Regional call centre awards up for grabs

Winners will be announced at a special Call Centre Awards' 08 Gala Dinner in Dubai on June 17.

According to Dominick Keenaghan, president of INSIGHTS,

"the Call Centre Awards are growing in popularity every year and this year we expect several hundred regional call centre professionals to attend the Awards' night function. Competitions like this offer a unique opportunity to bring out the best and most creative in people, and this is certainly clear from the quality and variety of entries we have been looking at this year. Results notwithstanding, they are a fantastic way to motivate staff and generate team spirit, proven tactics in fact to help organizations deliver superior customer service."

Continued Keenaghan, "we are now in our third year of the Awards and, due to market evolution, have expanded the format of the show to recognize the ongoing growth and importance of the industry to the region and the increasing interest in the Awards. To this end, we now differentiate Manager-of-the-Year and Call Centre-of-the-Year Awards by the size of the call centre and are looking to recognize excellence in particular sections of the call centre such as quality assurance and career and skills paths. As a result the number of Awards this year will increase to 19 from just 3 in previous years.

The nominated call centres for Awards '08 come from all across the region and from a diverse range of industries such as finance, telecoms, delivery services, insurance and transport.

Reaching "nomination" status in itself is a laudable achievement and one that is increasingly recognized as a benchmark of solid performance in the region.

And so whilst only a small number of outright winners are possible, the competition is remarkable for the number of repeat applications from short-listed and nominated-but-did-not-win candidates of previous years. You can almost sense the "grit and determination to do better" in these entries this year."

The Awards dinner on June 17, which is being sponsored by Contact Centre specialist Avaya has become the most anticipated night in the regional call centre calendar.

Each nominated call centre invariably brings along its own "cheering section" of staff, and each of the main Awards winners is rewarded with the prize of a trip to the ACCE World Call Centre Congress event in Phoenix, USA in September.

At this gathering of call centre professionals from all over the world, the Middle East Call Centre Awards '08 winners will represent the region at a number of presentations, forums and conference sessions.