Winners of the North East Contact Centre Awards

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The winners of the North East Contact Centre Awards 2009 have been crowned after a night of celebration.

The annual awards bash was full of its usual glitz and glamour with guests from many of the region’s 145 contact centres attending.

Newcastle-based EDS and Barclaycard from Stockton were the winners of the North East Contact Centres of the Year for 2009 awards. Barclaycard won the prize for contact centres with more than 250 seats, while EDS walked off with the equivalent for smaller centres with less than 250 seats.

Pictured above – EDS and Barclaycard celebrate being named North East Contact Centres of the Year 2009.

Over 350 guests were in attendance for the seventh year of the awards which were judged by an independent panel of industry experts.

They were organised by Tyne and Wear Development Company, the business development agency for Tyne and Wear, in association with Sunderland City Council.

Paul Buie, manager of Tyne and Wear Development Company, said: “It’s particularly pleasing to see two first time winners of the main awards as this demonstrates once again the strength and diversity of the industry within the region.

“Like all other sectors of the economy, contact centres have been affected by the downturn and face a number of unique challenges. The awards highlight the energy and resilience of the sector and the continued good work that is taking place individually and collectively.

“The North East’s contact centres are respected worldwide and the competition is incredibly tough here. On behalf of the organisers, I’d like to extend our congratulations to all the winners, runners-up and those shortlisted. It’s a fantastic achievement.”

Over the duration of the night a total of nine awards were handed to recognise the achievements of an industry that employs more that 60,000 people across the North East and is one of the region’s key employers.

Of the other seven awards handed out winners included: Kelly Swinney from JML in South Shields, who won Customer Experience Superstar and was described as ‘someone everyone would want in their contact centre’.

Ashley Davidson, winner of the Contact Centre Advisor of the Year award with Shona Harper from Contact Centre Professional

Ashley Davidson of Sunderland’s More Than walked away with Contact Centre Advisor of the Year for being a fantastic role model and asset to her company, while Team Leader of the Year went to David Clark of Fusion, also based in Sunderland, for his ‘inspirational and nothing is impossible’ commitment to leadership.

Adding to EDS’s success on the night, it also picked up two individual awards with Mark Brannan winning Contact Centre Technical Adviser of the Year, a new, but hugely competitive category, and Best People Developer going to David Beagan for the massive efforts he makes to develop the skills of people within the company.

The other team awards were presented to BT Mobile Help 2nd Line, which was named Contact Centre Team of the Year, for its fantastic achievements throughout the year. The final team award for Outstanding Contribution to Community went to More Than for its campaign, More Than’ll Fix It, which was praised for its innovative approach to community activities.

Speaking at the awards, Councillor Paul Watson, chairman of Tyne and Wear Development Company and leader of Sunderland City Council, said: “Contact centres are a key sector in our economy and it’s always a joy to celebrate their success and achievements.

“Our region’s contact centres are among the best in the world and will continue to go from strength to strength with such a successful work force behind them, as we have seen tonight.”

As is custom, a charity raffle was held at the event in aid of Mencap, raising a total of £452.

Below is a full list of the winners:

Customer Experience Superstar