Answers provided by Alison Davidson & Patrick Williams, Vodafone UK
What does it mean to your company to achieve "Regional Finalist" status in the ContactCenterWorld.com Top Ranking Performers in the Contact Center Industry Awards?
For Vodafone UK and Vodafone Warrington, this has had an immense impact as we have all worked so hard to achieve what we have, through strong leadership by our Customer Services Director, Jane Hext and working with our front line people who talk to our customers.
We have put a lot of work into our submissions - and are thrilled that others have read what we have done and now want to see our people. Getting our great people out into the world of contact centres and customer service makes us all feel very proud.
We have won and been recognised in various award ceremonies - 'The World' does bring with it a great feeling of achievement and we are all looking forward to the event.
Do you believe that recognition is a great esteem builder and can help create workplace loyalty and build a sense of community?
Absolutely, it has created an immense sense of pride in the centre - and we, as managers, are keen to express that. Although we are in the individual award categories, there is no doubt that this has been a team and centre achievement. It also adds the great value, when speaking to friends and family, and goes one step further to making Vodafone a great place to work. Advisors are proud to be part of a company that values its employees and is prepared to contribute towards award entries etc, especially in these times of cost cutting etc.
In what way do recognition from coworkers and managers differ from third party recognition or what we call peer recognition?
Our site sees recognition of all types as highly motivational throughout the site, whether that be a thank you verbally expressed, a small gift, names on the plasma letting others know, being picked to represent us in external awards, being chosen by your peers for internal awards. Not only do we receive letters from customers but our Customer Services Director follows these up with a written note as well. We do tonnes and it is all as valuable as each other whether it have the profile like European and World associated with it - or whether it is a small show of gratitude.
Third party recognition is seen as strong as we can be seen in our area of expertise being recognised with other similar companies. It also helps grow our network and share best practises - which we have already started doing and looking to expand over the next few months.
What makes an external award recognition program unique and more meaningful, such as the ContactCenterWorld.com Top Ranking Performers in the Contact Center Industry Awards?
We never put in for external awards for the sake of it. We only do it when we have a strong story to tell, and we can demonstrate the positive outcomes of things we have been working on and that we are really proud of.
We, on site, have to make sure it is seen as meaningful as sometimes a lot of people in the site may not really understand why we have truly achieved. That's the good thing about going for external awards it gives us a chance to share with our entire workforce - that we do, do things that are seen by others outside our business as inspirational and not necessarily the norm.
The meeting of other businesses is very beneficial - and it is impressive when we talk to other companies to be able to say all our hard work and approach has been recognised by an external group of people.
What impact does your pursuit for a Top Ranking Performers in the Contact Center Industry Award have on your contact center?
We have ensured that it is communicated well and praised our people for getting us here to this stage. This is not the work of the person who writes the submission - it is the people that give us the evidence - and we have to ensure that that is strongly put across to those who will not be at the event.
We were elated to find out we had been short listed in the Contact Center World Top Ranking Performers in the contact Center Industry Awards. It has been an accumulation of hard work at all levels to deliver great results on behalf of the Vodafone brand, and of course our people.
You mention pursuit in your question - we have not done all this work to actively go in pursuit of a Contact Center World award - we have done this work as we believe it is right for our customers, our people and our business. We have a fantastic story to tell and what a place to tell it! The fact that we have been so hugely successful gave us the ticket to enter the awards.
Do you feel that winning an external award judged by your peers has more value than one judged by a panel of industry vendors?
There is a place for both and it is great for our people at the front line to see that we can get the recognition in many ways.
Peer to peer is always strong as each has an understanding of what we are all up against in our various industry sectors and these can be exchanged and learnt from.
What feedback have you received within your organization at this stage of the awards process?
We have received great feedback from the team, the whole site in Warrington, our Outsource partners, Board Members and with our CEO being very aware of our achievement so far. We have had internal publicity through company web site, Management Meetings, Call Centre Advisors Buzz sessions. Everyone is proud of our reaching the finals and now we look to sharing the success of winning! What's more - "I am going to be there next year!" is quite commonly heard around the centre!
About Ali Davidson:
Alison Davidson is the Customer Service Manager at Warrington Contact Centre and is responsible for 120 employees, making our customer experience fantastic and keeping her people engaged. Her whole career has been in Customer Service- in fact for over 18 years and the last 5 of those has been at Vodafone.
About Vodafone:
Established in 1994 to operate in the Turkish mobile telecommunications sector, Vodafone Group became a mobile operator under the name Vodafone Telekomünikasyon A.Ş. on May 24, 2006. Now the second largest mobile operator in Turkey, Vodafone has 18,000,000 subscribers. As England's first GSM carrier, Vodafone made the first mobile phone call on Jan. 1 1985. Vodafone Group Plc is the world's leading mobile telecommunications company, with a significant presence in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the United States through the Company's subsidiary undertakings.
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