European Contact Centre and Customer Service Award Winners 2018

The winners of the European Contact Centre and Customer Service Awards 2018 were announced earlier this week, with finalists travelling from across Europe to be at the awards evening at Battersea Park, London.

Booking.com were crowned Best Large Contact Centre and Best Pan-European Contact Centre, while Teleperformance Greece won the Best Multi-Lingual Contact Centre.

The ECCCSAs are nearly two decades old and the evening had a record 1,200 people in attendance – making it the largest, as well as the longest-running awards programme in the sector.

Now the resident host of the awards, Fiona Bruce, TV presenter, journalist and newsreader, was supported by Sir Ranulph Fiennes OBE who shared some of his truly remarkable stories of resilience.

Ann-Marie Stagg

Chair of the Judges, Ann-Marie Stagg, said of the winners: “It was a delight to see those that have worked so hard get the recognition they deserve.”

“Each finalist went through a thorough two-stage process, including face-to-face panel judging and site visits.”

“We strongly believe in the importance of a robust process so that winning an ECCCSA means you know that your initiative really is the best of the best.”

Stuart Dorman

“I’m simply blown away by the enormity of these awards,” said Stuart Dorman, Chief Innovation Officer at main event sponsors, Sabio.

“We’ve been supporting the ECCCSAs for many years and have seen the programme adapt as the industry has changed. They are now by far the most impressive awards for customer contact and customer experience in the UK and across Europe.”

Below is a list of all the winners from the event:

Innovation and Technology

Most Effective Implementation of Technology – ICON Communication Centres s.r.o.
Best Innovation in Customer Service – Haste
Best Implementation of AI in Customer Service – Vodafone
Most Effective Business Transformation Programme in Customer Service – Shop Direct

Operational Effectiveness

Most Effective Improvement Programme – Gousto
Most Effective Self-Service Initiative – Acibadem
Best Risk/Fraud Management Initiative –  Three and Tech Mahindra Business Services
Best Outsourcing Partnership – small – Royal Mail and CPM
Best Outsourcing Partnership – large – Aeroflot and Teleperformance Russia

Team Awards

Best Customer Service Team – small – Business Stream
Best Customer Service Team – large – The White Company
Best Complaints Management Team – Nissan
Best Quality Team – Sberbank
Best Contact Centre Support Team – Ascensos

Customer Experience Awards

Best Multi/Omni-Channel Customer Experience – RHP
Most Effective Customer Experience in Social Media – Microsoft
Best Customer Insight Initiative Affinity Water
Best Cross-Functional Customer Experience Initiative – NewDay

Employee Experience Awards

Most Effective Learning and Development Initiative – Team Knowhow
Most Effective Health and Wellbeing Programme – emovis
Best Voice of the Employee Programme – Tesco Mobile Capita Partnership
Best Employer – Great Place to Work – EE

Contact Centre Awards

Best Outsourced Contact Centre – Webhelp Falkirk
Best Small Contact Centre – Volkswagen Group Roadside Assistance
Best Medium Contact Centre – Virgin Holidays
Best Large Contact Centre – Booking.com
Best Multi-Lingual Contact Centre – Teleperformance Greece
Best Pan-European Contact Centre – Booking.com

Director of Customer Service at Booking.com Louise Locke said: “The awards are an excellent avenue for the customer service teams to demonstrate the values that we represent in Booking.com.”

“Being able to enter across multiple categories reinforces the talents within our business and encourages every member of our team to do their very best. Considering the expertise in our industry, it is a true privilege to be successful as gold winners in two very visible categories.”

“We’re delighted to win one of the most prestigious customer service awards in Europe,” said Mark Billingham, Customer Operations Director at Shop Direct, who won Most Effective Business Transformation Programme in Customer Service.

“Our digital transformation has set us on a journey to become known for an amazing customer experience. This award shows we’re well on the way to getting there.”

“Our entire team go the extra mile to deliver for our customers every day and this award belongs to them.”

The industry got excited on social media with winners and guests alike sharing their photos and comments, including Pamela Clifford, Customer and Engagement Manager at Capita, who with Tesco Mobile won Best Voice of the Employee Programme, sharing: “We were absolutely delighted to win this award and the whole team had a great night.”

The full list of Gold winners is below and also available at: www.ecccsa.com/2018-winners

Author: Robyn Coppell