Movers and Shakers – May 2012

We have a few people on the move within the industry this month.

Here we bring you news of a new President at the Institute of Customer Service, wedding bells for two well-known people, a new job role for one of our regular contributors and new appointments at Bright and Eclipse Marketing.

Des Benjamin is appointed President of the Institute of Customer Service

The Institute of Customer Service has appointed Des Benjamin, chief executive of healthcare provider Simplyhealth, as its new President.

The role of the President is to represent the Institute in promoting awareness of the importance of customer service excellence and professionalism.

Des Benjamin comments: “It is an honour to represent the Institute and to build on it its reputation for setting standards and demonstrating the tangible business impact of customer service. There has never been a more important time for business and political leaders to grasp the importance of customer service to the success of organisations, the employability of individuals, and  the UK economy as a whole. I’m looking forward to working with the Institute and its members to promote the business value of customer service excellence.”

Mary Chapman, chairman of the Institute of Customer Service, adds: “I’m delighted that Des Benjamin has agreed to be our President. Des has a track record of building sustainable business success based on a distinctive service ethos. His appointment will be huge asset to the Institute, our members, and the business community in general.”

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Dave Appleby takes a gamble

Regular contributor to Call Centre Helper and respected Contact Centre Planning and Optimisation Specialist, Dave Appleby has recently moved not only to online sports betting site Betclic but relocated to the sunny skys of Malta.

Dave Appleby has been working as a planner, forecaster and analyst in the contact centre industry for the  last 14 years, having been a chef in a previous life. Starting off working on the phones for the launch of a grocery home shopping service, he has worked for a variety of in-house and outsource operations including Disneyland Paris, Seeboard, Giftaid, GM Finance and the Daily Telegraph. A keen diver (both instructor and cave diver), Dave was up until recently UK WFM and Business Telephony Manager for a large UK insurance company.

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Wedding bells at Call Centre Focus

Congratulations to Simon Thorpe, Head of Customer Management, and Claudia Hathway, Editorial Director, on their recent marriage.

After returning from a 3-week-long honeymoon, we are sure that they will be keen to get back into work!

The team at Call Centre Helper sends them both every good wish for their future life together.  A bottle of champagne is also on its way!

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Richard Beard joins Bright

Richard will head up and develop Bright’s client management.

Both benchmarking and customer satisfaction clients will be supported by Richard to get maximum value from the tools.

Richard most recently comes from ShopDirect where he was Customer  Experience Manager (and frequently deputised for Head of Operations), and previous to that he worked at Vodafone.

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Eclipse Marketing appoints Mark Osman from arvato

Eclipse Marketing has appointed Mark Osman to the position of Director of Commercial Operations. He joins from arvato where he was Head of Client Relationship for UK.

Mark will be responsible for bringing together the four service pillars at Eclipse – CRM & Database, Digital, Insight and Multi-channel Contact Centre – to provide added value for the agency’s clients. He will also have specific responsibilities for the Multi-channel Contact Centre. Mark will report directly to David Pickering, Chairman and Managing Director of Eclipse.

Commenting on his new appointment, Mark Osman said: “Working with Eclipse is a new challenge for me and something that I can’t wait to get my teeth into. I’ve known Eclipse for a while now and it has a strong reputation in the CRM and customer service sectors and I’m positive there’s even more to come.”