The International Customer Management Institute Announces Winners For The 2012 Global Call Center Of The Year Awards

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., May 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), serving the contact center industry for more than 25 years, announced the winners of the 2012 Global Call Center of the Year Awards, sponsored by Jabra, at ACCE 2012 in Seattle, WA last week.

Taking this year's top honors in the small-to-medium (75 seats or less) and large contact center categories, respectively, are Allianz Global Assistance Canada and UPMC Health Plan.

Organizations from all over the world apply for the award each year. Finalists competing for the 2012 Global Call Center of the Year awards were:

• Small-to-Medium Contact Center
  • Allianz Global Assistance Canada – Travel insurance provider
  • Freeman – Provider of integrated services for face-to-face marketing events
• Large Contact Center
  • Go Daddy – domain name hosting and secure website hosting provider
  • UPMC Health Plan – a University of Pittsburgh-affiliated global health enterprise

"The Global Call Center of the Year Awards recognize and honor the contact center teams who, through their operational and strategic excellence and commitment to superior service, elevate their brands through true partnerships with the entire organization to deliver outstanding customer service," said Layne Holley, ICMI's director of Community Services and chairman of the awards selection committee, which comprises industry experts and analysts. "This award sets the standard for the call center industry by highlighting the top performers. Each center that enters the awards is challenged to drill more deeply into their operations and performance on multiple levels, and the insight we gain in analyzing their strengths and weaknesses allows us to help all contact centers realize their potential with this benchmark."

"Jabra is a leading innovator in headset and end-point solutions, so we're delighted to be the sponsor for these awards," said Deborah Wenger, Jabra's Chief Operating Officer. "These contact centers truly represent innovation and quality and focus on the customer, really aligning with our values."

The award application requires candidates to provide detailed information in a wide range of categories, including company structure, strategy and policy; people management (hiring, training, and employee satisfaction/retention); process and procedures (performance metrics, workforce management, quality monitoring, and customer satisfaction measurement/ management); as well as technology. Each applicant must also submit a three to five minute "virtual visit" of the operation, displaying such images as office ergonomics and teamwork in action.

"UPMC Health Plan and Allianz Global Assistance Canada both truly excel at partnering with their organizations. Their dedication to continuous improvement in serving customers and their brands is exactly what we look for in our search for the Global Call Center of the Year," said Layne Holley.

"Being a finalist for the ICMI Global Call Center of the Year award is a great honor, and helps to reinforce the dedication and commitment that UPMC Health Plan has given to outstanding member experience," said Mary Beth Jenkins, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for UPMC Health Plan. "This selection recognizes the hard work, focus and enthusiasm that the call center team gives to the service they provide for all UPMC Health Plan members."

"We at Allianz Global Assistance Canada are thrilled to be recognized with such a prestigious award," said Sandy Winfield, Vice President of Operations. "I am proud of our team as they demonstrate their commitment to our customers in everything they do.   They live our values daily, and we take pride when we say 'thank you for calling Allianz Global Assistance, how can we help.' "

It's no small achievement to advance to the final round of selections for this prestigious award. "All of our finalists should be recognized," said Holley. "They are among the best of the best. We were very impressed with Go Daddy and Freeman, finalists for the large and small-to-medium categories, respectively. Both of these organizations shined for the selection committee in their commitment to delivering outstanding customer service through the organization of their people, processes and technologies."

"Go Daddy has always been focused on the customer experience, so it's nice to be recognized," said Go Daddy Chief Customer Officer Bob Olson. "We look for more ways for our employees to interact with our customers and help them with their needs.  We view our interactions with our customers as a gift, not as a distraction or a cost.  This is the foundation of our company." 

"Freeman is very excited to have been selected as an ICMI Global Call Center of the Year finalist," said Brenda McCord, the company's director of customer support. "Meeting the needs of our customers is a top priority at Freeman, and our entire team is very dedicated to offering consistently superior service. Our call center is process-oriented, professionally managed, and focused on providing the highest levels of customer satisfaction."

Silver Award Winners
In 2010, ICMI introduced the Global Call Center of the Year Silver Awards. These awards recognize contact centers that perform exceptionally well in the areas of Quality, Strategic Value and Technology.

Allianz Global Assistance Canada captured this year's Quality Silver Award, given to the center with the strongest quality monitoring and coaching processes and that utilizes its quality program to increase customer satisfaction and meet business demands. "It's so wonderful for us to have won both the Global Call Center of the Year award as well as the Silver Award for Quality," said Robin Spence Haffner, Director of Operations Support, Canada. "We've put a lot of work into our center and our quality assurance process, and this is terrific validation for that work."

China CITIC Bank Credit Card Center took home the 2012 Silver Award for Strategic Value, bestowed upon the contact center that drives profit and customer insight in a strong partnership with the organization. "We were very impressed with China CITIC's approach to driving brand loyalty in their use of process and technology for tracking customer complaints to drive a significant improvement in their customer satisfaction scores," said Holley.

American Water garnered the Technology Silver Award, given to the center that best leverages technology to serve the contact center and the brand's business and service missions.

"American Water is extremely proud that our customer service center has been named an ICMI Global Call Center of the Year Silver Award winner," said Meg Neafsey, Vice President of Customer Service. "Our team at the CSC works hard every day to support our company goal to provide the high quality service our customers deserve. This award is a strong acknowledgement of the emphasis we place on partnering with every area of our company to provide value to our customers.   "

Candidates are judged by a selection committee comprising experts from all facets of contact center operations, including specialists in technology, training and people management, workforce and resource management, and quality.

For more information on the Global Call Center of the Year Award, visit the website at www.icmi.com/ccoy or call the Customer Care Center 800.672.6177 (International: 001.719.268 0305) or email [email protected].

The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) is the leading global provider of comprehensive resources for customer management professionals – from frontline agents to executives – who wish to improve customer experiences and increase efficiencies at every level of the contact center. Since 1985, ICMI has helped more than 50,000 organizations in 167 countries through training, events, certification, consulting, and informational resources. ICMI's experienced and dedicated team of industry insiders, trainers, and consultants are committed to helping you raise the strategic value of your contact center, optimize your operations and improve your customer service. For more information, visit www.icmi.com.

ICMI is a part of UBM (www.ubm.com), a global live media and B2B communications, marketing service and data provider.

About Jabra
Jabra is a global producer of innovative headset and speakerphone solutions. We employ around 875 people and we have sales offices all over the globe. We enable effortless communication for mobile users, office-based and contact center employees in all parts of the world. Visit Jabra at www.jabra.com.

SOURCE International Customer Management Institute (ICMI)/UBM