Contact centres celebrate at North East Awards

Barclays Bank – winner of the North East Contact Centre of the Year award 2012 (above 250 seats)

It was a night of celebration for contact centres in the North East when they turned out in force for the region’s 10th annual North East Contact Centre Awards held at Rainton Meadows Arena, Sunderland.

The contact centre awards, which are judged by an independent panel of industry experts, aim to recognise the achievements of individuals and teams working in the region’s 145 contact centres.

Paul Buie, manager of Tyne and Wear Development Company : “This is the 10th year that we’ve organised the awards and they’ve played a significant role in recognising the achievements of our contact centres at the same time as raising the profile of the industry and the work carried out by its employees.”

Winners included:

Best New Talent:

Winner: Chris Atkinson, Tesco Bank.
Runners-up: Elizabeth Swann (Sunderland City Council); Emma Jones (Northern Powergrid)

Contact Centre Advisor of the Year:

Winner: Kylie Morgan (Barclays Bank).
Runners-up:Charlotte Packer (NHS Business Services Authority) and Melanie Davies (NHS Business Services Authority)

Contact Centre Customer Hero

Winner: Jake Spence, More Than, RSA.
Runners-up: Colin Wright (Tesco Bank) and Jackie Shields (Northern Powergrid)

Contact Centre Dream Team

Winner: Northumbrian Water, customer project team.
Runners-up: HR & Recruitment Sitel and Northern Powergrid Overflow training initiative

Contact Centre Team of the Year

Winner: Convergys Customer Management UK; HR and Recruitment team.
Runners-up: Sunderland City Council (Telecare monitoring centre) and Barclays Bank (Welcome to Business)

Innovative Use of Technology

Winner: Sunderland City Council (Customer Service Network).
Runners-up: Barclays Bank (Lending specialist telephony) and NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA/Eptica)

Inspirational Leader

Winner: Claire Sharp (Northumbrian Water Ltd).
Runners-up: Michelle Liddle More Than, RSA, and Lorna Emmerson, Barclays Bank PLC

People Development Champions

Winner: AXA Personal Lines (Training Department).
Runners-up: Barclays Bank Plc (Retail Telephony Performance Team) and Virgin Money (Coaching and Development team).

North East Outsourced Contact Centre of the Year 2012

Winner: Spark Response.
Runners-up: Convergys Customer Management Ltd and Teachers’ Pensions

North East Contact Centre of the Year 2012 (below 250 seats)

Winner: NHS Business Services Authority.
Runners-up: Northern Powergrid and Department for Work and Pensions (Future Pension Centre)

North East Contact Centre of the Year 2012 (above 250 seats)

Winner: Barclays Bank Plc.
Runners-up: EE Doxford (formerly T-mobile Doxford) and Axa Personal Lines, Teesside

Nick Scholte, Chief Executive of the NHSBSA said “This double award success is a great achievement and one that demonstrates our commitment to delivering a high quality service to our customers and the important part our team plays in delivering that service.”

Peter Slee, Managing Director at Spark Response, said: “This is just reward for the excellent job the outsourcing team does. We know we’re a passionate business and for that to be seen by the judges and mentioned when our win was announced is a fantastic boost.”