2015 Contact Center Industry Award Winners
SQM benchmarks over 500 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 1.5 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 does business in 15 countries around the globe including the United States, Canada, Australia, India, Philippines, Chile, Mexico, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Peru, and the United Kingdom. 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 January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2015.
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 more than 60 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 2015. These prestigious contact center industry awards were presented at our 17th annual conference, held in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, May 17th – 19th, 2016.
Customer Experience Awards
Contact Center of the Year
Criteria used for Contact Center of the Year are based on having the highest combined customer FCR and employee overall very satisfied (top box rating).
Winner
Finalists
- Canadian Tire Financial Services – Sales and Service
- Jackson
Best Performing Small- to Mid-Sized Contact Center
Criteria used for Best Performing Small- to Mid-Sized Contact Center (under 100 CSRs) are based on having the highest combined customer FCR and employee overall very satisfied (top box rating).
Winner
BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont
Finalists
- 407 ETR
- TELUS Sourcing Solutions Inc.
Contact Center World Class FCR Certifications
Criteria used for Contact Center World Class FCR Certification are 80% or higher of the calls are FCR for 3 months or more. SQM’s FCR call criteria are based on the customer’s call being resolved on the first call.
- 211 Ontario
- 407 ETR
- BC Automobile Association (BCAA)
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (Web Support Help Desk)
- BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont
- Canadian Tire Financial Services - Sales and Service
- Canadian Tire Roadside Assistance
- Enbridge Large Business Accounts
- ENMAX, Inc.
- FortisBC
- Genworth Life Customer Service
- Insurance Corporation of BC (DTVI & BEU)
- Jackson
- Marchon Eyewear Inc.
- Millennium1 Solutions (Credit Card Sales Segment)
- Prime Therapeutics (Nebraska & New Mexico)
- Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon
- Rogers Enterprise Service Delivery
- Scotiabank (Halifax)
- Scotiabank International (Dominican Republic)
- Scotiabank International (Jamaica)
- Scotiabank International (Mexico)
- ScotiaLife Financial
- Sun Life Financial Group Retirement Services (Waterloo)
- Vancity
- VSP Vision Care (California & Ohio)
Web Self-Service World Class FCR Certification
Criteria used for Website Self-Service World Class FCR Certification are 80% or higher of the contacts are FCR for 3 months or more. SQM’s FCR contact criteria are based on the customer’s contact being resolved on the first contact with the website.
Winner
Best Practices
These awards recognize the organization that has demonstrated they have improved or helped maintain high FCR and Csat performance. Organizations submit specific practices they have used to improve or maintain high FCR and Csat performance.
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| Omni-Channel | American Express |
| Web Self-Service | FortisBC |
| IVR Self-Service | VSP Vision Care |
| Chat Channel | UPMC Health Plan |
| Quality Assurance | Millennium1 Solutions |
| Desktop Application(s) | Comcast Cable |
| CSR Recognition Program | BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont |
| Career Development Program | Sun Life Financial |
| Call Handling Practice | Canadian Tire Financial Services |
| Real-Time CSR Support Queue | Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts |
| Performance Management System | Cogeco Connexion |
| Scotia iTRADE | |
| CSR Coaching Program | Nationstar Mortgage |
| CSR Training Program | Dialog Direct / Prime Therapeutics |
| VSP Vision Care | |
| CSR Hiring Process | Accenture Business Services for Utilities Inc. |
| Standard Operating Procedures | FedEx Express Canada |
Contact Center World Class Best Practice Certification
To be eligible, an organization must complete a minimum sample size of 100 CSR online surveys, or 90% of employees if less than 100 employees at the organization, must have completed the online survey.
Customer surveying must have been conducted for a minimum of 3 consecutive months during the Award year from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2015. A minimum sample size of 800 customer live telephone surveys taken from a random selection of calls that reflects your actual call type volume is required.
Best Practice criteria must be validated by an onsite evaluation conducted by an SQM Consultant.
Winner
CSR Coaching Program: Excellus BlueCross BlueShield
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 85% or higher of the calls surveyed are at the world class call level. SQM’s world class call criteria are based on the customer’s call being resolved and the customer is overall very satisfied (top box response) rating with the customer service representative (CSR). Call center management must also send an example of a great customer service story that the CSR delivered.
Winner
Pamela Cragin, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina
Finalists
| Name | Organization |
|---|---|
| Troy Hammond Little | AmeriHealth Caritas |
| Daniel Peters | Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts |
| Alex Beeks | Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina |
| Amir Shokoohi | |
| Amanda Emerson | BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont |
| Amy Duhamel | |
| Terry Kelty | |
| Samantha Cook | CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield |
| Enza Pitruzzella | LoyaltyOne |
| Nazreen Abdulla | |
| Tyler Fitzsimons | Marchon Eyewear Inc. |
| Anderson Henry | Millennium1 Solutions |
| Awaldi Stuart | |
| Kaylyn Beckwith | |
| Trina Hardiman | |
| Joseph Jablanofsky | Nationstar Mortgage |
| Russel Valendo | |
| Heather Sundheim | Premera Blue Cross |
| Brooke Jobe | Regence BlueCross BlueShield |
| Mona Rghif | Scotia iTRADE |
| Sammer Salama | |
| Ruby Sahota | Sun Life Financial |
| Stephanie Motovsky | |
| Carol Elder | VSP Vision Care |
CSR Top 5 World Class Csat Improvement
To be eligible, a customer representative must have improved their WCC (World Class Call) performance by 10% from the previous year. SQM’s 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 very satisfied with the CSR. Call center management must also send an example of a great CSR Csat improvement story.
Winners
| Name | Organization |
|---|---|
| Heather Wachs | Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas |
| Rajesh Gill | ENMAX, Inc. |
| Gloria Fritz | Regence BlueCross BlueShield |
| Kirk Chase | VSP Vision Care |
| Irene Dent |
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 85% or higher of the calls surveyed are at the world class call level. Call center management or CSRs must also send an example of a great Call Resolution or Csat coaching story.
Winner
Shantell Edwards, 407 ETR
Finalists
| Name | Organization |
|---|---|
| Lindsey Abbott | Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas |
| Shawn Nichols | ENMAX, Inc. |
| Muriel Rafuse | Millennium1 Solutions |
| Lucie Novotny | Sun Life Financial |
| Jennifer Riggle | VSP Vision Care |
Highest Customer Satisfaction for the Contact Center Industry
| Winners | Category | Criteria |
|---|---|---|
| Vancity | Best Selling Customer Satisfaction | This award recognizes the contact center with the highest overall Csat (top box response) for their respective category. |
| Canadian Tire Financial Services – Sales and Service | Highest Omni-Channel Customer Service | |
| FortisBC | Highest Web Self-Service Customer Service | |
| Cogeco Connexion | Highest Field Services Customer Service |
Highest Customer Service by Industry
Criteria for Highest Customer Service by Industry Awards is based on having the highest FCR for an organization in each specific industry/sector.
| Winners | Category |
|---|---|
| Vancity | Banking |
| Jackson | Financial |
| Canadian Tire Financial Services - Sales and Service | Credit Card |
| VSP Vision Care | Insurance |
| Prime Therapeutics | Health Care |
| Prime Therapeutics | Pharmacy |
| Blue Cross of Idaho | Health Care FEP |
| Cogeco Connexion (Storefront) | Retail/Service |
| ENMAX, Inc. | Energy |
| Cogeco Connexion | Telco/TV |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (Web Support Help Desk) | Helpdesk |
| 211 Ontario | Government |
| Marchon Eyewear Inc. and VSP Vision Care | Business to Business |
First Call Resolution Improvement
Criteria used for First Call Resolution Improvement is based on a 5% or greater annual FCR improvement from the most recent study within the last two years.
- 407 ETR (Collections)
- BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois
- BlueCross BlueShield of Montana
- BlueCross BlueShield of New Mexico
- BlueCross BlueShield of Oklahoma
- BlueCross BlueShield of Texas
- CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield
- Canadian Tire Customer Relations
- Enbridge Large Business Accounts
- Excellus BlueCross BlueShield
- Independence Administrators – IBC
- HCL
- Millennium1 Solutions (Credit Card Sales & High Value Segments)
- Nationstar Mortgage
- ScotiaLife Financial
Best Vendor or Customer Solution
This award is presented to the vendor who has been mentioned the most in an unsolicited manner from organizations for helping them improve their first contact resolution and customer satisfaction performance.
Winner
Ulysses Learning
Employee Experience Awards
Highest Employee Satisfaction for the Contact Center Industry
Criteria used for Highest Employee Experience for the Contact Center Industry is based on having the highest employee overall very satisfied (top box rating) with working in their contact center.
Winner
Most Improved Employee Satisfaction
Criteria used for Most Improved Employee Experience is based on having the most improved employee overall very satisfied (top box rating) with working in their contact center.
Winners
Highest Employee Satisfaction by Industry
Criteria used for Highest Employee Experience by Industry is based on having the highest employee overall very satisfied (top box rating) with working in their contact center for each specific industry or sector.
| Winners | Category |
|---|---|
| Arizona Public Service | Energy |
| Canadian Tire Financial Services - Sales and Service | Financial |
| VSP Vision Care | Insurance |
| BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont | Health Care |
| TELUS Sourcing Solutions Inc. | Outsourcer |
Highest Work From Home Employee Satisfaction
Criteria used for Highest Work From Home Employee Experience is based on having the highest employee overall very satisfied (top box rating) for work from home CSRs.
Winner
World Class Employee Satisfaction
Criteria used for World Class Employee Experience is based on 50% or higher of employees rate their overall experience of working in the contact center as very satisfied (top box rating).
Winners
FCR Leadership
These awards are judged by a panel of SQM Client Account Managers who work closely with our tracking clients on an ongoing basis. Final award determination made by Mike Desmarais, CEO and Founder of SQM Group.
Winners
| Name | Organization |
|---|---|
| Steve Akeley | Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts |
| Windy McClure | Consumers Energy |
| Kathy Rodine | VSP Vision Care |
FCR Champion
These awards are judged by a panel of SQM Client Account Managers who work closely with our tracking clients on an ongoing basis. Final award determination made by Mike Desmarais, CEO and Founder of SQM Group.
Winners
| Name | Organization |
|---|---|
| Elaine Caldwell | CooperVision |
| Nancy Earley | Excellus BlueCross BlueShield |
| Holly Abbott | Millennium1 Solutions |
| Ken Baur | Security Health Plan |
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!
Interested in Awards?
Find out how you can qualify for these awards and be recognized for your contact center CX success and improvement. Connect with SQM today.