Contact Center Best Practice Awards FAQ

For the Contact Center CX Best Practice Awards, here are answers to some great questions we have received over the past few years.

What is an SQM Contact Center CX Best Practice Award?

SQM’s Contact Center CX Best Practice Awards are the most prestigious and sought after North American Contact Center CX Industry Awards and recognize organizations that have demonstrated best practices in their contact center which have improved or helped maintain high levels of customer experience (CX), first contact resolution (FCR), contact resolution and customer satisfaction (Csat) performance. For each of the 17 different CX best practice categories, SQM will recognize one organization. The winning organization will receive a trophy award at SQM’s Annual Customer Experience Conference & Industry Awards Gala, and SQM will publicize your success.

Can non-clients and clients apply for a Contact Center CX Best Practice Award?

Yes, both SQM clients and non-SQM clients are eligible for the Contact Center CX Best Practice Awards. Organizations can apply to any or all categories. In fact, if you applied in previous award years, or have won an award before and that CX best practice has continued to show FCR, Csat, contact resolution, and/or Esat improvements (or sustained high levels of performance), you can re-apply.

I am not sure if what we have done is a CX best practice, I just know that it worked for improving our contact center CX performance and we're going to continue using this practice. Should I apply for an award?

If you have a contact center practice in place that has helped improve or maintain your CX, FCR, Csat, contact resolution and/or Esat performance, then you should apply!

Apply for a Best Practice Award

What is the estimated time commitment to complete all 5 Steps in the CX Best practice Award application process?

The total time commitment to complete all 5 Steps in the process is approximately 2 days. See the breakdown of time commitment by each step below:

STEP 1: FILL OUT SQM’S QUICK APPLICATION FORM ONLINE BY SEPTEMBER 30th, 2019
(1 Hour or Less Time Commitment)

Include a few short sentences (no longer than 1,000 characters in length) that briefly describes why your CX best practice is unique by Sepetmber 30th, 2019.

STEP 2: ASSESS YOUR CX BEST PRACTICE AGAINST SQM’S CHECKLIST BY OCTOBER 18th, 2019
(1 Hour Time Commitment)

SQM will email you a short checklist to fill out indicating if your CX best practice meets the checklist items. You then email your checklist back to SQM by October 18th, 2019.

STEP 3: SQM NOTIFIES COMPANIES SELECTED AS FINALISTS BY December 6th, 2019
(1 Hour or Less Time Commitment)

Please note that Step 3 may include a short phone interview with SQM subject matter experts between October 18th and November 29th to better understand what makes the practice a CX best practice.
By December 6th, SQM will notify all applicants who qualify as a finalist to submit their nomination story for a CX Best Practice Award.
Finalists will then be moved on to Step 4 to write and submit their CX best practice nomination story.

STEP 4: FINALISTS SUBMIT NOMINATION STORY BY DECEMBER 20th, 2019
(1 Day Time Commitment)

Companies selected as Finalists begin writing their CX best practice nomination story and submit to SQM by December 20th, 2019.

STEP 5: SQM ANNOUNCES CX BEST PRACTICE AWARD WINNERS BY FEBRUARY 15th, 2020
(2 Hour Time Commitment)

A panel of SQM subject matter experts will determine and announce the final CX best practice award winners.
Please note that Step 5 may include an onsite visit from SQM subject matter experts to your organization to meet with key people from supporting departments in your organization who can help demonstrate what makes the practice a CX best practice.

We tend to use customer satisfaction as our ultimate measure of success – can I still apply for an award?

Yes, absolutely! We know some contact centers use other metrics such as Csat as a measure of success. However, FCR and Csat are so closely linked that an increase in FCR is typically mirrored by a similar increase in Csat. If you achieved an increase in Csat performance - there is most likely a corresponding increase in FCR as well.

Our contact center practice is still in pilot mode. Is it too early to apply for this year’s awards?

As long as you have some pre-pilot and post-pilot data to demonstrate success, you are eligible to apply. We advocate the use of pilot programs to test new approaches so please feel free to submit the full details of your pilot.

Can I apply to more than one best practice category?

Yes! If you have implemented more than one contact center best practice, and have data that demonstrates success, apply to any and all categories where you believe it fits best. It can take more than one best practice to improve your contact center performance, so don’t limit yourself to one category as there are several categories available, and organizations can apply to any or all categories.

What happens after the deadline? How do you evaluate the submissions?

SQM has a panel of 6 subject matter experts who evaluate each submission to determine the finalists and award winner for each category. The submission process could potentially include a phone interview or an on-site visit with SQM subject matter experts.

Our practice seems to fit under multiple categories. How do I know which category to pick?

Select the category that seems to fit best for the story that you are submitting. As SQM assesses all applications, and if we feel that your application fits a different category better for award consideration, then we will move your application to that category for award consideration.

How do I know if our idea is original enough for submission? As far as I know, everyone is doing the same thing we are.

If your practice has made a measurable impact on improving or sustaining CX, FCR, Csat or Esat performance, we encourage you to apply. You might find out your contact center is a trailblazer and your ideas could help others!

What happens if we win a Contact Center CX Best Practice Award?

There are several CX best practice categories, and for each category, SQM will recognize one organization. SQM recognizes the organizations that have won a Contact Center CX Best Practice Award at our annual Contact Center Industry Conference & Awards. Contact Center CX Best Practice Award winners must have at least one person from their organization attend SQM’s awards gala, and the winner for each best practice category may be asked to present at SQM’s conference. If you win a Contact Center CX Best Practice Award from SQM, you agree to allow SQM to publish your company logo with an edited version of your submission story on SQM’s website and through email marketing blasts, social media sites, press releases, SQM’s books, whitepapers, webinars, and other marketing material.