Awards Celebrates the Best in the Business

The North East’s contact centre industry has continued to deliver vital services during 2021 in the face of increased demand as the economy bounces back from the pandemic.

The Awards honour individuals, teams and organisations who have gone above and beyond this year, demonstrating world-leading customer service in a range of industries including financial services, retail, insurance, leisure, healthcare, emergency services, security and logistics.

The North East Contact Centre Awards 2021 took place on Thursday 11th November and were also beamed live to colleagues across 150 contact centres in the region who employ an estimated 50,000 people.

Finalists in the competition enjoyed a Gala Dinner as the winners and highly commended nominations were announced by host Charlie Charlton.

Head judge Christine Allenson said “The strength of entries was again very high this year which demonstrates the resilience, energy and dedication within the region’s contact centres who have gone above and beyond to keep vital services running for their customers.”

“It was fantastic to be able to get together again for a live celebration after last year’s virtual ceremony.”

Names of Award Winners;

Customer Service Star- Voice

WINNER Louise Moran – BGL Customer Service
HIGHLY COMMENDED Callum Carr – Ocado

Customer Service Star- Digital

WINNER Andrew Marron – Leeds Building Society
HIGHLY COMMENDED Muzaid Hussain – BGL Customer Service
And Jason Beattie – Barclays

Customer Sales Star

WINNER Chloe Green – Worldpay
HIGHLY COMMENDED Nitin Katyal – EE

Support Superstar

WINNER Emily Simmons – Leeds Building Society
HIGHLY COMMENDED Emily Wilson – Sage

Apprentice of the Year

WINNER Blaise Havelock – BGL Customer Service

Service Team Leader

WINNER Chris Bell – Leeds Building Society
HIGHLY COMMENDED Trevor Johnson – Worldpay

Sales Team Leader

WINNER Sarah Hownam – Parkdean Resorts
HIGHLY COMMENDED Romana Moffatt – Worldpay

Inspirational Leader

WINNER Susan Britton – NHS BSA

Team of Year – Customer Service

WINNER Leeds Building Society
HIGHLY COMMENDED Northumbria Police

Team of Year – Support

WINNER Sage – Customer Success Team
HIGHLY COMMENDED Sage – Sales Enablement Team

Team of Year -Sales

WINNER Sage Migrations Team

People Engagement

WINNER NHS BSA
HIGHLY COMMENDED Leeds Building Society

Contact Centre of the Year – Below 250 Seats

WINNER Leeds Building Society
HIGHLY COMMENDED Parkdean Resorts

Contact Centre of the Year – Over 250 Seats

WINNER NHS BSA

Cllr Graeme Miller, Leader of Sunderland City Council said “The Awards are a fantastic way to recognise the massive achievements of people who have made contact centres one of the north east’s real success stories.”

“The industry has proven its resilience time after time, continuing to recruit and provide valuable employment throughout the ups and downs of the economic cycle. It remains a key source of jobs, and in Sunderland as a city employs around 11,000 people and contributes over £200m a year to the economy in salaries alone.”

Leanne Chambers, Managing Director at greenbean, commented: “Customer behaviour has changed forever and with increased acceleration towards digitalisation and self-service comes the changing role of the front-line advisor who is now required to be tech-savvy and handle more complex queries.”

“These awards not only celebrate and recognise the amazing individuals, teams and organisations that are best in class, but highlights contact centre careers as a ‘career of choice”

Full information on the awards available at www.necca.co.uk