Last chance to nominate your centre and be the winner for 2009 !
Hurry: deadline for completed nomination forms is this week!
Live web announcment of the 2009 shortlist on 18th Dec 2008
Contact centres have come a long way in the last ten or twenty years, but they don’t stand still. These awards recognise the successful initiatives that are making innovative centres great places to work and to contact. Great innovation transforms the experience of customers or employees and changes the way we work within the wider organisation or community.
The Contact Centre Innovation Awards are a show-case for organisations that are leading the way in making their contact centre operations great places to work and to contact. These prestigious awards celebrate the achievements of the industry's innovators and offer a benchmark within the industry. Each year the judging panel identify the key themes emerging from successful innovation, shortlist approximately 12-15 nominations and offer 4-6 awards that demonstrate outstanding success in these areas.
As well as the highly-coveted Innovation of the Year Award, award categories have included scheduling innovation, strategic planning, employee engagement, performance management and implementation of workforce management. Other key areas for potential awards include MI and Performance Analysis, Planning for the Back Office or Outbound, Planning for the Customer, Customer Issue Resolution and Orientation - plus the Public Sector Innovation Award.
Why enter these prestigious awards?
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Give your organisation the chance to shine
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Gain recognition for your team within the wider organisation
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Reward your team for their hard work over the year
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Enjoy a fantastic gala evening at the end of the conference
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Hear what others say about your innovation
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See your work in a new light by participating in our rigorous assessment
A great opportunity to gain external recognition and validation for the hard work and success achieved by you and your team, the standard of these awards is maintained by rigorous assessment and participants often comment on how much they themselves have learned by the process of preparing information and being visited by our teams of assessors. Organised by the Professional Planning Forum - as part of our work to promote best practice in contact centres and to professionalise the role and contribution of analysts and planners - these awards are offered for significant measurable improvements for employees, customers, business and other stakeholders.
Award winners demonstrate the successful implementation of new ways of working that have made a demonstrable difference to the performance of a contact centre(s). Our place in the contact centre industry is to promote best practice in contact centre resourcing and planning and we have found that these specialist skills are critical ingredients of the best innovations. These Innovation Awards, however, are about more than good resource planning. We’re looking for projects or new ways of working that have made a big difference to customers or colleagues in the last year – with a significant measurable improvement or evidence of changed behaviour.
The awards are presented at the annual contact centre planning conference in April. The conference is an unparalleled opportunity to be stimulated and inspired by a wide range of initiative and innovation, with the chance to meet and network with leading specialists and experts in the areas of contact centre planning and analysis across Europe. A great incentive for the best performers, the rich information can be brought back and shared with colleagues.
The Innovation of the Year Award 2008 was presented to EDF Energy for their work in analysing the root cause of customer contact and using this to transform business decision making and establish end-to-end service that transforms the customer's experience. The 2007 award was carried away by Salford City Council for their Think Customer initiative. Tesco won the 2006 Award for a programme of change that took the stress out of their Christmas peak period and HBOS in 2005 for developing initiatives to improve work-life balance. Read further for details of other recent winners and finalists.
“The Innovation Awards show the huge progress that is being made in call centres to improve life for both the customers and the employees – and to demonstrate that planning analysts are often critical to making these improvements happen”, explains Paul Smedley, Executive Director.
The Awards Finalists are all contact centres who have identified what needs changing – and delivered it. These awards are not just about planning process or new technology. Award winners need to demonstrate significant change and measurable performance improvement. They demonstrate how much is in fact possible and to offer case studies on how these improvements have been achieved. Look below for more information about the awards and previous winners.
The initial nomination process is very quick and easy – we ask you to complete one simple form during October or November - further commitment is only required after short-listing in December. After short-listing in December, the judges visit all finalists in February or March for a more in-depth evaluation, and we ask you to make a commitment to host a site visit in June or October and to talk about your work at Contact Centre Planning 2009, where the awards are presented. Each finalist is featured in our much-consulted case study series, published in the annual Best Practice Guide.
Nominations need to be submitted in before November 10th, so get in touch now using the form on this page to find out what you need to do to be next year’s winner? At this stage you will be commencing the work or experiencing work in progress, but so long as you can show results by the time you submit a nomination (or at the least by the start of 2009, when the final stages of the judging take place), then now is the time to think about your entry.
Awards are presented for specific projects or new working practices that significantly improve the use of your contact centre’s resources, creating a clear measurable impact on performance, morale, efficiency or the ability to respond to change. Your innovation will show how ‘numbers meet people’ to create visibly improved results for the whole business. Open to all centres in Europe, you can read on to see the fantastic range of winning projects over the last few years.
Email awards@planningforum.co.uk for a nomination form or ring Kirsten Wiltshire, Operations Executive on 0870 870 5960
A night of celebration to remember ... a reward for your hard work
"A sensational night", comments Tom Davies from Sandwell Council, 2007 award finalists. Network with industry professionals from leading contact centres and seriously motivate your teams or clients with a real celebration. This year, for the first time, the gala awards dinner follows the final day of the conference. A highly enjoyable night, delegates tell us it's very different from the typical awards event. This year, again, the conference price includes the gala awards dinner. Extra places are available for colleagues who wish to attend the dinner, but not the conference, and special prices apply for booking tables - but places are limited due to the size restrictions of the venue, so book now to be sure of your space
Get involved ... opportunities for vendors and consultants
Nominations can only be made by contact centres directly, but as consultants and vendors you know the the best in the industry. Why not get support them in making a nomination and getting the recognition they deserve. Members are always interested in the systems used by award winners and the external support they have used to gain their success. Case studies from all the award finalists and site visits are central to our best practice programme and provide high-powered exposure throughout the year in our networking, best practice and training programmes. Align your brand with the best contact centre innovators and gain exposure in the contact centre industry's unique planning forum. The awards dinner is also a great place to bring clients and prospects - and is conveniently located in central Manchester, making this the ideal year to book a table. Relax and enjoy the evening - plus the first-rate networking at both the dinner and the conference. To get involved or for information about sponsorship opportunities, call Steve Woosey or Penny Hicks on 0333 123 5960.
0333 123 5960