Contact awards honour workers on the front line
The best in Wales’ £650m contact centre industry were honoured last night at an awards ceremony at the Wales Millennium Centre.
The Welsh Contact Awards, now in their 18th year, are organised by the Welsh Contact Centre Forum, the industry-led employers’ forum that delivers extensive support to firms of all sizes in the contact centre industry.
The awards rewarded winners and highly commended entrants in 19 categories, with a host of businesses recognised for outstanding contributions to the sector and individuals praised for exceptional achievements within their roles at contact centres across the country.
New to the ceremony for 2017, the joint recipients of the Contact Centre Leader award were Marc Lee of Legal & General Investments and Allison McCarthy of EE. The new category recognised the senior-level employees for exhibiting exemplary management skills, combining a commitment to the delivery of organisational objectives with efficient and effective service.
The Contact Centre Manager of the Year award went to Rhian Williams of the DVLA, while Julia Summerhayes of HSBC and Michael Morris of Legal & General insurance customer service were as joint winners of the Support Manager of the Year award.
Kim Hughes of Firstsource Solutions took home the Trainer of the Year award, while Team Leader of the Year was awarded to Wayne Roberts of TUI, with Amy Waite from Marston’s Holdings being highly commended.
Other winners included Nicholas McGowan of Deloitte, who won Newcomer of the Year, and Adam Robinson of Admiral, who was awarded Customer Service Representative of the Year.
Alex Owen of CGI took home the title of Support Person of the Year, while Cathy Fisher of SSE and Rachel Hurley of Lloyds Banking Group were highly commended.
Emily Cull of Principality Building Society won Sales Agent of the Year, with Sarah Jenkins of AA Driving Schools highly commended.
Cardiff-based Lloyds Banking Group scooped the Large Contact Centre of the Year (in-house), while Cardiff-based Molson Coors and Legal & General Investments took home the awards for Medium Contact Centre and Small Contact Centre respectively. Conduit was named Outsourced Contact Centre of the Year.
Other company awards went to Firstsource Solutions for Diverse Workplace; Barclays Bank for People Development; Conduit for Best Use of Technology; Target Group for Customer Engagement; Barclaycard for People Engagement; Dwr Cymru for Performance and Quality; Deloitte for Support Team of the Year; and Nemo Personal finance for Business Improvement Strategy.
Sandra Busby, managing director of the Welsh Contact Centre Forum, said: “The forum is committed to helping both contact centres and the talented people who work in them to thrive and succeed.
“The calibre of all of the finalists has impressed us immensely and is a real testament to the high standards we are achieving in Wales.
“The forum is proud of the great service we can provide to employers in Wales, and these awards enable us to shine a light on the industry’s everyday heroes and applaud and reward them for playing such a pivotal role in one of Welsh business’ biggest sector success stories. We extend our warmest congratulations to all of the award nominees and winners.
“If Wales is to continue to be one of the best places around to base a contact centre, we know that it’s crucial for our people to be supported to be the best in the world. We’re committed to a range of strategic support to help our employers and the 30,000 people in our industry achieve this outcome, not only through the awards but also including the development of the first degree in strategic customer management for frontline people anywhere in the world.”