This award will recognise non-managers working in a frontline role within a contact centre, who has been in post for a minimum of six months and a maximum of 12 months. The judges will be looking for evidence of exceptional vocational competence, achieving great results and making a difference within a short period of time, plus excellent interpersonal skills.

This category is open to non-managers employed in a support role within the contact centre in any function, for example: IT, Resource planning, administration, operations, logistics, facilities management, human resources, catering. When completing the entry consideration should be given to professionalism, performance, initiative and personal development. The support person of the year will be a shining example and entries will demonstrate how the contact centre would not the same without this person.

This category is for individuals working at advisor grade in a sales capacity. It is appropriate for agents/advisors who have demonstrated exceptional levels of sales and vocational competence, in either a full or part time capacity. Entrants must demonstrate consistently high performance as an agent/advisor, achieve consistently strong results and make a real difference to their organisation.

This category is for individuals working at advisor grade who have demonstrated exceptional levels of service and vocational competence, in either a full or part time capacity. The winner will be someone who goes above and beyond his or her day-to-day responsibilities to provide excellent customer service and support to their colleagues. Entrants must demonstrate consistently high performance as an adviser, achieve consistently strong results and make a real difference to their organisation.

This category is open to individuals who have been employed in the role for a minimum of six months and who demonstrate exceptional leadership, first-line management skills and vocational competence, in either a full or part time capacity. The Team Leader of the Year is a professional and inspirational person who leads by example and takes responsibility for the team. They ensure their colleagues’ experience of work is always a positive one. Entrants must demonstrate strong leadership, be results oriented, with a commitment to staff development, and have evidence of guiding their team to consistently high performance.

This category is seeking a professional trainer or coach who applies best practice in learning theory to deliver training and development that achieves organisational objectives. The winner will take their role extremely seriously, training is meticulously planned and learning theory is applied with precision in order to get the best out of the people. Activity is tailored to the individual’s needs but also helps achieve departmental group objectives. This person’s training programmes have made a difference not only to individuals’ career objectives and the organisation, but also the participants’ quality of life and outlook. The winner is not averse to trying innovative new techniques to train and coach employees in a controlled environment.

Open to individuals who have been managing a support team or function based in a contact centre (eg finance, marketing, HR, IT) for a minimum of six months, in either a full or part-time capacity. This award will recognise an individual who has shown exceptional leadership, innovation, broad management skills and vocational competence. The winner demonstrates consistently high performance of the support team, communicates and shares the company’s vision/mission, and combines a commitment to the delivery of organisational objectives with an efficient and effective service. The winner will have successfully implemented innovative strategies that impact positively on the team and have a commitment to the continuous improvement of staff and self.

Open to individuals who have been managing personnel within a contact centre for a minimum of six months, this category looks to reward exceptional leadership, innovation, broad management skills and vocational competence in either a full or part-time capacity. The winner demonstrates exceptional leadership, ensures consistently high performance of the centre, communicates and shares the company’s vision/mission, and combines a commitment to the delivery of organisational objectives with an efficient and effective service. The winner will have successfully implemented innovative strategies that impact positively on the wider organisation and have a commitment to the continuous improvement of centre, staff and self.

This award will recognise your shining star – someone who has gone over and above the call of duty to enhance the smooth running of the operation. Finalists in this category will not have to attend panel judging as the winner will be selected from the written entry.

This award will recognise companies that successfully address ongoing development needs for individuals, departments and whole organisations to see that business needs are met. The judges will be looking for examples of how people development affects the company ethos and how it is embedded in the company culture.

From a support function team based in a contact centre (eg finance, HR, IT), this award will recognise an initiative delivered by teams or departments. The entry needs to outline the process, the driver(s) for implementation, key performance indicators and provide evidence of positive outcomes. It must also include evidence of the impact of the initiative on the objectives and performance of the business.

This category applies to all ‘Frontline Teams’ who sit directly within the contact centre and whose primary role is to engage with customers (B2B or B2C) service or sales. This may include (but not exclusive to) a specialist team such as escalations or a team of advisors within a larger centre, a team looking after a specific account, product or service. Consideration should be given to team spirit, performance against targets and objectives, the team’s biggest achievements in the past 6-12 months, innovation and leadership.

This award recognises how you deliver exceptional levels of service to your customers and should include details of how you measure customer engagement – targets, performance against targets, KPIs, etc. Evidence can also include details of a multi-channel approach eg: via digital, social, voice and web.

This will be presented to a centre that puts its staff at the heart of the operation. The successful centre shows that front line people are the focus of the business. Your entry should include details of:

• Special initiatives to promote employee engagement
• Health and wellbeing practices
• Evidence should include photographs, KPIs on performance improvement through engagement, plus sickness and retention rates.

Recognition of Initiatives introduced in an ever-challenging year where cost to service, efficiency and innovation are at the heart of service excellence, special initiatives need to be recognised.

This category is for organisations based in the South West region that have successfully made use of new innovative technology within their customer contact centre that supports the employee and/or the customer experience and is having a significant impact on operational performance. Entries should outline the business benefits that have been achieved, ie:

• Return on investment
• Results achieved
• Impact on the customer and employee experience
• How you implemented and integrated the technology

This category is not for the technology solution itself, it is for how the technology has been implemented and maximised within your organisation. Joint nominations from your organisation and your technology provider will be accepted, however the technology provider cannot nominate on their own (AI solutions are not eligible for this category).

This category is open to organisations based in the South West region that have a partnership with their Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).  The entry should be a joint one from the outsourcer and the client, will have been in place for more than 12 months and you will be able to demonstrate results of how both your customers and employees are benefitting from the partnership. Entries should include:

• The business aims and challenges and how the partnership has helped to meet them
• Evidence of an efficient and effective customer and employee focused operation
• Communication channels between the outsourcing frontline and the client decision makers
• Evidence of effective integration and ongoing investment in the relationship.
• Achievements of the original business objectives.

This category is for organisations based in the South West region that have successfully deployed artificial intelligence (AI) into their contact centre or customer service operation. It may be a simple application that has had a significant impact, or a major programme that has transformed a process. Relevant examples for this category could include using AI to improve customer interactions such as driving personalisation; deployment of bots and messaging; AI solutions that improve employee productivity, analytics, insight, and planning. Your entry should include:

• The overall strategy for AI and how this is evolving.
• The rationale for deploying an AI solution and the approach taken to implementing it
• The benefits to the customer and employees
• How is this going to impact future plans.

This category is not for the technology solution itself; it is for how the technology has been implemented and maximised within the organisation. Joint nominations are welcomed from the organisation and their technology provider.

This category is for teams based in the South West region that have implemented a change in their business processes in the last 12 months. These changes will highlight improvements in either the customer journey, the customer contact operation, or the employee experience. Entries should include:

• An understanding of the objectives behind the improvement initiative.
• Evidence of how the initiative was planned, implemented and monitored.
• Effective use of internal communication channels to inform teams across the business about the improvement initiative and its aims.
• Clear evidence of the impact of the change on customers, employees, and the performance of the operation within the business as a whole
• How this initiative will continue to meet objectives going forward.

This new category is all about the culture of the Contact Centre. You will be required to demonstrate you have a focus on your people, providing them with great and healthy places to work, learning opportunities, engaging environments, career opportunities, great diversity and inclusion practices, recognition and reward and a real sense of community and purpose. You will be required to demonstrate evidence of the culture across the contact centre and demonstrate how this impacts on the customer experience, the overall performance of the contact centre operation and wider business. This will include any accreditations for excellence in delivery.

This category is for an outsourced contact centre with a highly successful business relationship with their client. To be successful in this category you must demonstrate: A clear understanding of your client’s aims and objectives. How you’ve helped them through the effective and professional delivery of a range of services. How you’ve implemented two-way communication channels between the outsourcing front line and client decision makers. Evidence of effective integration, investment in client relationship and transparency. Please address the following questions/requirements:

• Demonstrate your understanding of your client’s aims and objectives and how you’ve worked together to fulfil these successfully.
• Provide two examples of how you’ve helped them through the effective and professional delivery of a range of services.
• How have you implemented two-way communication channels between the outsourcing front line and client decision makers.
• Provide evidence of effective integration, investment in client relationship and transparency.

This award is attributed to an in-house contact centre that demonstrates leading practice for both staff and customers. The judges will be focusing on two areas:

• How you are an employer of choice? The entry should outline your recruitment strategies, what makes you an employer of choice, your commitment to training and development and how you provide a great physical environment to work in.
• How does your centre underpin the running of the overall business?Please include evidence of how the centre contributes to the wider business, how the centre delivers world class service to its customers and what makes the centre an extraordinary place to work in.