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Contact Center Customer Service Industry Award Winners for 2012

2012 Contact Center Industry Award Winners

SQM benchmarks over 450 leading North American contact centers on an annual basis and has been conducting first call resolution (FCR), employee satisfaction (Esat), and customer satisfaction (Csat) benchmarking studies since 1996. SQM annually conducts 1 million surveys with customers who have used a contact center, email, website, IVR, or site contact channel service. SQM also conducts over 25,000 surveys annually with employees who work in contact centers. Our customer and employee survey benchmarking database is one of the largest in North America. SQM conducts business in 11 countries around the globe: Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia, Puerto Rico, India, the Philippines, Costa Rica, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. Based on our contact center benchmarking studies, SQM awards excellence in FCR, and customer and employee satisfaction for the contact center industry. We have recognized top-performing contact centers for customer and employee satisfaction since 1998. SQM awards are based on customers who have used a contact center and employees who work in a contact center. SQM conducted the benchmarking studies for the period of October 1, 2011, to September 30, 2012.

For each contact center that participated in our customer benchmarking study, SQM completed 400 post-call phone surveys, conducted by SQM’s telephone survey representatives. A sample size of 400 surveys provides a margin of error of +/- 5% with a confidence level of 95%. All customer post-call phone surveys have 12 or more questions and take approximately 5 minutes to complete. The surveys were conducted within 2 business days of the customer’s call to the contact center in order to understand their satisfaction with their contact center experience. SQM uses an in-depth post-call customer survey approach that consists of both rating questions and follow-up customer feedback questions that can be used to help the contact center improve its FCR and Csat performance.

In addition, for each contact center that participated in the employee benchmarking study, SQM completed a minimum of 100 customer service representative (CSR) surveys, or if the contact center had less than 100 CSRs, 90% of the CSR workforce completed surveys. All employee surveys had 50 or more questions and were conducted online at the CSR and supervisor levels. This confidential employee online survey took approximately 30 minutes to complete. SQM uses an in-depth online employee survey approach that consists of both rating questions and follow-up employee feedback questions. The employee survey focuses on the contact center’s FCR, Esat, and Csat performance from a CSR and supervisor perspective and provides opportunities to improve the contact center’s FCR performance in terms of people, process, and technology practices.

SQM has 55 different awards that recognize the top-performing contact centers. Based on the contact centers we benchmarked, SQM is honored to recognize the following Service Quality Award of Excellence Winners for 2012. These prestigious contact center industry awards were presented at our 14th annual conference, held in Las Vegas, on November 16th, 2012.

Customer Experience Awards

Call Center of the Year

Criteria used for Call Center of the Year are based on having the highest combined customer FCR and employee overall very satisfied (top box response) rating.

Winner

Canadian Tire Financial Services (CRCC)

Finalists

  • Amex Canada Inc.
  • VSP Vision Care (California)
SQM Customer Experience Award

Best Performing Small- to Mid-Sized Call Center

Criteria used for Best Performing (Small/Mid Size) Call Center (under 100 CSRs) are based on having the highest combined customer FCR and employee overall very satisfied (top box response) rating.

Winner

Canadian Tire Financial Services (PDG)

Finalists

  • CHEP
  • TELUS Sourcing Solutions Inc.
SQM Customer Experience Award

Call Center World Class Certifications

Criteria used for Call Center World Class Certification are 75% or higher of the calls are at the world class level for 6 months or more in 2012. SQM’s world class criteria are based on the customer’s call being resolved, the customer is overall very satisfied (top box response) rating with their call center experience and the customer service representative.

SQM Customer Experience Award

CSR of the Year

To be eligible the customer representative must be a World Class Certified customer representative. The criteria for a Certified World Class Customer Representative is 75% or higher of the calls surveyed are at the world class call level. Call center management must also send an example of a great customer service story that a CSR delivered.

Winner

Liza Mountford, BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont

Finalists

Name Organization
Aaron McCulloch TELUS Sourcing Solutions Inc.
Alesandro Valenzuela Scotiabank International (Dominican Republic)
Allan Bondi VSP Vision Care
Angela Proulx Sun Life Financial
Cherisse Wallace Scotiabank International (Trinidad and Tobago)
Craig Shantz Sun Life Financial
Jordon Lowe TELUS Sourcing Solutions Inc.
Richard Cloutier Rogers Enterprise Service Delivery
Rokhaya Gueye Rogers Enterprise Service Assurance
Tracy Hall Insurance Corporation of BC (Claims)

CSR Top 10 World Class Csat Improvement

To be eligible, a customer representative must have improved their WCC performance by 10% from the previous year. SQM’s world class call (WCC) criteria are based on the customer’s call being resolved, the customer is overall very satisfied (top box response) with their call center experience and the CSR. Call center management must also send an example of a great CSR Csat improvement story.

Winners

Name Organization
Caitlin Van Der Maas Sun Life Financial
Craig Shantz
Rebecca Wolfe
Cherisse Wallace Scotiabank International (Trinidad and Tobago)
Dianne Campbell VSP Vision Care
Kelly Dodds
Walkyria Abelia
Kavita Sudan ENMAX Encompass, Inc.
Liza Mountford BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont
Terry Lyn Kelty

Supervisor of the Year

To be eligible the supervisor must be a World Class Certified supervisor. The criteria for a Certified World Class Supervisor is 75% or higher of the calls surveyed are at the world class call level. Call center management must also send an example of a great CSR Csat coaching story.

Winner

Kimi Miller, VSP Vision Care

Finalists

Name Organization
Carla Principato 407 ETR
Chantal Parent BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont
Jessica Pinkans
Diana Bechtel Allegra Direct Communications
Samantha Mahabir Rogers Commercial Service Delivery

Highest Customer Satisfaction for the Call Center Industry

Winners Category Criteria
U.S. Bank – 24 Hour Banking Best Selling Customer Satisfaction This award recognizes the call center with the highest customer satisfaction (top box response) rating for selling approach.
TD Canada Trust / TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank Highest IVR Customer Satisfaction for Self Serve This award recognizes the call center with the highest overall customer satisfaction (top box response) rating for a self serve IVR.
HealthNow New York, Inc. Highest IVR Customer Satisfaction Self Serve This award recognizes the call center with the highest IVR navigation to the right CSR the first time.

Highest Customer Service by Industry

Based on having the highest FCR for an organization in each specific industry/sector.

Winners Category
TD Canada Trust Banking
Jackson Financial
Amex Canada, Inc. Credit Card
VSP Vision Care Insurance
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas Health Care
Seton/Emedco Retail/Service
FortisBC Energy
Rogers Business Care Telecommunications/TV
Insurance Corporation of BC Union
Marriott Systems Support Center Helpdesk
211 Ontario Government
VSP Vision Care Business to Business

First Call Resolution Improvement

Based on a 5% or greater annual first call resolution improvement from the most recent study within the last two years.

SQM Customer Experience Award

Employee Experience Awards

Highest Employee Satisfaction for the Call Center Industry

Based on having the highest employee overall very satisfied (top box response) rating with working in their call center.

Winner

Canadian Tire Financial Services (CRCC)

SQM Customer Experience Award

Highest Employee Satisfaction by Industry

Based on having the highest employee overall very satisfied (top box response) rating with working in their call center for each specific industry.

SQM Customer Experience Award

Highest Work From Home Employee Satisfaction

Based on the highest employee overall very satisfied (top box response) for work from home CSRs.

Winner

Amex Canada, Inc.

SQM Customer Experience Award

World Class Employee Satisfaction

Based on 45% or higher of employees rate their overall experience of working in the call center as very satisfied (top box response) rating.

Winners

SQM Customer Experience Award

Previous Award Winners

Explore our awards archive to discover all the past winners of SQM's Call Center Customer Service Industry Awards, spanning from 2006 onwards!