Winners and Losers – August 2013

This month we bring you news from Plantronics, Nice Systems, Real Results Training, award wins for British Gas, Auto Windscreen, South Staffordshire Water and the NOA awards.

British Gas Employee Recognition Scheme brings home Gold

British Gas took home Gold in the ‘Employee Reward and Recognition Programmes’ category at the Institute of Promotional Marketing Awards, in acknowledgement of their ‘Simply Thank You’ scheme, developed and implemented by P&MM Motivation.

‘Simply Thank You’ works a little like an internal social network. It encourages, recognises and celebrates day-to-day achievements as well as major projects and initiatives.

John Sylvester, divisional managing director of P&MM Motivation, commented: “This well-deserved success would not have been possible without the excellent partnership that has developed between British Gas Business and P&MM. We are all absolutely thrilled to receive this recognition from our industry peers.”

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Plantronics celebrates 10 years with Go2 Telecom

Plantronics UK presented Go2 Telecom with an award to celebrate 10 years of business together during a ceremony at the Radisson Hotel, Manchester, in July.

Go2 Telecom have worked with Plantronics since entering the channel market in 2003 and the award was presented to Julie Kilbride and Alison Taylor, Co-Owners and Directors of the company.

Paul Dunne, Head of Channels, Plantronics UK and Ireland, commented, “Plantronics have worked closely with Go2 Telecom for 10 years. Go2 offer exceptional service to many large and mid-sized contact centres in the UK. They are extremely professional and well versed in offering Plantronics end-point advice to contact centres of all sizes. Their team understands the importance of quality, comfort and acoustics in today’s busy contact centre and office environments, and has developed a unique level of insight on mobile products over 10 years of selling to this market.”

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NICE Systems recognised by DMG Consulting

For the third consecutive year, NICE has been positioned as the top WFO vendor by DMG Consulting LLC. NICE has also been named the market share leader for Contact Centre Performance Management (CCPM), with a 39.5% market share based on number of seats, according to the 2013 DMG Contact Center Performance Management Market Report.  The report analyses approximately 45 WFO vendors worldwide.

“NICE’s ongoing leadership in the WFO market reflects our continued innovation and ability to deliver solutions that help organizations get closer to their customers in order to provide an exceptional customer experience.” said Benny Einhorn, Chief Marketing Officer at NICE.

…And names Sinclair Voicenet as Partner of the Year

The award was presented at the NICE EMEA Business Partners Sales Summit 2013, an annual event which was held this year in Budapest, Hungary.

“We are delighted to have been recognised as NICE Systems’ top Partner across the EMEA region as this confirms our position as the UK’s leading provider of innovative interaction recording solutions and associated applications that set new standards for business excellence and client satisfaction,” commented Peter Gough, a Director of Sinclair Voicenet.

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Real Results Training shortlisted for Coaching award

Carolyn Blunt, founder and Managing Director of Real Results Training Consultancy, has been shortlisted for the ‘Training and Coaching’ award at this year’s Enterprise Vision Awards (the EVAs).

Carolyn said: “I’m thrilled to be a finalist for the EVAs 2013.  Being an entrepreneur can be quite lonely at times so to get feedback from external sources about how you are doing is really welcome.   Of course, it would be fantastic to win, but even just being in the final five is a huge achievement, of which I am really proud… and so is my mum!”

The Enterprise Vision Awards are now in their third year and the winners will be announced at a ceremony at the Hilton Hotel, Blackpool, on the 4th October. They were created  specifically to recognise those ladies in the North West who are inspiring others by successfully running their own businesses or are at the forefront of their profession.

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Customer satisfaction pays dividends

Auto Windscreens is currently ranked number 1 nationwide for ‘Car Service and Repair’ on Review Centre.

Over 1,900 customers have left comments on the site since January 2012, giving the business a 4.7 positive rating out of a possible 5. Furthermore, the UK-wide business has received a high score for value for money and 95.4% of customers say they would recommend the service to other people.

“We have worked hard to build a positive reputation based on our Total Customer Satisfaction ethos,” said Nigel Davies, Managing Director of Auto Windscreens. “It is fantastic that our customers feel confident in recommending us in this way and that they recognise us as a professional business that offers good value and a quality service.”

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South Staffs Water keeps customers informed

A committed approach to ensuring a positive customer experience has seen South Staffordshire Water recognised for customer service excellence by industry regulator Ofwat in the Service Incentive Mechanism (SIM) league table for 2012-13.

According to the Ofwat Customer Experience Research report 2012-13, not only were South Staffs Water joint league table leaders with Anglian Water, they were the highest-ranked water company for ‘keeping customers informed’, joint top for having ‘knowledgeable and professional staff’ as well as being ranked in the top three for ‘taking responsibility for the matter during phone contact’.

Rachel Barber, Director of Customer Operations at South Staffs Water ,said: “We’re very proud to be in joint first position in Ofwat’s Customer Experience Research report.  We’re committed to continually improving our customer service standards and over the last 12 months we’ve enhanced our focus on customer feedback and insight in particular.”

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Thomas Cook and 60K win Best Outsourced Customer Service Award

Held at The Radisson Blu Portman Square, London, nearly 100 outsourcing professionals, as well as major UK and international outsourcing providers, competed for the National Outsourcing Association Professional Awards.

The award for Best Outsourced Customer Service Team went to 60k, a contact centre based in Sofia, Bulgaria. The company has been working with Thomas Cook, and now has a team of 90 handling customer service webchats.

“It is a huge honour to win this award,” says Adelina Velikova, Marketing Manager of 60k, who flew in from Sofia for the event. “When you look at the major UK brands involved here, and the established UK outsourcing firms, we see it as recognition of the results we are producing for our clients.”