What made you enter the 2013 awards in the first place?
I was very proud of the self-service solution that we had developed within DHL Express Europe and successfully deployed to four of our largest European countries. I wanted to share this success with industry peers and especially share the tips & knowledge that if they were going to undertake a similar project then they could learn from my experience.

What were you hoping to achieve in the process? Was it recognition? Benchmarking? Something else or a combination of things?
Within DHL Express Europe we are very proud of our Customer Service offering and the targets that we set. By being one of the winners then it demonstrates to our customers that we take Customer Service very seriously & can have this recognised by winning external awards.

When you were invited to be a finalist, what was your reaction and how did you share this with your co-workers?
With a very large geographical area that is covered by the EEMEA awards it was a sense of excitement that I got when I discovered I was a finalist. The first people that I made aware of this were our European CEO and Customer Service managing Director, this then was cascaded through the organisation.

You were asked to prepare a presentation, how did you decide what to include and what to share?
As this was the first time that I had attended a contactcenterworld event I was not aware of the high level of presentation that I saw during the final (these were very impressive). I also read carefully the presentation notes to ensure that I covered all the mandatory aspects. With the content that I was presenting I felt that audio & animation needed to be included to reflect the high level of sophistication involved. I was also very happy to share my learning experiences of the project as I believe that this was one of the core raison d’être of the session to ensure others avoided any mistakes that I had made.

Can you share with our readers a couple of ideas you presented at the conference and how you apply those in your center
As my session was related to technology within the contact center the ideas that I shared were more focussed on what you needed to do to ensure a successful deployment & user adoption.

How did you feel about sharing with your peers – including those competing against you?
If you were not happy in sharing then I do not think you would be applying for a contactcenterworld award as one is made very aware that you will be sharing your content with all the other participants. From my own presentation perspective as it was a deeply complex IT project I do not think any competitive advantage could have been gained even if my own company’s direct competitors had been present.

How would you describe the value of the conference to someone who has never been before – especially someone coming just to hear best practices?
I think if you are involved in frontline Customer Service Management then this will be a very high value-add event and there are many lessons to be learnt. The real skill will be to listen & learn from the best practice & then implement these in your own organisation.

How did you feel before and after presenting?
As with every presentation I am always a bit nervous and this being my first CCW event I did not realize how good the competitor’s presentations were going to be. After I had presented I was relieved and thought that it had gone quite well but was disappointed that I had failed to use my full time allocation in fear of being stopped mid presentation.

What do you think makes this award process valuable?
I think being able to show you have won an external award benchmarked against other leading companies is a nice accreditation for your contact center.

How would you describe the gala dinner?
Lots of fun, especially Gangnam Style!

As an winner, how did you feel being called on stage to receive your award?
This was a great honour & it felt a little bit like being at the Oscar ceremony – not that I have won any Oscars yet

How did you celebrate your award when you were back at your company?
The evening that we won the award we emailed all CS Directors across Europe as well as the Global & European Management Boards & we received a plethora of congratulatory emails afterwards.

How has entering this award changed your company and motivation?
I don’t think we would change anything but I would certainly be aware of how to improve my presentation even I submitted a project another year.

Find out more about the ContactCenterWorld Awards at www.ContactCenterWorld.com/worldawards