Northern Ireland’s Contact Centre Workers Celebrated

The stars of the Northern Ireland contact centre industry were celebrated at the industry’s fifth Annual Awards ceremony hosted by comedian Paddy Raff.

The 2022 Contact Centre Network NI Awards saw individuals and businesses within the sector hailed for their successes over the past 12 months, including achievements such as hybrid working, supporting inclusivity and the mental wellbeing of employees.

The CCNNI Awards, supported by headline sponsor Jabra, celebrate a sector that employs circa 20,000 people from over 100 businesses across the region.

The Awards were held at Hilton Belfast on Thursday 27 October where over 240 guests joined the celebrations to see who would win the highly coveted awards.

The Winners

Individual Awards

• Hero of the Year was awarded to Sinead Moncrieff from BT Enniskillen. Joe McLarnon of Ulster Bank scooped the silver trophy.
• Rising Star went to Ulster Bank’s William Black while Budget Energy’s Jamie Quigg took the silver award.
• Newcomer of the Year – Ellen Esler of GLL (Better Belfast).
• Support Person of the Year – Evan O’Donoghue, Budget Energy.

Awards were presented to both Inhouse and Outsourced Advisor of the Year in recognition of the great work being delivered by frontline staff.

• Inhouse Advisor of the Year – The silver was presented to Lisa Thompson at Santander, and Power NI’s Mark Sweeney was named overall winner.
• Outsourced Advisor of the Year – A joint silver award was given to Barry Connolly at Concentrix and Conall Mallon from Firstsource Solutions, while Shane Seaward of Capita PIP was named the winner.
• Inhouse Team Leader of the Year – saw a joint silver presented to Kevin Quinn, Ulster Bank and Richard Bergin, BT
• Inhouse Team Leader of the Year winner was confirmed as Emma Corscadden, Energia
• Outsourced Team Leader of Year award went to John White, Firstsource Solutions.
• Support Manager of the Year – Ben Nomafo of Capita PIP was presented with the trophy.
• Trainer of the Year – Alan Mullen of Allstate Northern Ireland.
• Contact Centre Manager category – awards were presented to two outstanding individuals. Alex Telford, Energia Group, was named Contact Centre Manager of the Year with Under 100 Staff, and Lorraine Parry of Capita PIP named Contact Centre Manager of the Year with Over 100 Staff.
• Senior Manager of the Year – presented to Sabrina Lynch of Allstate Northern Ireland.

In the Team/Company categories

• Business Improvement Strategy award was presented to Budget Energy for their Elevate Programme.
• Best People Development went to Echo NI.
• Support Team of the Year award – Energia’s Business Improvement Team.
• Best People Engagement – Danske Bank UK’s Customer Direct.
• Best Customer Engagement – Danske Bank UK’s Customer Direct.
• Diversity and Inclusion Strategy – Allstate Northern Ireland were presented with the award.
• The Inhouse Contact Centre of the Year category saw BT Belfast presented with a silver award, and the overall category winner revealed as Ulster Bank.
• Outsourced Contact Centre of the Year – Echo NI.

Jayne Davies, Director of Contact Centre Network NI, said: “We’d like to congratulate all our winners and nominees for this year’s awards, whose excellent work continues to support and contribute to the success of individuals and organizations across Northern Ireland.

“The sector continually demonstrates how Northern Ireland is leading the way across so many innovations. From video agents to virtual contact centres, the NI contact centre industry is at the forefront of new ways of working and enhancing customer experience.

“We wish the very best to our colleagues across the sector for the next 12 months as they play an important role in supporting their customers and colleagues.”

As the headline sponsor of the CCNNI Awards, John Nesbitt, Jabra Sales Director, Ireland, said: “Being involved in the CCNNI Awards 2022 is important to Jabra, as these awards brilliantly highlight the talent and dedication within an industry which strives to deliver exceptional customer service every day, no matter how complex or challenging the interaction.

“At Jabra we recognize how essential it is to celebrate the hard work delivered within the sector again this year and we congratulate all the finalists and winners for their excellence.”

For more information visit: ccnni.com/awards

Author: Rachael Trickey