Judged by Customers who called the Call Center
and Employees Who Work in a Call Center
SQM benchmarks over 400 leading international call centers on an annual basis and has been conducting first call resolution (FCR), employee satisfaction (Esat) and customer satisfaction (Csat) benchmarking studies since 1996. On an annual basis, SQM conducts over 1 million surveys with customers who have called a call center. SQM also conducts over 25,000 surveys annually with employees who work in call centers. Our customer and employee survey benchmarking database is one of the largest in North America. SQM conducts business in 9 countries around the globe: Canada, United States, Argentina, Australia, Puerto Rico, India, Philippines, Costa Rica and Mexico. Based on our call center benchmarking studies, SQM awards excellence in customer and employee satisfaction for the call center industry. We have recognized top performing call centers for customer and employee satisfaction since 1998. SQM awards are based on customers who have used a call center and employees who work in a call center. SQM conducted the benchmarking studies for the period of October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009.
For each call 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 +/- 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 call center in order to understand their satisfaction with their call 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 call center improve their FCR and Csat performance.
In addition, for each call center that participated in the employee benchmarking study, SQM completed a minimum of 100 customer service representative (CSR) surveys or if the call 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 call center’s FCR, Esat and Csat performance from a CSR and supervisor perspective and provides opportunities to improve the call center’s FCR performance in terms of people, process and technology practices.
SQM has 34 different awards that recognize the top performing call centers. Based on the call centers we benchmarked, SQM recognizes the following Service Quality Award of Excellence Winners for 2009. These prestigious call center industry awards were presented at our annual conference, held in Toronto, November 18th & 19th, 2009.
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Call Center of the Year Award
| Organization | Criteria |
| VSP Vision Care (California) |
Criteria used for Call Center of the Year are based on having the highest combined customer and employee overall very satisfied (top box response) rating |
Call Center World Class Call Certification
CSR Finalists for CSR of the Year
CSR Name |
Organization |
Criteria |
| * Valerie Gervais |
Rogers | To be eligible the customer representative must be a World Class Certified customer representative. The criteria for a Certified World Class Customer Representative is 70% or higher of the calls surveyed are at the world class call level. Call Center Management must send an example of great customer service story that a CSR delivered. |
 Shalini Sivananthan |
Scotiabank | |
| Ron Boranprasit |
Rogers | |
| Lisa Meredith |
VSP | |
| Wayne Carter |
Rogers | |
| Ashley Hanlon |
Sun Life Financial | |
| Lauren Brown |
Sun Life Financial | |
| Carlee Portolesi |
Scotiabank | |
| Christina Hall |
LoyaltyOne - The Airmiles Group | |
| Freda Lockhart |
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of North Carolina | |
| Laura Antle |
Rogers |
* CSR of the Year Winner
CSR of the Year Finalists Group Photo
Supervisor Finalists for Supervisor of the Year
Supervisor Name |
Organization |
Criteria |
| * Lisa Jones Jeff Weber Lucy Isherwood Susan Fordyce Michelle Medeiros Maria Heighington
|
Sun Life Financial
Sun Life Financial
Rogers
Rogers
LoyaltyOne - The Airmiles Group
LoyaltyOne - The Airmiles Group
|
To be eligible the supervisor must be a World Class Certified supervisor. The criteria for a Certified World Class Supervisor is 70% or higher of the calls surveyed are at the world class call level. Call Center Management must also send one or two examples of great Csat CSR Coaching stories. |
* Supervisor of the Year Winner
Supervisor of the Year Finalists Group Photo
Customer Satisfaction & First Call Resolution Awards
Highest Customer Satisfaction for the Call Center Industry Awards
Organization |
Award |
Criteria |
| Citi Retail Services - Credit Operation (AZ) U.S. Bank TD Canada Trust ATCO I-Tek |
1. Highest Customer Satisfaction
2. Best Selling Customer Satisfaction
3. Highest IVR Customer Satisfaction Self Serve
4. Highest IVR Navigation to the Right CSR
|
1.This award recognizes the call center with the highest world class call rating
2. This award recognizes the call center with the highest customer satisfaction (top box response) rating for selling approach 3. This award recognizes the call center with the highest overall customer satisfaction (top box response) rating for a self serve IVR 4. This award recognizes the call center with the highest IVR navigation to the right CSR the first time |
Highest Customer Satisfaction by Industry Awards
Organization |
Award |
Criteria |
|
TD Canada Trust Jackson National Life Insurance VSP Vision Care Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Kansas OfficeMax Arizona Public Service Rogers Business Support Group Insurance Corporation of BC (Claims Division) Marriott Systems Support Center 211 Ontario (Tie) & Region of Halton (Tie)
|
Banking
Financial
Insurance
Health Care
Retail/Service
Energy
Telecommunications/TV
Union
Helpdesk
Government
|
Criteria used for highest customer satisfaction for each specific industry/sector are based on having the highest world class call rating for an organization |
FCR Improvement Awards
Organization |
Criteria |
|
|
LoyaltyOne - The Airmiles Group Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Kansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Alabama Blue Shield of California Insurance Corporation of BC (Contact Div.) Whirlpool Premera Blue Cross
|
Criteria are based on a 6% or greater annual FCR improvement from the most recent study within the last two years |
Employee Satisfaction Awards
Highest Employee Satisfaction for the Call Center Industry Award
Organization |
Criteria |
|
|
VSP Vision Care (California)
|
Criteria used for highest employee satisfaction for the call center industry are based on having the highest employee overall very satisfied (top box response) rating with working in their call center |
Highest Employee Satisfaction by Industry Awards
Organization |
Award |
Criteria |
|
Scotiabank VSP Vision Care Arizona Public Service
|
Banking
Insurance
Energy
|
Criteria used for highest employee satisfaction for each specific industry are based on having the highest employee overall very satisfied (top box response) rating with working in their call center |
Most Improved Employee Satisfaction
Organization |
Criteria |
|
|
Insurance Corporation of BC (Claims Division)
|
Criteria is based on highest Esat improvement from previous year |
World Class Employee Satisfaction Awards
Organization |
Criteria |
|
|
Canadian Tire Financial Services (CCR) Canadian Tire Financial Services (CSG) Scotiabank (Halifax) VSP Vision Care (California)
|
Criteria are based on 50% or higher of employees rate their overall experience of working in the call center as very satisfied (top box response) rating |
