Gold Coast, Australia, 22nd July 2011 - The Top Ranking Performers in the Contact Center World – APAC (Asia Pacific) Region met, shared ideas and the best were voted for by judges at the event hosted by ContactCenterWorld – The Global Association for Contact Center Best Practices & Networking.

Since 2006 the Best in the World participate in an annual competition and finalists for the best are invited to present at a 'best practice sharing' conference that any industry professional can attend. This year’s event for the APAC Region was held at the Crowne Plaza at the Gold Coast where delegates watched, listened and networked with the best as they shared best practice tips and more. At the event selected judges reviewed every presentation and scored the presenters – the rankings were revealed at the gala awards dinner Friday night.

The award winners at the event will now go on to represent their respective countries in the World finals which takes place November 1-4th 2011 at the Palms Resort, Las Vegas. They will be joined by the best from North and South America and those from Europe, Middle East & Africa region.

Now into the 6th year, these global awards are dubbed by many entrants as ‘the Olympics of the Contact Center World’ because the best compete regionally, and then represent their nation at the world finals. The presenters at the regional events are selected from over 1,000 entrants from 50+ nations around the world.

Delegates who attended the event raved about the ideas, networking and overall value of the event and how they benefitted.

Raj Wadhwani, President of ContactCenterWorld added "The standard of presentations this year was fantastic. Although English is not many entrants first language, we were once again rewarded with great ideas and presentations from the best in the region. Those who attended were treated to a stellar group of presenters and their ideas that you just can’t get at any other event."

In announcing the award winners, Wadhwani added "The industry in Asia Pacific is very strong. We had entrants from some 14 countries participate and the field was trimmed to the best from Indonesia, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, India, Fiji and Malaysia. These leading practitioners presented over the 3 days of interactive conference sessions. Sitting and watching every presentation was inspiring - I would say they were amazing. We look forward to bringing the best to Las Vegas Nov 1-4th 2011. (www.contactcenterworld.com/conferences)

Winners announced at the Gala dinner were (by category):

Best Customer Service (In-house Contact center)
-Gold Medal – Softbank Mobile (Japan)
-Silver Medal – PT Bank Central Asia (Indonesia)
-Bronze Medal – PT Bank Mandiri (Indonesia)
-Runner Up - AMP (Australia)

Best Customer Service (Outsourced Contact Center Services Provider)
-Gold Medal – HCL BSERV (India)
-Silver Medal – Affinity Solution Co.,Ltd.(Thailand)

Best Large Contact Center (250+ Agents Outsourced Contact Center Services Provider)
-Gold Medal – Teledirect Pte Ltd (Singapore)
-Silver Medal - SOFTBANK BB Corp.(Japan)
-Bronze Medal – HCL BSERV (India)

Best Large Contact Center (250+ Agents In-house Contact Center)
-Gold Medal – St George Bank (Australia)
-Silver Medal – PT. Bank Central Asia, TBK (Indonesia)
-Bronze Medal – China Mobile Henan Branch (China)

Best Mid-Sized Contact Center (51-249 Agents In-house Contact Center)
-Gold Medal – iSelect Health Pty Ltd (Australia)
-Silver Medal – SingTel (Singapore)
-Bronze Medal – Bank of Queensland (Australia)
-Runner Up - AMP (Australia)

Best Mid-Sized Contact Center (51-249 Agents Outsourced Contact Center)
-Gold Medal – SingTel (Singapore)
-Silver Medal – OCIS Fiji (Fiji)
-Bronze Medal – Affinity Solutions (Thailand)

Best Small Contact Center (Under 50 Agents Outsourced Contact Center)
-Gold Medal – VADS Business Process Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia)

Best Small Contact Center (Under 50 Agents In-house Contact Center)
-Gold Medal – Cummins South Pacific (Australia)

Best Technology Innovation (In-house Contact Centers)
-Gold Medal – SOFTBANK BB Corp. (Japan)
-Silver Medal – XL Axiata, Tbk (Indonesia)
-Bronze Medal – PT Astra International (Indonesia)
-Runner Up- PT Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk (Indonesia)
-Runner Up - PT. Bank Central Asia, TBK (indonesia)

Best Technology Innovation (Vendor Solution)
-Gold Medal – PT Astra Intl (Indonesia)

Best Contact Center Sales Professional
-Gold Medal – Suci Aprilusi, Sales Agent, PT. Bank Central Asia, TBK (Indonesia)
-Silver Medal – Revi Rianti, Contact Center Sales Agent, PT Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk (Indonesia)
-Bronze Medal – Risanto Kilala, Outbound Agent, Directorate General of Taxes (Indonesia)

Best Contact Leader
-Gold Medal – Antoine Casgrain, General Manager, Contact Centres, St.George Bank (Australia)
-Silver Medal – Seizo Sakata, General Manager, SOFTBANK BB Corp.(Japan)
-Bronze Medal - Arman Hazairin, Director, PT. Infomedia Nusantara (Indonesia)

Best Customer Service Professional
-Gold Medal – Kusbandiah ., Customer Service Agent, CIMB NIAGA (Indonesia)
-Silver Medal – Taner Mallia, Customer Service Officer, AMP (Australia)
-Bronze Medal – Danuwijaya Halim, Customer Service, PT. Bank Central Asia, TBK (Indonesia)

Best Contact Center Supervisor
-Gold Medal – Jekky Norton Mahieu, Supervisor, PT. Bank Central Asia, TBK (Indonesia)
-Silver Medal – Joanne McLennan, Contact Centre Team Leader, St.George Bank (Australia)
-Bronze Medal – Tumpak Ricardo, Supervisor, PT. Telekomunikasi Selular (Indonesia)
-Runner Up – Andri Ebenhard Panangian, Operational Supervisor, Directorate General of Taxes (Indonesia)

Best Contact Center Operational Manager
-Gold Medal – Martin Sizer, Manager - Cummins Support Centre, Cummins South Pacific (Australia)
-Silver Medal – Steve Tassone, Sales & Operations Manager, iSelect Health Pty Ltd (Australia)
-Bronze Medal - Belinda Loizou, Contact Centre Manager, St.George Bank (Australia)
-Runner Up - Jessica Coates, Business Unit Manager, AMP (Australia)

Best Contact Center Trainer
-Gold Medal – Svjetlana Trivuncevic, Customer Experience Coach, St.George Bank (Australia)
-Silver Medal – Donalfi, Senior Manager of Customer Service Knowledge Management, XL Axiata, Tbk (Indonesia)

Best Outbound Campaign
-Gold Medal – PT Bank Central Asia (Indonesia)
-Silver Medal – SMBC (Japan)
-Bronze Medal – PT Astra Intl (Indonesia)
-Runner Up - PT Bank Mandiri (Indonesia)
-Runner Up - Softbank Telecom (Japan)

Best Recruitment Campaign
-Gold Medal – PT Astra Intl (Indonesia)
-Silver Medal – HCL BSERV (India)

Best Outsourcing Partnership
-Gold Medal – VADS Business Process & Ministry of Education (Malaysia)
-Silver Medal – Softbank Mobile & BBCall (Japan)
-Bronze Medal – Affinity Solution Co.,Ltd. & AIA (Thailand)
-Runner Up - NTT-ME & NTT Communications (Japan)
-Runner Up - HCL BPO & 3M (India)

Best Community Spirit
-Gold Medal – AMP (Australia)
-Silver Medal – Softbank (Japan)

Best Incentive Scheme
-Gold Medal – HCL BSERV (India)

Best Direct Response Campaign
- Gold Medal - Directorate of Taxes (Indonesia)
- Silver Medal - Softbank Mobile (Japan)

Best Support Professional – IT
-Gold Medal – Erich Sunarta, Professional Staff, PT. Bank Central Asia, TBK (Indonesia)
-Silver Medal – James Wang, BDC Operations Manager, iSelect Health Pty Ltd (Australia)
-Bronze Medal – Tim Hamilton, Call Centre Support, AMP (Australia)

Best Support Professional – WFM
-Gold Medal – Lisa Morley, Manager, Planning and Scheduling, ANZ Group (New Zealand)
-Silver Medal - Gisdy Remona Sitompul, WFM Support, PT. Infomedia Nusantara (Indonesia)

Best Support Professional – HR
-Gold Medal – Ie Sen Tjoeng, HR Professional, PT. Bank Central Asia (Indonesia)
-Silver Medal – Eny Rukmi Amdarini, HR, PT Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk (Indonesia)

Best Help Desk
-Gold Medal – SingTel (Singapore)
-Silver Medal – Cummins South Pacific (Australia)

Commenting on their win at the APAC Awards, Joanna Thomas, Manager - Customer Sales & Service at iSelect said "Entering the ContactCenterWorld Awards was a wonderful experience and to be recognized as the best mid sized contact centre in APAC is an enormous honor - especially given the high standard of those both presenting and judging. All of us at iSelect are thrilled to have received validation that our entrepreneurial spirit and unflagging focus on the best outcomes for our customers and people does indeed set us apart.

Martin Sizer an industry veteran with 17 years and 2011 Winner of Best Small Contact Center and Best Operational Manager from Cummins South Pacific (Australia) said "As a small contact centre operating in an arguably non-traditional industry (Diesel engines customer support), we have been able gain many new ideas to further improve our operation. Not only did I take approximately 30 pages of notes throughout the conference, we were lucky enough to win the award for best contact centre under 50 seats, which will greatly help us promote our business to both customers as well as within the business itself. I will definitely return to this great industry event next year. Thanks again. See you in Vegas!"

Another winner, Masa Takayama wrote "On behalf of Softbank group presenters I would like to thank for Raj and his team members for the great APAC Conference. The concept of the conference is so great that we have enjoyed the unique competition as well as the learning from others. Extensive amount of our efforts preparing the presentations was rewarded with the medals finally. Regardless of the colors of medals, our preparation activities made us think deeply about our people and customers for better working place and better services."

Antoine Casgrain, GM of award winning St. George Bank wrote "We were delighted to be recognised as the Best Contact Centre (>250 seats) in Asia Pacific. The standards have become so high and so leading edge that it was a real honour to receive the Gold medal. The Contact Center World Asia Pac conference was a real eye opener! Just when we thought we were doing pretty well, we learned that there is so much best and leading edge practices out there that we have yet to explore. I really enjoyed the opportunity to learn from the best in the industry in a professional and nurturing environment.

In wrapping up the extremely successful event in Australia, Wadhwani added "This has been an amazing year for the industry and we wish the winners the best of luck as they head on to the Las Vegas finals later this year (www.contactcenterworld.com/conferences). I also recommend that any company interested in best practices attend and those interested in awards consider the 2012 awards which are now open with all areas of the contact center industry covered (www.contactcenterworld.com/awards)"