Winners and Losers – July 2010

Well, England didn’t win the World Cup, but not to worry, we have lots of good news to share with you.

This month we bring you news regarding Aspect, Jabra, Aurix, Bellcom, Sitel, ASC and Eptica.

Sitel’s Exeter facility awarded Best Retention Strategy in the South West Contact Centre Awards 2010

The second annual event paid tribute to the successful businesses and individuals that are committed to consistently delivering excellence in the contact centre. The facility was also Highly Commended for the Best Outsourcing Relationship and a finalist in the Best Use of Technology category.

Sitel's Exeter Offices

Sitel’s Exeter facility faced retention challenges throughout the latter part of 2007 when two of the site’s largest clients consolidated operations due to the economic slowdown of the retail sector. As a result, 206 employees were placed at risk of redundancy. The site management team implemented a strategic plan to secure four new pieces of business and retain high quality staff. Several initiatives were launched to improve morale during the transition by ensuring employees felt valued and invested in the success of the office.

As a result, new business was won and nearly every employee was successfully transitioned onto a new team. To date, the site remains culturally strong and with a united approach to the work ethic, retention is still extremely high. In 2009, Sitel’s Exeter facility beat its annualised target of 25% with 24.9%, firmly positioning the site as a best-in-breed performer among outsourced agencies. The facility finished 2009 by securing a large contract with a major UK retailer that cited Sitel’s staff culture and retention strategy as key factors in the decision-making process.

UK customer service best practice has been recognised at the Eptica Customer Service Innovation Awards.

‘Further Mile’ Award 2010 – Haven

Haven scooped the Eptica ‘Further Mile’ Award 2010 for the significant results the company achieved in managing inbound enquiries to its contact centre through optimising the customer’s online experience.

From left to right: Paul Barnes, UK & Eire MD, Eptica with Zoe Green, Sales Manager, Haven

Online Customer Service – Republic

Republic won the award for Online Customer Service. Republic.co.uk has adopted a self-service approach on its Top 10 Hitwise ecommerce site making the answers to customers’ questions easily accessible and instantly available online.

From left to right: Paul Barnes, Eptica with Sharon Biltcliffe, Customer Service Manager, Republic

Best Service Improvement Project – Capita

Capita won the award for Best Service Improvement Project for the efficiencies and quality of service enhancements it delivered to a major public sector contract.

From left to right: Paul Barnes, UK & Eire MD, Eptica with Jim Gibbs, Operations Director, Capita and Steven Gentle Operational Transition Manager

Dee Roche, European Marketing Director at Eptica, commented: “With these awards we wanted to champion innovation within customer service and highlight the fantastic work that our customers are undertaking.”

The deal sees Aurix bring its expertise and knowledge of speech search and analytics technology to CTI, which will be used to create a step change in functionality for its recording solution, SmartRecord.

The partnership strengthens Aurix’s commitment to delivering innovative solutions to the contact centre and enterprise markets that help organisations improve efficiency and gain business intelligence otherwise unobtainable.

Peter Rogers

John Birbeck, President and CEO of CTI Group, says, “All businesses face increasing requirements for call recording to meet regulatory, quality management, and legal demands. By fully integrating Aurix’s speech search and analytics technology into SmartRecord, we can give our customers a fully developed solution that meets their needs, as well as industry standards.”

Peter Rogers, CEO of Aurix, adds, “CTI Group’s SmartRecord software is a well-respected call recording solution within the financial services industry, public safety organisations and the public sector. We are delighted that Aurix has been chosen to help enhance SmartRecord with quick and accurate speech search and analytics, which will provide customers with real and compelling business benefits, meeting their needs and industry standards.”

Aspect secured a top-level position in a weighted evaluation for its PerformanceEdge platform and applications which were researched in the year-long market and product study.

The Ventana Research report acknowledges Aspect for having noteworthy call routing, call recording, quality monitoring, workforce management, training and coaching, and analytics, and also certifies, through its evaluation and audit, that Hot Vendors provide the best buyer value available.

Guenther Mueller

ASC has announced that Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) has named INSPIRATIONpro 9.0 as a recipient of a 2009 Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award.

INSPIRATIONpro helps contact center managers learn about their agents’ service level through analysis and evaluation of recorded call data and screen activities.

Guenther Mueller, Chairman and CEO of ASC, said, “We are honored to receive such a prestigious award from TMC; in fact, these awards have become almost an annual occurrence as we continue to invest heavily in research and development.”

Jabra BIZ 2400 Headset

Jabra among top Finalists for the 2010 Microsoft Partner Awards

Jabra has been selected as a finalist for the Microsoft Partner Awards in the OEM Hardware Solutions, Device Manufacturing Partner of the Year award category.

“Our collaboration with Microsoft led us to develop a headset that advances unified communications by delivering an industry-leading audio experience,” Niels Jørgensen, Senior Vice President, CC&O division, Jabra. “Being optimised for Microsoft Office Communicator enhances customer value by providing a tested, ergonomically designed audio experience for Microsoft’s voice and conferencing environments.”

Awards will be presented in a number of categories, with winners and finalists chosen from a pool of almost 3,000 entrants worldwide. The OEM Hardware Solutions, Device Manufacturing Partner of the Year Award honours Jabra for delivering superior customer value by designing and developing hardware peripheral and device solutions that use Microsoft technologies.

A Scottish-based contact centre has been recognised by the Customer Contact Association (CCA) for its commitment to world-class customer service.

Bellcom has achieved the CCA Global Standard accreditation which is designed to honour and promote companies operating to the highest industry standards.

Rob Pike, chair of CCA Standards Council, said: “Following this achievement, Bellcom joins a prestigious group of more than 200 contact centre operators who are leaders in delivering consistency, efficiency and continual improvement within their customer contact centres. I am very happy to offer my congratulations to the whole organisation.”

Varry McMenemy, managing director of Bellcom, said: “Our success is built on the quality of our people, so to be accredited by the industry leading body for customer service excellence is not only a fantastic reflection of what we strive to achieve at Bellcom, but also a testament to our team and the consistent high standards that are consequently enjoyed by our clients.”

7 Jul 2010 - Filed under Call Centre News

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