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Contact Center Customer Service Industry Award Winners for 2016

2016 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, 2016, to December 31, 2016.

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 2016. These prestigious contact center industry awards were presented at our annual conference, held in the prestigious Sparkling Hill Resort in Vernon, British Columbia, May 2nd – 4th, 2017.

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

Canadian Tire Financial Services (CRCC)

Finalists

  • Jackson
  • VSP Vision Care
SQM Customer Experience Award

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

  • Canadian Tire Roadside Assistance
  • TELUS Sourcing Solutions Inc.
SQM Customer Experience Award

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

FortisBC

SQM Customer Experience Award

Customer Experience 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 BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina
Web Self-Service Channel FedEx Express Canada
Quality Assurance Program Prime Therapeutics
Desktop Application(s) Comcast Cable
CSR Recognition Program Canadian Tire Financial Services
Career Development UPMC Health Plan
Call Handling VSP Vision Care
Escalation CSR Support Capital One
Performance Management System Scotia iTRADE
CSR Coaching Program Nationstar Mortgage
CSR Training Program BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont
CSR Selection Accenture Business Services for Utilities Inc.
Standard Operating Procedures Genworth and PerformRx (tie)
Continuous Improvement Process Millennium1 Solutions

CSR of the Year

To be eligible the customer service representative (CSR) must be a World Class Certified Customer Representative. The criteria for a World Class Certified 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 CSR. Call center management must also send an example of a great customer service story that the CSR delivered.

Winner

Madison Blow, BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont

Finalists

Name Organization
Alex Beeks BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina
Ceomara Timmons
Michelle Dobson
Alyssa Pratt BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont
Amy Duhamel
Bridgette Draper
Rebecca Lee
Chastity Driscoll Millennium1 Solutions
Peter Stewart
Derek Therrell Prime Therapeutics
Sebastian D'Agosta
Stacey Boone
Bernice Gutierrez Regence BlueCross BlueShield
Jason Chapman (Runner-Up)
Mark Gobardhan (Runner-Up) Scotia iTRADE
Roy Wefuan
Janet Cramm Security Health Plan
Amber Moore Sun Life Financial
Daniel Arnold
Isaac Gillan
Julie Dion
Katrine Gagnon
Melanie Luckhurst
Melissa McGahey

CSR Top 5 World Class Csat Improvement

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

Winners

Name Organization
Shaquana McEachin BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina
Steve Couper Cogeco Connexion
Brenton Dunkley Rogers
Amanda Watson Sun Life Financial
Jeanne Dea VSP Vision Care

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

Janalee Willett, BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont

Finalists

Name Organization
Antonietta Perez 407 ETR
Christopher Longshaw Sun Life Financial
Muriel Rafuse Millennium1 Solutions
Dede Tobin Regence BlueCross BlueShield
Prabhjot Bedi Rogers

Highest Customer Experience for the Contact Center Industry

 

Winners Category Criteria
Scotiabank Best Selling Customer Satisfaction This award recognizes the contact center with the highest Csat (top box rating) for selling approach.
FortisBC Highest Enterprise-Wide One Contact Resolution This award recognizes the organization with the highest enterprise-wide one contact resolution over two or more contact channels, with one being the call center and one being the website.
Canadian Tire Financial Services (CRCC) Highest Omni-Channel Customer Service This award recognizes the contact center with the highest overall Csat (top box rating) where the experience was seamless for the entire multi-channel experience.
FortisBC Highest Web Self-Service Customer Service This award recognizes the contact center with the highest overall Csat (top box rating) for their respective category.
FortisBC Highest IVR 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 (CRCC) Credit Card
VSP Vision Care Insurance
BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont Health Care
Excellus BlueCross BlueShield Health Care Federal Employee Program
Prime Therapeutics Pharmacy
Cogeco Connexion (Storefront) Retail/Service
FortisBC Energy
Cogeco Connexion and Rogers Business Service (tie) Telco/TV
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (Web Support Help Desk) Helpdesk
Halton Region Government
Jackson 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.

SQM Customer Experience Award

Employee Experience Awards

Highest Employee Experience 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

Canadian Tire Financial Services (CRCC)

SQM Customer Experience Award

Most Improved Employee Experience

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.

Winner

Quantum Management Services Ltd.

SQM Customer Experience Award

Highest Employee Experience 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
Canadian Tire Financial Services Financial
VSP Vision Care Insurance
BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont Health Care
TELUS Sourcing Solutions Inc. Outsourcer

 

SQM Customer Experience Award

Highest Work From Home Employee Experience

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

VSP Vision Care

SQM Customer Experience Award

World Class Employee Experience

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

SQM Customer Experience Award

CX 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
Anne Palmerine UPMC Health Plan
Emily Fair BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont
Diahn McHenry Jackson
Melissa Beilstein Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

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!