EDINBURGH, Scotland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Customer Contact Association (CCA), global industry champion for customer service standards, has named leading Irish energy provider Bord Gais Networks, as best overall customer contact centre of the year.

The prestigious ceremony was the highlight of CCA Convention 2009 which focused on delivering a world class customer experience and featured global brands including O2, Microsoft, Jumeirah Hotel and Resorts Group, Comic Relief and British Airways as well as top academic experts.

Bord Gais, which also won an award for delivering the best customer experience in the mobile, telecoms and utilities sector, clinched the top award in recognition of its success in placing its customer contact centre at the heart of the organisation, boosting customer satisfaction and reducing complaints.

Winners were announced in 20 categories including ‘Overall Professional of the Year’ which went to Joanne Taylor an agent with Coventry Building Society. Judges described Joanne as, “…a brilliant, passionate individual who comes across as completely focused on the customer, people development and continuous improvement. I would have her in my team tomorrow!”

PDCS, the Future Pension Centre, won the category of ‘Contact Centres: Great Places to Work’ and judges praised its “..credible story put forward with regards to the journey and positive impact for its teams.”

The awards featured two new categories this year to recognise organisations which have achieved world class excellence in obtaining and upholding the CCA Global Standard©. CCA Global Standard© is an internationally recognised certification system which benchmarks organisations against industry best practice.

Capita Life & Pensions in Glasgow picked up the award for ‘World Class Excellence: Global Standard© Newcomer’, marking a double celebration for Capita whose employee Robert McLean won the title ‘Professional of the Year - Team Leader.’

Indigo Lighthouse Group was named as the winner in the ‘World Class Excellence: Global Standard© Mature’ category in recognition of its adherence to high quality standards since achieving CCA certification in 2002.

CCA Chief Executive Anne Marie Forsyth said: “There is a growing awareness of the critical role played by customer contact staff in retaining customer loyalty and trust. The economic climate has tested customer relationships as never before. We congratulate all our award winners who have shown unwavering commitment to delivering world class customer service, often in challenging circumstances.”

“As the overall sponsor of CCA Global Excellence Awards, TELUS is delighted to be associated with excellence in customer contact through the CCA’s awards programme. Delivering superior customer experiences has never been so important for today’s organisations. TELUS is honoured to help recognise these deserving individuals and companies”, said Jeffrey Puritt, President, TELUS International.

The awards ceremony was hosted by BBC broadcaster Sandy Toksvig who commented: "I am delighted to be hosting this prestigious awards event this year. Customer facing staff in contact centres have undoubtedly had a particularly tough job in the last year, and I'm sure that the opportunity to reward some of those that have shown best practice will be very welcomed."

NOTES TO EDITOR

About CCA (Customer Contact Association)

CCA Industry Council is a leadership forum for the heads of customer contact strategy, both in private and public sectors. The Council offers a unique blend of visionary research, intra group case studies and benchmarking. Industry Council has recently dealt with topics such as 'New Sourcing Strategies', 'Cause and Effect of Demand', 'Merging Voice and e-Channels' and 'New Generation Employees'. CCA Industry Council represents between 25%-30% of those working in contact centres in the UK and Ireland and is in a fundamental position to effect real change within the sector.

Industry Council members include: Bank of America; Barclays Wealth; BBC; British Airways; British Gas; Bord Gais; Capita; Coventry Building Society; DWP; HMRC; ESB; NHS Direct; NS&I IBM; Lloyds Banking Group; LV=; Clydesdale & Yorkshire Banks; National Rail Enquiries; O2; Royal Mail; Shop Direct; Sky; Teleperformance; Tesco; Vodafone.

For further information visit www.cca-global.com

CCA Award winners & sponsors 2009

Category: Best Customer Experience in Sector: Local Government

Winner: Rushcliffe Borough Council Customer Service Centre

Category: Best Customer Experience in Sector: Central Government

Winner: Environment Agency's Floodline in partnership with Teleperformance

Category: Best Customer Experience in Sector: Emergency Services

Winner: Northamptonshire Police Force Communications Centre

Category: Best Customer Experience in Sector: Financial Services

Winner: Teleperformance Portugal

Category: Best Customer Experience in Sector: Retail, Travel & Entertainment

Winner: Tesco Customer Service Centre

Category: Best Customer Experience in Sector: Mobile, Telecom & Utilities

Winner: Bord Gáis Networks Contact Centre in partnership with Fexco

Category: Best Enterprise-Wide Support to the Contact Centre

Winner: Tesco Customer Service Centre

Category: Contact Centres: Great Places to Work sponsored by Cisco

Winner: PDCS – Future Pension Centre

Category: Professional of the Year – Agent – sponsored by Plantronics

Winner: Joanne Taylor, Coventry Building Society

Category: Professional of the Year – Team Leader

Winner: Robert McLean, Capita Life & Pensions

Category: Professional of the Year – Manager

Winner: Kate Butland, UCAS Customer Service Manager

Category: Professional of the Year – Director - sponsored by inTouch

Winner: Paul Archer Jobcentre Plus Contact Centre Directorate

Category: Contact Centre Team of the Year

Winner: Solent Telephone Banking Centre

Category: Most Effective Training Programme

Winner: Get Up To Speed – Sky in partnership with Brightwave

Category: Action in the Community

Winner: Tesco Customer Service Centre

Category: Best Outsourcing Partnership

Winner: PROLOG & Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd

Category: Best Technology Partnership – sponsored by Sabio

Winner Royal Mail & Transversal Corporation Ltd “Ask Sarah”

Category: World Class Excellence: CCA Global Standard Newcomer - sponsored by Aspect

Winner: Capita Life & Pensions, Glasgow

Category: World Class Excellence: CCA Global Standard Mature

Winner: Indigo Lighthouse Group

Category: Overall Professional of the Year

Winner: Joanne Taylor, Coventry Building Society

Category: Overall Centre of the Year – sponsored by Verint

Winner: Bord Gáis Networks Contact Centre in partnership with Fexco

CCA
Valerie Darroch
Tel: + 00 44 (0)7970 737708
Email: valdarroch@googlemail.com