IQPC Announces the 2010 Call Center Excellence Awards Winners

NEW YORK & LAS VEGAS - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Winners were announced for IQPC’s annual Call Center Excellence Awards on Wednesday, June 16, 2010 as a part of the 11th Annual Call Center Week at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, NV.

Presented by IQPC, the Call Center Excellence Awards honor, recognize and promote the most innovative call center solutions and individuals over the past year. First, Second and three Honorable Mention Awards across 8 categories were presented by ceremony emcee Steve Bell of RightNow Technologies.

“We had a record-breaking year for award submissions, making it clear that call center operations and innovation is a major business effort across all industries,” comments Lisa Schulman, Executive Producer and Sector Leader of IQPC. “All the applications were amazing and the judges had a difficult process choosing the winners.”

The complete list of 2010 Call Center Excellence Award winners and honorable mentions is as follows:

Best in Class Call Center (under 200 staff)

1(st) place: Blinds.com

* 2(nd)

* place: OppenheimerFunds Services, Inc.

* Honorable Mentions: Carolina Biological Supply Co., Constant Contact, and MyPublisher

Best in Class Call Center (over 200 staff)

1(st) place: Sabre Global Customer Support Center

* 2(nd)

* place: ING Direct USA

* Honorable Mentions: Language Services Associates, Discover, and CIGNA Corporation

Best Performance Leveraging Customer Feedback

1(st) place: Discover

* 2(nd)

* place: ING Direct USA

* Honorable Mentions: CareSource, Cross Country Automotive Services, and Philips

Greatest Job Creating a Culture that Inspires World-Class Excellence

1(st) place (tied): Bath & Body Works and MassMutual

* Honorable Mentions: Discover, ING Direct USA, and Medco Health Solutions

First-Class Job Leveraging Technology for Efficiency and Automation

1(st) place: Diebold, Incorporated

* 2(nd)

* place: DHL Express

* Honorable Mentions: Station Casinos, Inc., The Charmer Sunbelt Group, and Sabre Global Customer Support Center

Best Outsourced Provider

1(st) place: StarTek Inc.

* 2(nd)

* place: APAC Customer Services, Inc.

* Honorable Mentions: Stream Global Services, NCO Group, Inc., and Thomas L. Cardella & Associates, Inc.

Best Technology Solutions Provider

1(st) place: UTOPY

* 2(nd)

* place: Virtual Hold Technology

* Honorable Mentions: salesforce.com, inContact, and RightNow

The Call Center Leader of the Year

1(st) place: Salvador Salazar, Stream Global Services

* 2(nd)

* place: Stephen Riddell, Blinds.com

* Honorable Mentions: Jeremy Shaw, ACCENT Marketing Services, LLC; Todd Fishman, ACCENT Marketing Services, LLC; and Stuart Beame, Central Piedmont Community College

2010 First Place winners also participated in a panel discussion, moderated by previous Call Center Leader of the Year winner Pati Crowley, Director of Customer Experience at Bath & Body Works, where they addressed key customer-centric initiatives over the past year.

Kim Whitney of Bath & Body Works participated in the discussion as co-winner of the Greatest Job Creating a Culture that Inspires World-Class Excellence Award and attributed their call center success to “doing what you can to WOW your customers.”

Steven Riddell of Blinds.com and winner of the Best in Class Call Center (under 200 staff) Award added, “If you focus on competencies, your [customer satisfaction] scores will grow. I encourage you to abandon the scores. But, if you can’t, focus on competencies.”

Advisory Judges for the 2010 awards were:

Dru Phelps

* , Value Partner, 4-D CRMKimberly Warrick

* , Client Services Manager, New Jersey SharesJohn Goodman

* , Vice Chairman, TARP WorldwideBarry Maners

* , Managing Director, The Fraser GroupDarryl Flores

* , Workforce and Contact Center Professional Service Manager, SWBCJerry E. Durant

* , Chairman Emeritus, The International Institute for Outsource Management (IIOM)Larry M. Streeter

* , Vice President Customer Support, Constant ContactFrank Casale

* , Founder and CEO, The Outsourcing Institute

For complete details on the 11th Annual Call Center Week and Call Center Excellence Awards, visit www.callcenterweek.com or contact Lisa Schulman, IQPC Executive Producer and Sector Leader at [email protected].

Network with Call Center Week:

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About IQPC

IQPC (www.iqpc.com) provides business executives with tailored practical conferences, large-scale events, topical seminars and in-house training programs. Producing over 1,500 events annually around the world, IQPC continues to grow and has offices in cities across six continents including: Berlin, Dubai, London, New York, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, and Toronto.

IQPC Abby Lombardi, +1-212-885-2660 F: +1-888-231-7864   www.iqpc.com