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Britghtest Stars of the North East Contact Centres Crowned
The brightest stars of the North East contact centre industry have been crowned at this year’s annual ‘Oscar’ awards.
EDF Energy in Sunderland and Northumbrian Water and CE Electric in Easington were the stars of the sixth North East Contact Centre Awards, which took place at Rainton Meadows Arena in Sunderland.
The awards, which are organised by Tyne and Wear Development Company in association with Sunderland City Council, aim to recognise the achievements of one of the region’s most successful industries and its frontline staff. The industry remains resilient in the region with more than 60,000 employees spread over 145 contact centres.
On the night, EDF collected the award for North East Contact Centre of the Year over 200 seats, Northumbrian Water the 100-200 seats category and CE Electric the award for centres below 50 seats – a prize on offer for the first time.
Councillor Paul Watson, leader of Sunderland City Council and chairman of Tyne and Wear Development Company, said: “Contact centres in the North East deserve the excellent reputation that they’ve established for quality and professionalism. We have many exceptional people working in the industry and these awards are a chance to celebrate that and recognise their achievements.”
A total of 11 team and individual awards were given out to reward star performers in everything from customer services to sales. The Contact Centre Dream Team award went to Barclaycard’s recruitment team while CE Electric was awarded the Industry Champion category. npower won the award for Best Practice in People Development.
Individual winners included: Donna Ward from More Than (Customer Services Champion); Jonathan Hayes from More Than (North East Sales Star); Gillian Brough from CE Electric (Adviser of the Year); Abigail Holmes from EDS (Team Leader of the Year) and Christopher Banks from Fusion (Brightest New Star).
Shona Harper from Contact Centre Professional and head of the judging panel, said: “It’s been another successful year for the awards and the contact centre industry in general, in spite of the toughening economic conditions.
“There were a significant number of new entrants this time and that’s reflective of the strength and diversity of the industry in the region. As well as the big boys like EDF, the region has many high quality smaller centres from specialist outsourcers to help desks within councils. We’re delighted to recognise their success.”
Sponsors of the event included Tyne and Wear Development Company, Sunderland City Council, One NorthEast, South Tyneside Council, North Tyneside Council, North East Contact Centre Academy, Northern Recruitment Group, Contact Centre Professional, CyberTech UK, RXPerience, North East Employer Coalition and Premium People Recruitment Group.
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