contact Centre Manager of the Year – Outsourced | Iain Gibson | Parseq |
| Contact Centre Manager of the Year – Small | Sarah Williams | Network Homes |
| Contact Centre Manager of the Year – Medium | Carol Beveridge | Sky |
| Contact Centre Manager of the Year – Large | Mitchell Brown | HMRC |
Team Awards
| Award | Company |
| Social Media Team of the Year | Ocado |
| Webchat Team of the Year | Fusion |
| Learning and Development Team of the Year | Directline Group |
| Overall Team of the Year | HIVE |
Organisation Awards
| Award | Company |
| Most Effective Health and Wellbeing Programme | BUPA |
| Most Effective Homeworking Programme | L&Q Housing |
| Most Positive Impact on the Community | Sky UK |
Additional Information
The UK National Contact Centre Awards 2018 will open for nominations in December, and the Gala Dinner will take place on 15 May 2018.
The longest established awards for the UK contact centre industry are now in their 22nd year and recognise those individuals and teams in the industry who are working to make their contact centres professional and industry leading. The awards have an excellent reputation across the industry for being of a very high standard. All of the shortlisted nominees go through a comprehensive judging process, including face to face interviews. Enter the awards for by Clicking Here
The Call Centre Management Association (CCMA) aims to support the country’s contact centre managers by providing opportunities to network, openly share best practice, and increase their skills and knowledge through specialist training. The CCMA is the country’s longest-established association representing the customer contact industry in the UK since 1994.
